First language can have an influence here too. Laura Collins investigated the different English verb forms used by French speakers. The past tense that is most commonly used in spoken French and that is usually a translation of a simple past form in English is form that resembles the present perfect in English. Thus, the equivalent of ’Yesterday he ate an apple’ is Hier il a mange une pomme—literally, ‘Yesterday he has eaten an apple’. Teachers often comment on French speakers’ tendency to overuse the present perfect. In Collins’ study, learners completed passages by filling in blanks with the appropriate from of a verb. In places where English speakers would have used the simple past, French speakers did sometimes use the perfect (either present perfect or past perfect) forms. Furthermore, they used them more frequently than a comparison group of Japanese speakers. However, the French speakers were more likely to use perfect forms for achievement and accomplishment verbs than for the states and activities. Collins observes, ‘The [first language]’ influence does not appear to override the effect of lexical aspect; rather it occurs within it’