A I haven't received the book I ordered.
B I haven't received the book I have ordered.
Which one would you say is more often used / colloquial, and which one is more formal / more grammatically conservative?
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RegDwigнt
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2My gut tells me that any difference in formality or degree of "grammatical conservativeness" would be imperceptible. Also, I wonder why this alternative wasn't included: I haven't received the book that I ordered. – J.R. Feb 15 '14 at 11:31
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I think questions like this are better asked on English Language Learners. In my opinion, B is hopelessly stilted (native speakers tend to avoid complex tense forms where simpler ones will do). With a bit of re-ordering (sorry! :), "I [have] ordered the book, but I haven't received it", the repetition of *have* would be much more acceptable (particularly if the word was stressed, to emphasise that it was *definitely ordered). But even there it would be unnecessary, and would probably be omitted if unstressed. – FumbleFingers Feb 15 '14 at 17:36
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...the issue of whether or not to include the word *that* is irrelevant to the question as asked, and again illustrates why questioners seeking to learn normal English usage should go to ELL, not ELU. – FumbleFingers Feb 15 '14 at 17:38
1 Answers
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The first would be more colloquial, more often used, and more formal and grammatically conservative.
They both use the perfect in the negative for the thing that could have, but failed to, happen at some undefined time in the past, up to the present.
The first uses the simple past for the ordering, the latter the perfect, but since the ordering was a single act that happened at a particular time, and since defining that time defines the period during which the book could have arrived, the simple past would be more normal.
The second remains valid, and could be used correctly in all registers. The first is just more normal in all registers because the choice of tense better expresses the sequence of events.
Jon Hanna
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