This lessons gives you an overview of the present perfect tense in English Grammar. More free lessons can be found on the website of Language Open Learning - http://www.LanguageOpenLearning.com

1. Present Perfect Tense
Language Open Learning English
Grammar Guide

2. Present Perfect
The form:
Present tense of auxiliary verb – have + past
participle (verb 3)
– I have decided to leave tomorrow (regular)
– She has written an email to David (irregular)
In speech and informal, we use contractions
– I’ve decided
– She’s written
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3. Present Perfect
Questions and negatives:
Question form – invert the subject and have
– Have you decided yet?
Negatives – use not and contractions
– She has not written the email.
– She hasn’t written the email.
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4. Present Perfect
Describes past events that connect to the present:
3. Experiences in our life up to now.
– Have you visited any other countries?
– Yes, I’ve been to Spain and Portugal.
Nb - No Time expressions as no individual event.
For individual events – use past simple
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5. Present Perfect
Describes past events that connect to the present:
2. An event in the past that has a result in the
present.
– Jayne has broken her pencil.
– I’ve hurt my foot
Nb. No time expressions as these are not important.
Use past simple to say when the event
happened.
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6. Present Perfect
Describes past events that connect to the present:
3. Situation that started in the past and continues to
the present
– I’ve lived here for ten years
– I’ve often seen Paul with his dog in the park
Nb – time expression – shows how long or how
often the event happens
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7. Present Perfect
Describes past events that connect to the
present:
4. Completion – describes how many things are
completed so far.
– I’ve read a hundred pages of this book
Nb – the exact time is not mentioned
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8. Present Perfect
Describes past events that connect to the
present:
1 – Experiences in our life upto now
2 – A past event with a result in the present
3 – past situation continues to present
4 - completion
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9. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• Ever, never
– Have you ever eaten Chinese food?
– No, I’ve never eaten it
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10. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• Yet, so far
Yet – questions and negative sentences
So far – questions and positive sentences
– Have you finished this book yet? No, I’m on p56
– How many pages have you read? I’ve read 56 pages
so far
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11. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• already
Positive sentences –
describe an action which happened
before
– When are you going to finish your book?
– I’ve already finished it
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12. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• just
describes a very recent event
David has just phoned from the airport.
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13. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• Always, often etc (frequency adverbs)
These are used with both present simple and
present perfect
– He has always loved you (a state)
– We have often visited Spain (a repeated event)
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14. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• for, since
For – length of a period of time
– Tom has worked here for three months
Since – describes the point when the time started
– Tom has worked here since July 5th
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15. Present Perfect
Time Expressions
• Ever, never
• Yet, so far
• Already
• Just
• Always, often etc
• For, since
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