Re: 'John told me ...' - to use Present Perfect or Simple Past?

KnightOwl <KnightOwl@xxxxxxx> wrote

'John told me ...' - to use Present Perfect or Simple Past?

What would be the correct verb form to use (in writing, like in a
personal letter or email) in sentences like the following:

John (has) told me that you are a student, ...
John (has) given me your new address, ...
I (have) heard that you are going to Cambridge, ...

In all three cases the intent is to introduce a topic related to
the information in question; hence the focus is on the fact that I
have got the information (I have it now) rather when or how I came
by it. According to what little I remember from my English lessons
a few decades ago, this would call for the present perfect (no
time specified, result persists, relatively recent). According to
my 'inner ear' and Google, however, the simple past appears to be
more natural than the present perfect, at least in some of the
cases. Is there a difference in meaning between the use of present
perfect and simple past? If not, would the preferred form be
different for informal, colloquial speech?

Another factoid that I seem to remember was that USians tend to
prefer the simple past in some situations where the English prefer
the present perfect. Is this such a case? At least that would
complain my confusion, as we were taught English at school but the
native speakers we actually have contact with nowadays are almost
exclusively from the US and Canada.

Your memory about British and American speakers is correct. I don't
know about Canadian speakers, though.

I'd use the simple past in the first two sentences and the present
perfect in the third. Even though I'm an American speaker, I use the
present and past perfect much more often than most of my fellow
native speakers of American English. I don't see using the perfect
aspect as a matter of formality, just better or poorer style.

--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally
shared." Scott Adams.
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