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“Did it close” vs “Has it closed”?

As a English non-native speaker it is difficult for me to understand when I must use present perfect or past simple because in my official language there isn't the present perfect tense.
I know that present perfect is related to something that happened in the past but its result is important now. But for instance:

  1. The message has been sent.
  2. The message was sent.

Please help me point me out any examples/contexts where I should use 1. instead of 2.

Community
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utxeee
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  • 2 - I always find it awkward when the past simple is used like this without any time reference. i.e. The message was sent yesterday. As it is in your given examples, I would say that both are just confirming status as sent and thus, the first would be the standard and the second would be non-standard (though, acceptable perhaps in AmE). – Karl Jul 01 '12 at 06:16
  • @RegDwight could we not reopen this question and link many of the questions discussing present perfect to this post? This post has two good answers. – Mari-Lou A Sep 22 '15 at 09:54

3 Answers3

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1 means that the action happened just now. You would typically see it in your e-mail program just after you send an e-mail. Your program might give you this message to let you know that the message you just sent has indeed been sent.

2 refers to something that happened at some time in the past. It could have been an hour ago, a day ago, or even a century ago! But it wasn't just now.

JAM
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    OP also identified another instance of (1): "I know that present perfect is related to something that happened in the past but its result is important now." For example: Manager "What about the status email?" Underling, checking logs "Yes, it has been sent. In fact it was sent three hours ago." – Andrew Leach Jun 30 '12 at 22:40
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    @JAM- in AmE you could say: the message was just sent., eh? – Noah Jul 01 '12 at 01:21
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    This is the "Hot News" sense of the Perfect. – John Lawler Jul 01 '12 at 01:38
  • @Noah , yes. It is my understanding that the perfect is much underused in AmE. The example that you have given would ring as non-standard in BrE. – Karl Jul 01 '12 at 06:13
  • I feel that it was a mistake for the OP to accept this answer. The present perfect does NOT imply that the action happened just now. "The message has been sent" can be used if the message was sent just now, or yesterday, or last month. So the first paragraph of this answer is incorrect. Also, "the message was sent" could be used for a message that was sent just now. In other words, the second paragraph of this answer is incorrect. If you want to read a correct answer to this question, check out what Barrie England said. –  Jul 01 '12 at 11:46
  • @utxeee I think Barrie England's answer is better overall - if you can, you should accept his instead. – JAM Jul 01 '12 at 15:19
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Think of the past tense as referring to an event that took place at a particular time in the past. In saying The message was sent, the speaker will normally have in mind something like yesterday or last week.

The present perfect is called 'present' for a reason. The speaker is talking about the situation now, a situation in which a past event has some bearing on the present. For example, The message has been sent might be followed by a comment such as so it's too late to do anything about it now.

Barrie England
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  • Right now, this is the only correct answer here. –  Jul 01 '12 at 10:15
  • David, why ? I think there are good answers here, including this one, of course. – utxeee Jul 01 '12 at 11:01
  • @utxeee - I don't really know how to answer that. Quite simply, it's the only correct answer, because the other two are wrong. Have a look at my comment under JAM's answer; I can't make it any clearer, other than by repeating Barrie's words. –  Jul 01 '12 at 11:57
  • this answer can be applied to 'I've been practicing my english this morning' or 'i was practicing this morning' i got confused – stackdave Oct 04 '17 at 13:59
  • Thanks for the simple but clear explanation. – Luca Giuffrida Jun 16 '21 at 10:19
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The Have P.P. is used to talk about new information or more recent things, versus the Past Simple which only talks about the Past.

The message has been sent. vs. The message was sent.

She has gone out. vs. She went out.

It has been towed. vs. It was towed. 

A: Please remind Mrs. Jones of our appointment this afternoon. 

B: I've sent the message. (The message has been sent.)       

A: Where's Susan? 

B: She's gone out.

A: Where's my car? 

B: It's been towed.

Feeling and imagining what constitutes "a connection/ result now" is the tricky part for learners.

Another good initial practice for you would be to link the Have P.P. together with Adverbs such as "just," "already," and "yet."

Finally, there will be differences between American and British English. But if you keep practicing the Have P.P. in its situations, you will soon get the hang of it.

Cool Elf
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