Learn English – I haven’t noticed that vs. I didn’t notice that
word-choiceword-difference
Which of the two sentences should I use?
A: I haven't noticed that.
B: I didn't notice that.
Best Answer
It depends on what you want to say.
I haven't noticed that.
In this context, you are using the present perfect tense to say it that a fact or matter has not been noted by you. Example: "I have not noticed the color of his eyes." You are not giving a specific time reference for when in the past that the not noticing happened. When using the present perfect in this way, you can't give a time reference. For example, you can't say, "I have walked last Tuesday." The way your sentence is formulated demonstrates the use of the present perfect in communicating a personal experience. Please see Topic 1 on this page: https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html for an explanation.
The present perfect can also be used to mean that an action took place in the past and continues in the present. "I have not walked my dog since last Tuesday."
Here you would be using the simple past tense. You are stating that the fact or matter has not been noted by you in the past. You are not making any statement about how long your action continued. You are just stating that it happened. Example: "I didn't notice the color of his eyes. (But maybe that fact has changed; it could be that now you do.)
I'd suggest "learned" for the first sentence instead of all those other choices:
After I learned that two of my friends would not be able to {make it to / come to / attend [CHOOSE ONE]} the party, I decided to call it off.
And for the second sentence, I'd suggest this:
Every time I {notice / see [CHOOSE ONE] that the water level in the can is below X level, I call the store and they {replace it / fill it up [CHOOSE ONE]}.
Though both of these sentences mean the same, I think, the first one is preferred when you protest or justify yourself. The word even in this sentence is probably used as an intensive particularly to indicate something unexpected.
For sentence A, it seems that the person is astonished and expressing that leave explaining (why the result is like that), he has not even seen the results.
For sentence B, it seems that the person is just explaining that so far, he has not seen the results and hence cannot comment on it.
You may find these examples useful:
Case 1:
Mom: Ian, why did you spoil this smartphone? Ian: No mamma, I haven't even touched it.
Case 2:
Mom: Ian, do you know this smartphone has a fingerprint recognition? Ian: No mamma, I haven't seen its features yet.
Best Answer
It depends on what you want to say.
In this context, you are using the present perfect tense to say it that a fact or matter has not been noted by you. Example: "I have not noticed the color of his eyes." You are not giving a specific time reference for when in the past that the not noticing happened. When using the present perfect in this way, you can't give a time reference. For example, you can't say, "I have walked last Tuesday." The way your sentence is formulated demonstrates the use of the present perfect in communicating a personal experience. Please see Topic 1 on this page: https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html for an explanation.
The present perfect can also be used to mean that an action took place in the past and continues in the present. "I have not walked my dog since last Tuesday."
Please see this page for a detailed explanation: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/present-perfect-tense/
Here you would be using the simple past tense. You are stating that the fact or matter has not been noted by you in the past. You are not making any statement about how long your action continued. You are just stating that it happened. Example: "I didn't notice the color of his eyes. (But maybe that fact has changed; it could be that now you do.)