Which is grammatically more correct?

Question

Whenever my answer is chosen as the best, I get the following message from Yahoo:

“Your answer to the following question really hit the spot and has been chosen as the best answer”

I think it is grammatically wrong and that it should be corrected as follows: Your answer to the following question HAS really hit the spot and WAS chosen as the best answer”

What do you think? And Why?

Thank you for your answer to my question in the Yahoo Answers “Which is grammatically more correct”.

Would you agree with the following?

Present Perfect Tense is used to describe an event that took place in the past without specifying the exact time it took place.

Eg: I HAVE READ the book “Da Vinci Code”

Past Tense is used to describe an event that took place in the past. Here the time it took place is indicated.

Eg: I READ the “Da Vinci Code” last week.

When describing an event that took place in the past without specifying when exactly it took place, we use Present Perfect Tense for the first verb and past tense for the subsequent verbs.

Eg: I HAVE READ “Da Vinci Code”. I LIKED it very much.

I hope to hear from you.

Answer 1

I think either is correct, but to my ears Yahoo's version sounds more fluent

The difference: Yahoo's version uses the past historic tnese for "hit" and the past perfect tense "has been chosen". You use the past perfect tense "Has hit the spot" and the past historic "was chosen."

Yahoo's version seems to relate the sequence of events more accurately.

Answer 2

Either way is GRAMMATICALLY correct, but here are the differences that might be irking you.

In meaning, Yahoo's version is more stable. The part about hitting the spot really stays the same with whatever version you use, yours or Yahoos . . without the "HAS", "really hit the spot" is taken as a past event, and inserting HAS just clarifies it more, which can be good sometimes. The part that really makes a difference is the part about the best answer.

In Yahoo's version, "Has been chosen" means that the answer was picked in the past "Has", but it is currently and permanently chosen. When you change it to your version and put "WAS chosen as the best answer", it can be confusing because although it may be interpreted the same way, it could also be interpreted as "Your answer WAS chosen, therefore another one could CURRENTLY be chosen". Yahoo's wording is more absolute and clear. Although the answer has obviously been chosen in the past since Yahoo is only NOW telling you that your answer was chosen, the answer is forever chosen therefore in the current tense, it has been chosen as the best overall.

I hope that makes sense to you? lol

Answer 3

I agree with you. When you receive this email, you have already been chosen as the best answer. Which means it is in the past tense. I agree the sentence should read as HAS and WAS. Grammar does not matter to many people. Unfortunately, neither does spelling. It ridiculous.

Answer 4

I've learned at school that the difference between the past tense and the present perfect one is as follows.

[hit the spot]
hit the spot at the past time but it's not sure whether so or not now.

[has hit the spot]
hit the spot at the past time and still hit the spot even now.

[was chosen]
was chosen at the past time but it's not sure whether so or not now.

[has been chosen]
was chosen at the past time and is still chosen now.

Answer 5

I think both are grammatically correct. Consider this:

"Your answer to the following question really hit the spot."
"Your throw to the dart board really hit the bull's eye."

As for the "was" versus "has been", both are acceptable too. "has been" denotes that the action has just occurred. Whereas "was" indicates that the action happened in the past. Both are true.

Answer 6

It's not grammatically incorrect. There are two separate clauses in the sentence, and therefore there can be two different verb tenses (simple past and present perfect). Another example, "I saw that movie yesterday and hope they make a sequel." (simple past, present)

Answer 7

The first one is gramatically correct because it is talking about the present and at that time they sent it, it was chosen. Now your way is not correct because that would mean that it was choosen sometime in the past.