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In spite of several reminders, he did not so far send any reply to my letters.

The above sentence is incorrect whereas the correct version is:

In spite of several reminders, he has not so far send any reply to my letters."

Why do we use has but not did in this sentence?

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  • In fact, did is correct in that sentence, although I'd probably put so far in commas. In order for has to be grammatical the verb would need to be sent not send.
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 4:43

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Actually the first is grammatically correct, though a little awkward, the second is wrong.

The essence of both is the verbal construct. In the first we have:

did not send

This is perfectly valid. "Did" is a helper for the negation "not".

In the second we have

has not send (sic)

This second is incorrect. What you are probably going for is (to have with the past participle):

has not sent

Which is the present perfect form of "to send", essentially meaning that the action of sending (letters) which should have happened in the past and completed now, did not happen.

Were you to correct the "send" in the second to "sent" both would be valid, with slightly different meanings. The first is emphasizing the present state of there having been no letters sent, whereas the second emphasizing the continuous nature, a process in time when letters would have expect to have been sent, but were not. (The difference is in the verb's aspect.)

The sentences are both awkward because the adverbial phrase "so far" is in an odd place. This might better be extracted. The sentence could be written better as:

In spite of several reminders, he did not send any reply to my letters so far.
In spite of several reminders, he has not sent any reply to my letters so far.

Or better:

Despite several reminders he did not reply to any of my letters so far.
Despite several reminders he has not replied to any of my letters so far.
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  • 2
    The first may be correct in American English (where "he didn't do it yet" seems acceptable) but it's not correct in British English.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 7:08
  • Yes - it's about the accepted use of yet etc with the simple past. oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/yet_1 Usage note : already / just / yet Already and yet [and apparently 'so far'] are usually used with the present perfect tense, but in North American English they can also be used with the simple past tense:I already did it. ◇ Did you eat yet?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 9:09
  • @AndrewLeach, I am originally British, and it sounds perfectly fine to me. I might very well lament that you did not explain your objection, but that would be rather circular.
    – Fraser Orr
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 14:56
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This is really a question about the difference between the past tense (‘he did not send’) and the present perfect construction (‘he has not sent’) with which foreign learners have some difficulty, and which frequently arises here.

You need the present perfect in your example, because one of its uses is to refer to time up until the time of speaking. The words so far make it clear that that is the case.

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  • 'British-English' specific 'requirement'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 9:11
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"In spite of several reminders,he DID not so far send any reply to my letters."

here so far denotes the process is continuous in the present also , so it is the process of present continuous tense not past tense, Thus HAS is used not DID.

if the sentence is "In spite of several reminders,he DID not send any reply to my letters in past month." That would be correct.

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  • The OP's question has since been re-formatted. You might want to change the formatting of your answer too. :)
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 19, 2013 at 5:11

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