Learn English – Present perfect and achievements: “Man has landed on the moon” but “Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook”

present-perfect

I'm trying to work out the logic on this one. I'm an English teacher and I've always taken for granted the fact that we use the present perfect for achievements, as in the following examples taken from the internet.

  • I’ve written a book.
  • I’ve won a Nobel Peace prize.
  • Man has walked on the Moon.
  • Scientists have split the atom.

However, today the example of "Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook" occurred to me. I know he didn't but let's say for the sake of argument that he did. So what's the difference here? We could clearly say "X has won the Nobel Peace Prize" (provided they're still alive naturally) regardless of how long ago it was and that's another third person singular. Is inventing something not an achievement? I'm getting very confused!

Best Answer

We use the past with a dead person's achievements, and the past with a live person's actions that took place at a point-in-time in the past, that is, when we're referring to them in the aspect of when they took place, rather than as an achievement of the living person.

But you needn't think of the choice of tense in terms of these non-temporal "buckets" (achievements, inventions, etc). The determining factor is whether the statement refers to the action as having taken place in the past, or refers to it in a more nuanced way, as something that took place in the past but which is seen from the point of view of its bearing upon some aspect of the present.

I went to London fifteen years ago. I have been to London.

When did you go to London?
-- It was fifteen years ago.

Have you ever been to Paris?
--No, but I have been to London. I can say I've been there.

Who invented the telephone?
-- Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Can you name some of the things Elon Musk has invented?
--He is the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, right?
That's right. Do you know how old he was when he founded Tesla?

Related Topic