In an interview, the interviewer asks me:
The interviewer: Tell me about your work experience:
Me: I worked/ have worked for two different companies. The first one, I worked for a factory specializing in textile, the second one, I worked for a fashion company.
Is either tense good to use here?
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Hi, Le 12345, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange,
@le12345 posted:In an interview, the interviewer asks me:
The interviewer: Tell me about your work experience:
Me: I worked/ have worked for two different companies. The first one, I worked for a factory specializing in textile, the second one, I worked for a fashion company.Is either tense good to use here?
I prefer to begin with the present perfect and to give the following details in the past simple. The past simple is not wrong, but it could imply some hidden details. For example: I worked for two different companies (before I ...).
Thank you for your answer, ahmed_btm.
I have another similar context in an interview:
The interviewer: Tell me about your work achivements.
Me: I won/ have won an award in a nation wide contest for developers. I am so proud of it.
In this context, similarly would the present perfect better to use?
How about 2 awards in 2 different contests.
Me: I won/ have won 2 awards in two different nation wide contests for developers. I am so proud of them.
@le12345 posted:Thank you for your answer, ahmed_btm.
I have another similar context in an interview:
The interviewer: Tell me about your work achivements.
Me: I won/ have won an award in a nation wide contest for developers. I am so proud of it.
In this context, similarly would the present perfect better to use?
How about 2 awards in 2 different contests.
Me: I won/ have won 2 awards in two different nation wide contests for developers. I am so proud of them.
I see that both are possible, but my preference is still the present perfect. Using the present perfect gives me the impression that you still have the desire to win more awards in the future. It is not something that you did only once in the past and there is no chance to do it again.
@le12345 posted:Me: I worked/ have worked for two different companies. The first one, I worked for a factory specializing in textile, the second one, I worked for a fashion company.
Hello, le12345, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange.
I don't mean to interrupt the productive dialogue you are having with Ahmed, but I would like to suggest the following, which uses the present perfect in the first sentence and the simple past in a revised version of the second sentence.
@ahmed_btm posted:I see that both are possible, but my preference is still the present perfect. Using the present perfect gives me the impression that you still have the desire to win more awards in the future. It is not something that you did only once in the past and there is no chance to do it again.
(1) Me: I won an award in 2010. I am so proud of it.
=> I am talking about a past event in 2010. With the simple past, the sentence doesn't tell that if I want to join another contest in the future or not, it only describes a past event.
Because I think I can also say something like this:
Me: I won an award in 2010. I am so proud of it. I hope that I can get more award in this field in the future.
(2) Me: I have won an award . I am so proud of it.
=>With the present perfect, the sentence means that until now, I have a award now. This sentence also doesn't tell that if I want to join another contest in the future or not, it only describe a past event.
I think I also can say:
Me: I have won an award. I am so proud of it. But I don't want to join another contest anymore, because I now want to focus on researching.
That is my opinion, I don't know if my opinion correct or not.
If my opinion is correct, so what is the real difference between "won" and "have won" with a single sentence without time reference:
Me: Me: I won/ have won an award in a nation wide contest for developers. I am so proud of it.
@le12345 posted:(1) Me: I won an award in 2010. I am so proud of it.
=> I am talking about a past event in 2010. With the simple past, the sentence doesn't tell that if I want to join another contest in the future or not, it only describes a past event.
Because I think I can also say something like this:
Me: I won an award in 2010. I am so proud of it. I hope that I can get more award in this field in the future.
This is a completely different example. Here, you have specified the time of your winning, which means that only the past simple can be used. And, by the way, do you really expect your interviewer to believe that you still hope to win that award after 13 years?!
@le12345 posted:(2) Me: I have won an award . I am so proud of it.
=>With the present perfect, the sentence means that until now, I have a award now. This sentence also doesn't tell that if I want to join another contest in the future or not, it only describe a past event.
.
