THE PRESENT PERFECT

 

AFFIRMATIVE               NEGATIVE                     QUESTION

I have written                    I haven’t written               Have I written?

 

Usages

1st When we talk about finished actions/states that happened at an indefinite time. It refers to general experience without specific detail.

 

I have eaten octopus.

 

2nd When we are thinking about completed past actions carried out in an unfinished time period at the time of speaking.

 

It has rained a lot today. (i.e. the rain has stopped but it is still today.)

I have eaten eight cakes this afternoon.(I have eaten eight cakes this afternoon and maybe I'll eat some more later on.)

 

3rd When we talk about something which began in the past and is still true now, at the time of speaking. We don’t know if this is likely to continue or not.

 

We have lived in Paris for five years.

She has been a vegetarian since 1988. (I.e. -When did she become vegetarian? – 1988. Is she still vegetarian now? - Yes.)

 

4th When we describe past actions with present results.

 

Oh no! I’ve left my purse at home.

Can you help me? I’ve lost one of my contact lenses. (Lost in the past and still lost now).

Note: The following contractions are normally used in speech (see the examples in the 4th usage above and in the examples on the following page):

 

Long form becomes Contracted form

 

I have  - I’ve

You have -  You’ve

We have  - We’ve

They have  - They’ve

He has - He’s

She has - She’s

It has  - It’s

 

Since or for with the present perfect

 

We’ve lived here for five years.

I haven’t slept for 48 hours.

They’ve been at home since 8 o’clock.

She has been a doctor since September.

 

The rule with for or since:

 

We use for with periods of time. (e.g. a week, 6 months)

We use since with points of time. (e.g. Monday, 1984) to really mean ‘from’.

 

Gone or been (past participles)

She’s been to Turkey.

She’s gone to Turkey.

 

The rule with been or gone:

 

She’s been means the trip is finished.

She’s gone means he is still on his trip.

 

Irregular past participles

 

As we have already mentioned this verb tense requires the past participle. Unfortunately forEnglish language students many of these past participles are irregular (not formed according to aset pattern). With regular past participles the verb will end in ‘ed’, for example, worked, cooked, watched etc. Irregular verbs have no such pattern and have to be learnt from memory. Most dictionaries, course books and grammar reference materials will have complete tables of irregular verbs. Below are listed just some the most common verbs that have irregular past participles:

 

Verb                         Past participle    

be                                   been

bring                             brought

come                             come

do                                 done

drink                             drunk

eat                                  eaten

fall                                 fallen

feel                                felt

get                                 got

give                                given

go                                  gone

have                               had

hit                                  hit

leave                              left

lose                                lost

put                                 put

read                               read

say                                 said

see                                 seen

sell                                sold

sit                                  sat

speak                             spoken

swim                             swum

take                               taken

teach                             taught

tell                                 told

think                             thought

understand                    understood

wake                              woken

write                              written