Learn English – Queen – We are the champions (Present Perfect)

present-perfect

French L1 speaker here.

I have a few questions related to the use of the present perfect and the simple past in this song. Would someone be so kind as to explain why certain verbs are in the simple past?

1)
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime.

Q1. Why isn't it "but I've committed no crime?" After all, the time is unspecified. What am I missing?

2)
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face

Q2. Same question here. Why not "I've had my share of sand that has been kicked in my face?"

3)
You brought me fame and fortune, and everything that goes with it.

Q3. Why not "You've brought me fame and fortune?". Here, I'm guessing it's because the individuals aren't going to bring him fame and fortune anymore. (finished action) Am I correct?

4)
Unrelated Bonus question

And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end.

Q. Why not "And we're gonna keep on fighting 'til the end?" After all, "going to" is used for plans related to the future. While "will" is for when someone makes a decision on the spot.

Thank you for helping me better understand.

Best Answer

  1. There is no requirement to repeat the auxiliary verb when the verb phrase contains more than one lexical verb joined as these verbs are by and.

I've tidied my room and [I've] washed the windows.

  1. kicked in my face is a participle clause. kicked is not tensed but expresses a state or condition of sand.

Compare:

I like food cooked in oil and food cooked on a grill

Another way of understanding kicked in my face is that it is a special kind of complement modifying the object of the verb had:

I have had [I have experienced] sand object {kicked in my face}.

But it's really no different from:

I have eaten food cooked on a grill.

But in either analysis kicked is not tensed. The phrase pertains either to sand alone or to sand as object of the verb.

  1. You brought me fame.

I have never looked at the lyrics of that song carefully, but I would suppose that this sentence is describing something that happened in the past, not the current status of the speaker. Although the fame might persist to the present moment, the becoming-famous, the being-made-famous, happened in the past.

  1. Your understanding of will is too rigid and limited.
    We're gonna is an approximation of how "we're going to" is pronounced in normal colloquial speech where the speaker is not trying to articulate the words according to how they're spelled. We're going to and we will are two equally viable ways of forming a statement about an intention to do something in the future.
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