Please explain this grammar from an ESL perspective?

Question

Here's the sentence from a practice TOEIC exam: "As you know, he WAS previously MANAGING our Texas outfit, but he HAS just ARRIVED this morning . . . " (caps indicate blanks. can't figure out how to underline here)

Why can't we say, He HAS previously MANAGED . . ." in ths sentence? I am teaching a TOEIC class and I can't explain this grammar. I know that British English uses "has" more than we Yanks do. (I would just say, "He just arrived . . ." Please explain this in simple terms for a non-native speaker. Thanks!

Answer 1

You could use HAS/MANAGED if the clause stood alone, but in the context it would be confusing. Because you're talking about two time periods (the time period when he managed the Texas outfit and this morning/today) in one sentence, it's best to use a past tense (here, the past continuous) to indicate that one is finished (the time he was in Texas) and one (this morning/today) is still in progress.

Answer 2

It is a continuous action in the past interrupted by a new action. It would be the difference between imperfect which are continuous or ongoing actions and a form of preterite which is a simple action interrupting the ongoing action. I was watching television when I received a phone call.

Answer 3

I think it's better this way: "he IS previously MANAGING our texas outfit, but he HAD just ARRIVED this morning." but it still depends what you mean by your sentence. you should consider context right?the sentence is right (for me) but i don't know what you really want to say in your statement. =)

Answer 4

Has managed: present perfect. HAS/HAVE + [past participle]
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

Was managing: past continuous tense. WAS / WERE + [verb]+ing
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html