Present perfect Present perfect simple · TEAM UP – PT Grammar © StandFor Present perfect To form the past participle of regular verbs we add -ed to the base form. This is the

TEAM UP – PT Grammar © StandFor

Present perfect

Present perfect simple

We form the Present perfect simple with:

have / has + past participle of the main verb

They have left. Daniel has come back. The students have done all their homework. I have lost my umbrella. My brother has broken his leg.

The past participle of go can be gone (= gone and still there), or been (= gone and come back)

Mom has gone to the supermarket. (and she is still there)

Mom has been to the supermarket. (and she has now come back)

In the negative form the sentence pattern is:

subject + have / has + not + past participle

The teacher hasn’t given any homework.

In questions the sentence pattern is:

have / has + subject + past participle

Have you seen my MP3 player?

In short answers we repeat the pronoun and the auxiliary verb have / has:

Yes, + subject + have / has No, + subject + haven’t / hasn’t

Have you had breakfast? Yes, I have.

Wh- question words come before the auxiliary verb have / has.

What have you bought?

Where has she gone?

Full form

I have been you have gone

he has finished she has read it has eaten

we have played you have had they have done

Short form

I’ve been you’ve gone

he’s finished she’s read it’s eaten

we’ve played you’ve had they’ve done

Full form

I have not been you have not gone

he has not finished she has not read it has not eaten

we have not played you have not had they have not done

Short form

I haven’t been you haven’t gone

he hasn’t finished she hasn’t read it hasn’t eaten

we haven’t played you haven’t had they haven’t done

Full form

Have I been…? Have you gone…?

Has he finished…? Has she read…? Has it eaten…?

Have we played…? Have you had…? Have they done…?

Affirmative form (✓) Negative form (✗) Questions (?)

Have you ever tried Chinese food, Grandma? No, I haven’t!


Present perfect

To form the past participle of regular verbs we add -ed to the base form. This is the same as the Simple past (see Simple past – Spelling, page 66).

Many common verbs have an irregular past participle (see the list of irregular verbs in the inside cover of your Personal Toolkit).

! Be careful: the Present perfect may look like a past tense in your language, but the meaning may be different. In English we use the Present perfect when a past action or event has a connection with the present.

We can use the Present perfect:

to talk about a past action which has a result in the present. We don’t say the exact time of the past action or event.

Sandy’s gone home. (= she isn’t here now)

Nick’s bought a new skateboard. (= he’s got a new skateboard now)

Who has taken my backpack?

He’s eaten all the candy! There isn’t any left.

with ever in questions (= at any time), never in statements (= at no time), and time expressions like once, twice, many times.

Ever and never come before the past participle. Other time expressions

come at the end of the sentence. Have you ever tried Japanese food? No, I’ve never tried it. Yes, I’ve tried it many times. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.

We can use ever in affirmative sentences after superlatives.

It really is the most interesting thing I’ve ever done!

with recently, so far, since…, for a long time, for ages, etc.

You must be hungry. You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.

Have you bought any new CDs recently?

to talk about recent completed or non-completed actions or events. We can use the present perfect with just ( = a short time ago), already ( = sooner than expected), yet (= until now, in questions), not… yet (in negative statements).

Just and already come before the past participle. Yet comes at the end of

the sentence or question. I’ve just sent an email. We’ve already done the homework. Has the dog eaten yet? No, it hasn’t eaten yet.

to refer to an unfinished period of time. We can use the present perfect with today, this morning / week / month / year / fall, etc.

It has rained a lot this fall.

I haven’t seen Dad today.

Jason hasn’t studied very hard this year.

to say that it’s the first, second, etc. time something has happened. This is the first time I’ve flown. I am terrified!

visit talk enjoy study stop

Base form

visited talked enjoyed studied stopped

Simple past

visited talked enjoyed studied stopped

Past participle

have be eat get up lose come think

Base form

had was / were ate got up lost came thought

Simple past

had been eaten gotten up lost come thought

Past participle


Present perfect

We can use the Present perfect simple when an action or situation started in the past and still exists in the present.

I’ve always lived in the downtown area. (And I still live there.)

To talk about actions which continue from the past to the present we use the present perfect with for or since.

To say how long something has lasted we use for + a period of time.

I’ve been here for an hour! She has lived there for three years. We’ve known him for a long time.

To say when something began we use since + the start of a period.

I’ve been here since two o clock! She has lived there since 2007. We’ve known him since we were children.

After for we can use time expressions like: two hours, a long time, a week, four days, years, etc. After since we can use time expressions like: breakfast, lunchtime, June, Friday, Easter, he arrived, etc.

When we want to know how long something has lasted, we make questions with:

How long + have / has + subject + past participle

How long have you been here?

How long has she lived there?

How long have you known him?

Present perfect simple with for / since

Affirmative form

1 Complete the sentences with the Present perfect of the verbs in parentheses.

My parents (travel) _______________ a lot.

