I was busy as a bee this morning vs I have been busy as a bee this morning

[Irene29]

Hi,

I wonder when it’s possible to use the Past Simple and the Present Perfect in the following sentences:

I was busy as a bee this morning.
I have been busy as a bee this morning.

I presume the Past Simple is used when the speaker says that in the afternoon or in the evening. And the Present Perfect can be used until the end of the morning.

Am I right?

[Beeesneees]

That’s a reasonable rule of thumb for that sentence, Irene, but it is not really quite as simple as that, and you should not apply the same rule in all cases.

[Irene29]

Thanks, Bev!

[Canadian45]

@Irene29

Hi,

I wonder when it’s possible to use the Past Simple and the Present Perfect in the following sentences. [color=blue]Sentences are ended with periods, not colons.
I was busy as a bee this morning.
I have been busy as a bee this morning.

I presume the Past Simple is used when the speaker says that in the afternoon or in the evening. And the Present Perfect can be used until the end of the morning.

Am I right? [color=blue]no
[color=blue] It’s not just a matter of when you say it, but is also a matter of whether the busy time has or has not ended. Of course, if you were only busy in the morning and it is now afternoon, use the past tense.
If it’s still the morning but you are no long busy, again use past tense. If it’s still the morning and you are still busy, use present perfect tense.

[Beeesneees]

@Irene29

Hi,

I wonder when it’s possible to use the Past Simple and the Present Perfect in the following sentences.

@Canadian45

[color=blue]Sentences are ended with periods, not colons.

Irene’s use of a colon preceding exemplar sentences there was perfectly acceptable.

[Canadian45]

@Beeesneees

@Irene29

Hi,

Irene’s use of a colon preceding exemplar sentences [color=blue]Those sentences are not even on the same line.
there was perfectly acceptable.

[color=blue]No it’s not! Just because you do that, and people follow you, doesn’t make it correct.

[Beeesneees]

The colon is used to indicate that what follows it is an explanation or elaboration of what precedes it. A colon can introduce a list. It just happens to be a list of sentences under discussion in that post.

[Canadian45]

@Beeesneees

The colon is used to indicate that what follows it is an explanation or elaboration of what precedes it. A colon can introduce a list. [color=blue]Yes, but not the way [color=blue]you use it! It just happens to be a list of sentences under discussion in that post.

[Beeesneees]

@Beeesneees

It just happens to be a list of sentences under discussion in that post.