Writeacher, here is my today's post.
I varied my name from Henry to Matthew because there are too many Henry on Jiskha!!! In this way I can get to my post more easily.
Imagine you have been on holiday with your family. Write an email to a friend telling him/her all your news and what you have done recently.
1) I went to London last week. I have seen (saw) Madame Tousseaux Museum and it was fantastic! I have also eaten (ate?) a typical English food called ..
I hope that you have had a lot of fun.
2) This week I have been on holiday with my family. I couldn't write to you because I've had a busy month.
3) I've bought a surf board and I've learned how to surf with a trainer (surf instructor??). I've also tried some tropical fruits like....
4) On the island there were a lot of things to do but the best (thing?) was the visit of the island's jungle.
Is it correct to switch from the present perfect to the past? Which of the above tenses are wrong? Thank you.
You should use simple past to indicate a past action that is over and done with. Use a present perfect to indicate a past action that is still continuing.
1) I went to London last week. I saw Madame Tousseaux Museum, and it was fantastic! I also ate a typical English food called ..
I hope that you have had a lot of fun. (This implies that "you" is still there and is still vacationing in London.)
2) OK
3) I bought a surf board and learned how to surf from an instructor. I've also tried some tropical fruit, such as ...
(Is he still trying different types of fruit??)
4) On the island, there were many things to do, but best of all was the visit to the island's jungle.
("a lot" = singular & needs a singular verb; "many" = plural & needs a plural verb)
It seems like you are asking if it is correct to switch from the present perfect tense to the past tense in your post. Let's take a look at each sentence individually to determine if there are any errors:
1) "I went to London last week. I have seen (saw) Madame Tussauds Museum and it was fantastic! I have also eaten (ate?) a typical English food called..."
In this sentence, it would be more consistent to use the past tense throughout because you are talking about specific actions that happened in the past. Therefore, you can revise the sentence as follows: "I went to London last week. I saw Madame Tussauds Museum, and it was fantastic! I also ate a typical English food called..."
2) "This week I have been on holiday with my family. I couldn't write to you because I've had a busy month."
This sentence is correct. You are using the present perfect tense to talk about an activity that started in the past (going on holiday) and is still ongoing (not being able to write), which is appropriate.
3) "I've bought a surfboard and I've learned how to surf with a trainer (surf instructor??). I've also tried some tropical fruits like..."
This sentence is correct. You are using the present perfect tense to describe actions that have occurred in the past (buying a surfboard, learning how to surf, trying tropical fruits).
4) "On the island, there were a lot of things to do but the best (thing?) was the visit of the island's jungle."
This sentence is also correct. You are using the past tense to talk about the past situation on the island, so it is appropriate.
To summarize, it is generally more consistent to stick to either the present perfect or the past tense when writing about past events. However, there can be some variations and combinations depending on how you want to express your ideas. In the examples above, all the tenses used are appropriate and convey the intended meanings.