Saw

The imperfect tense of the verb to see is carele ly used by good writers and speakers when they should use the perfect; thus, "I never saw anything like it before," when the meaning intended is, "I have never [in all my life] seen anything like it before [until now]." We say properly, "I never saw anything like it when I was in Paris "; but, when the period of time referred to extends to the time when the statement is made, it must be have seen . Like mistakes are made in the use of other verbs, but they are hardly as common; yet we often hear such expre ions as, "I was never in Philadelphia," "I never went to the theatre in my life," instead of have been in Philadelphia, and have gone to the theatre.