grammaticality - Which is correct: "has died" or "died"?


To me, using Present Perfect form means the event can occur again. So, saying



someone has died



may not be grammatically correct.


Also, I noticed (it might be just coincidence):



passed away



is used more often than



has passed away



Is using Present Perfect correct here?



Answer



The Present Perfect Construction in English has the following uses (cf. McCawley 1971):




  • (a) The Universal sense of the Perfect, used to indicate that a state of affairs prevailed throughout some interval stretching from the past into the present
    • I've known Max since 1960.




  • (b) The Existential sense of the Perfect, used to indicate the existence of past events,
    • I have read Principia Mathematica five times.




  • (c) The Stative/Resultative sense of the Perfect,
    used to indicate that the direct effect of a past event still continues
    • I can't come to your party tonight - I've caught the flu.




  • (d) The Hot News sense of the Perfect, used to report hot news
    • Malcolm X has just been assassinated.




This, coupled with the prohibition on the use of Present Perfect with subjects who are dead



  • Madonna has visited Chicago.

  • *Einstein has visited Chicago.


means that X has died is only appropriate in a context in which
the speaker believes that the addressee would not yet know that X is dead.


Executive Summary: If it's Hot News, use the Present Perfect; but if it's Old News, simple past.




McCawley, James D. 1971. Tense and time reference in English.
In C. Fillmore and T. Langendoen (eds.), Studies in Linguistic Semantics
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp 96-113.



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