I think you don’t get my point. A retired player can say, ‘’I won the Champions League three times.’’ (That means until he retired). However, Moh Salah would say ‘‘I have won the Champions League three times.’’ (It means ‘until now’, which means that there is a possibility to win it more in the future.)
@le12345 posted:I think I also can say:
Me: I have won an award. I am so proud of it. But I don't want to join another contest anymore, because I now want to focus on researching.
That is my opinion, I don't know if my opinion correct or not.
If my opinion is correct, so what is the real difference between "won" and "have won" with a single sentence without time reference:
Me: Me: I won/ have won an award in a nation wide contest for developers. I am so proud of it.
In an interview, if you want to talk about your achievements, you can use either, as I said before, ‘won’ or ‘have won’. I can't relate your last sentence to the past simple only. It could be a recent action. How would the interviewer know that it is recent or not, particularly you haven't specified the time?! What I see better to use is ‘have won’. It is acceptable in both American and British English. ‘Won’ is also acceptable, especially in American English. You have seen David's reply here:
https://thegrammarexchange.inf...0#709807565922001200
David is not an ordinary American speaker, he is a highly cultured American speaker, and I consider him one of the best linguists in the world.
Hi ahmed_btm,
Thank you so much for your answer.
@ahmed_btm posted:Me: I won an award in 2010. I am so proud of it. I hope that I can get more award in this field in the future.This is a completely different example. Here, you have specified the time of your winning, which means that only the past simple can be used. And, by the way, do you really expect your interviewer to believe that you still hope to win that award after 13 years?!
I think you don’t get my point. A retired player can say, ‘’I won the Champions League three times.’’ (That means until he retired). However, Moh Salah would say ‘‘I have won the Champions League three times.’’ (It means ‘until now’, which means that there is a possibility to win it more in the future.)
Yes, I know that when I mention a specific time in the past (2010), I have to use the simple past. But what I want to say is that the use of tense (simple past or present perfect) doesn't affect the possibility to win more in the future.
(1) "I won an award in 2010. I am so proud of it. I hope that I can get more awards in this field in the future."
I agree with you that a retired player must use the simple past "I won the Champions League three times." But if he is not retired, his career is still going on now, with present perfect:
(2)"I have won the Champions League three times, but now I don't want to attend any tournaments anymore, I would like to focus on coaching."
Here, we use the present perfect, but no more possibility to win in the future.
As you can see:
(1) uses the simple past, but there are still possibilities to win more in the future.
(2) uses the present perfect, but there are no possibility to win more in the future.
@ahmed_btm posted:What I see better to use is ‘have won’. It is acceptable in both American and British English.
Yes, According to what David explain on that link, I agree that "have won" is better here because the interviewer wouldn't know or infer the time of winning.
@ahmed_btm posted:‘Won’ is also acceptable, especially in American English. You have seen David's reply here:https://thegrammarexchange.inf...0#709807565922001200
David is not an ordinary American speaker, he is a highly cultured American speaker, and I consider him one of the best linguists in the world.
On that link, David told me to use the present perfect for all the examples, so I think that @David, Moderator, as an American, he wouldn't choose the simple past "won".
This is only my personal opinion, Could you please help us confirm, David?
Hi, le 12345. I have been watching the progress of your discussion, I found your problem is due to your entanglement in the key difference between the past simple and the present perfect. The essence of the difference is not whether you still have possibilities to win that award or not. The key point is the present perfect tense is used when you are concerned about the status quo, the existing condition or state of affairs, while the past simple is used when you are concerned about what happened in the past; there is no association whatever with the possibilities at present or in the future. In an interview, what the interviewer is interested in is only the existing state of affairs, or rather the existing state of affairs resulting from your past experience, therefore, the appropriate tense is the present perfect tense, not the past simple, although it is grammatically permissible, yet it is situationally imapproriate.
Hi ahmed_btm , f6pafd.
I am much more clear. Thank you so much for your all help.
