Liana
what's the difference between "never seen/saw it before"?? never seen it before and never saw it before??? i don't know how to use this two sentences~~ means what?? different??。
Aug 10, 2010 2:53 PM
Answers · 4
4
I can see that three people have already answered the question, namely, Stephanie, Maidhc, and Caprine20. Someone has given a thumbs down (-1) to all three answers. It is not fair to give a thumbs done to someone who has taken the time and made the effort to help answer a question, unless the answer is stupid, disrespectful or 100% incorrect. Each of the three answers are reasonable and nearly perfect, so I'm going to give a thumbs up to each of the responses. Besides, the person who gave a thumbs down probably didn't even try to answer the question. Mitong wrote: 2) I've never seen it before. I think they call the 2nd "past perfect." [THE VERB "HAVE SEEN" IN THE 2ND SENTENCE IS THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE. The Past Perfect = "had seen".] MY ANSWER TO LIANA'S QUESTION "What's the difference between "never seen/saw it before"?? When we think or speak about a period of time that started in the past and continues up to the present we usually use adverbs that refer to an indefinite (not specific) period of time, such as: ever, never, before, yet, and already. In these cases we use the Present Perfect tense = present tense of the auxilary verb/helping verb (have/has) + the past particle of the main verb (seen). Have you ever seen a ghost? No, I have never seen a ghost? I'm sure we have seen this movie before? He has not seen this video yet. Have you already seen this video? But when we write or speak about a more definite period of time, such as, today, yesterday, this week, this past month, last year - we usually prefer to use a simple past tense because it sounds better, for example: I saw a ghost last night/last year. I saw this movie last Friday. He saw this video the last time we were together. NOTICE that all the definite period of time examples above are in affirmative sentences (positive statements, not questions and not negative statements). The words that describe the event's time or activity are definite (one specific time).
August 15, 2010
3
Stephanie, that's completely incorrect. Liana, Nowadays, people are confusing "saw" with "seen" because in the past (perfect?) tense one says I've seen (I have seen), but the -'ve gets cut off in their speech and they say "I seen," which is completely wrong (and annoying to me). The two sentences you're asking about are correctly written/said: 1) I never saw it before. 2) I've never seen it before. The 1st is simple past. I think they call the 2nd "past perfect."
August 10, 2010
1
Ugh, this is a very common grammatical mistake of native speakers. Please don't ever say "I never seen it." That's incorrect (and sounds horrible, although people say it all the time here!), unless you state "I HAVE never seen it." This verb is past-tense in a form that doesn't imply a specific start or end...you have never seen something in your whole life, such as a monument or an opera. You can say "I never saw it." This is correct, but would be less commonly used, because it is past-tense in a form that implies it is over and done with. So, you were watching for something for a specific period of time, but you never saw it (in that time period).
August 11, 2010
1
The word seen is in present tense form and the word saw is in past tense form. The sentence "Never saw it before" would sound weird. People normally use "Never seen it before".
August 10, 2010
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