A: Is David still here?
B: No, I'm afraid he isn't. He went out about ten minutes ago.
This dialogue is from Murphy's Grammar book. When I was doing this exercise I was pretty sure that the correct version is "he's gone", because "ten minutes ago" indicates present perfect. He just left. Why is it right to use the simple past tense here?
Answer
The present perfect is not permitted with ten minutes ago.
As explained here, the present perfect is a statement about the present, not about the past. Consequently it cannot be used with temporal expressions located entirely in the past, only with temporal expressions which include the present.
Ten minutes ago locates the departure in the past, and therefore requires a past tense. Since the departure was completed at that time, not continuing, a verb in ‘perfective’ aspect is required; in English, that aspect is expressed by the simple past.
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