Learn English – Past action but present perfect

perfect-constructionspresent-perfect

I know all about that film because I have seen it twice.

In this sentence the person says they saw the same film twice in the past. Then why is the present perfect used instead of past perfect? Can someone please tell me?

Best Answer

This is a parade example of the resultative present perfect, in which a past event is introduced into a present-tense discourse because it gave rise to a present state.

Specifically, you mention your seeing the film twice in the past as an explanation of how it comes about that you now, at the time of speaking, know about the film.

You are trying to tell me about Citizen Kane and I have to tell you that I know all about that film because I have seen it twice before.

You would employ the past perfect in a past-tense discourse to explain how a state at that past time came about.

Jack was trying to tell me about Citizen Kane and I had to tell him that I knew all about that film because I had seen it twice before.

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