I have this example in my practice book where I need to use the Past Simple or Present Perfect:
My grandfather died before I was born. I have never met him.
The right answer is "I never met him".
Shouldn't we use the Present Perfect with "never"?
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user3391619
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1Could you explain why you think we have to use present perfect with "never"? – Roaring Fish Jan 23 '16 at 09:53
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Related question, Can the choice between Present Perfect vs Past Simple be influenced by external events? and Present Perfect for the past?. – Jan 23 '16 at 10:12
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Could you please explain what you mean by "need to place"? Also, regarding 'The right answer is "I never met him"': how is the textbook's question phrased? – Lawrence Jan 23 '16 at 11:17
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The distinguishing feature of perfect constructions in English is that there is some relevance to the present: what the specific relevance is may vary from case to case.
With negatives, the present relevance is nearly always that the circumstances in which the event is possible still hold: you might imagine that it implies the word "yet".
So it would be very odd to use it of seeing somebody who has died.
Colin Fine
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