My question is which one to use in the following example:
_____ you _____ at the end of Titanic? (cry)
I think it should be present perfect since it doesn't have a time expression, the exact time is unknown or it doesn't matter, and it refers to an experience.
But some say it has to be simple past because it (the crying) happened at the time of watching the movie, so it's an exact, known time.
Now, I feel like following that logic would mean that if I said "I've seen Titanic", it would also be wrong since it also happened in an exact time, nothing really can happen in a non-exact time, but that's physics, not English usage. But obviously it's not wrong.
So, does crying at the end of it make it a known, specified time that requires the usage of past simple? If it does, why?
Best Answer
Short Answer
Both are possible.
Long answer
But the speaker most likely (99% of the time) means, "Did you cry at the end of Titanic?"
Longer Answer
I think the confusion stems from thinking of this as an experience versus an event.
Do we want to know:
As the question is currently phrased, it is asking about the event, which is why we use past tense.
How do we know?
As others have told you, an exact point in time has been specified: "at the end of Titanic."
If you expand your definition of exact points in time to include phrases such as:
...you will see that there are more variations to time phrases than the usual, "at 7 o'clock," "in the morning," "on Sunday," etc.
In the meantime, if the question had been phrased with "ever" in the sentence, i.e., "____ you ever ____ at the end of Titanic?", then I would be inclined to agree with you that that would be a question about the experience of crying while watching Titanic.
Edit
Per a comment made by @fixer1234, please also note that if one were to ask "Have you ever cried at the end of Titanic?," this would imply that the person being asked most likely watches Titanic repeatedly and possibly always cries at the end of it.