1 We (finish) ______________ our homework.

2 My friend Daniel (study) ______________ hard this week.

3 You (watch) ______________ a lot of TV recently.

4 You (come) ______________ too early!

5 My brother (eat) ______________ all my candy.

6 My mother (speak) ______________ to my teachers.

7 I (have) ______________ a terrible headache all day.

8 Amelie (spend) ______________ a lot of money.

Negative form and questions

2 Write negative sentences and questions.

Mom’s gone to work.

1 They’ve seen my new skateboard.

2 She’s gone to Paris.

3 Beth’s invited all her friends to her party.

4 Mom’s made a really good cake.

5 They’ve visited New York.

6 Kyle’s written an e-mail to his e-pal.

7 I’ve bought a new English dictionary.

8 Sandy’s washed her hair.

have traveled

Mom hasn’t gone to work.Has Mom gone to work?

Don’t feed the dog, dear. He has

already eaten.


Present perfect

you / speak to a rock star? never

3 Make questions with ever. Then write the answers.

Have you ever spoken to a rock star? No, we’ve never spoken to a rock star.

Ewan / be to Barcelona? once

1 ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

Louise / be on a plane? never

2 __________________________ __________________________ __________________________

Liam and Dale / sleep in a tent? never

3 ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

you / try Japanese food? many times

4 __________________________ __________________________ __________________________

Affirmative and negative forms, and questions

4 Use the prompts to make sentences in the Present perfect.

I / already / see / that movie / .

1 We / not / have / any news from them / yet / .

2 They / just / go out / .

3 you / recently / meet Sharon / ?

4 Grace / yet / clean her room / ?

5 Yes, / I / already / speak to your teachers / .

6 Dad / not / read today’s newspaper / yet / .

7 I / already / wash the dishes / this evening / .

8 No, / Kieran / never / play golf / .

For and since

5 Complete the sentences with for or since.

She’s been my best friend ____________ ten years.

She’s been my best friend ____________ we were children.

1 I’ve been at home ____________ half an hour.

2 We’ve had this car ____________ last year.

3 I’ve known the truth ____________ yesterday.

4 Sheila’s lived in London ____________ ten years.

5 It hasn’t been sunny ____________ many weeks.

6 I haven’t eaten chocolate cake ____________ my birthday!

I’ve already seen that movie.

for

since


Present perfect

Present perfect / Simple past

Affirmative

Negative

Questions

Wh- question

He ate Indian food last week.

He didn’t eat Indian food yesterday.

Did he eat Indian food last month?

What did he eat last night?

Simple past (Completed actions or situations. Specific time in the past)

I’ve eaten Indian food recently.

I’ve never eaten Indian food.

Have you ever eaten Indian food?

What have you eaten today?

Present perfect (Unfinished situations. Non specific time in the past.)

We use the Simple past

to talk about a completed action, a completed situation, or a repeated

action in the past.

to say when something happened.

With When…? in questions.

We use the auxiliary did for questions and didn’t for the negative form.

We use the Present perfect:

to talk about recent actions or events, or past actions with a result in the

present, or for a period of time which continues until now.

have / has in questions and haven’t / hasn’t in the negative form.

With How long…? in information questions.

The Present Perfect / The Simple past

I saw her yesterday. I’ve just seen her.

Did you play tennis last Saturday? Have you ever played tennis?

We studied Spanish two years ago. We have studied Spanish for two years.

When did you study Spanish? How long have you studied Spanish?

In conversation we often use present perfect (for a present situation) and simple past (for a past action) together.

Have you ever been to Greece? Yes, I have. I went there last summer.

6 Circle the correct form of the verb.

I have gone / went to New York last year.

1 We have seen / saw a good movie last week.

2 I took / have taken a lot of pictures last summer.

3 I haven’t phoned / didn’t phone my friend yet.

4 Daniel has already finished / already finished his homework.

5 The teacher corrected / has corrected our tests yesterday.

6 My sister has studied / studied Spanish this year.

7 Complete the paragraph with the present perfect or the simple past of the verbs in parentheses.

Hi Rachel, how are you? I’m really happy! Yesterday we arrived

(arrive) in New York. It’s wonderful! I 1 (already / see) _______________________ Central Park, but I 2 (not be / yet) _________ to the Statue of Liberty _________ . Last night we 3 (have) _________ dinner at an Italian restaurant. Today we 4 (not have / yet) _________ dinner _________ . I’ll write again soon. Bye!


Present perfect

Present perfect progressive

We form the present perfect progressive with:

subject + have / has been + -ing form of the main verb

He’s been working hard.

The -ing form is invariable. The auxiliary verb have changes depending on the subject and on whether the sentence is affirmative, negative or a question.

I have been waiting for hours.

The negative form is:

subject + have / has + not (n’t) been + -ing form of the main verb, but we usually use the short form.

He has not been living there for long. He hasn’t been living there for long.

In short answers we repeat the pronoun and the auxiliary verb have / has:

Yes, + subject + have / has No, + subject + haven’t / hasn’t

Have you been waiting for long? No, I haven’t.

Has she been studying for long? Yes, she has.

Wh- questions come before the auxiliary verb have / has.

What have you been doing recently?

When we want to know how long something has been in progress we make questions with:

How long + have / has + subject + been + -ing form of the main verb

How long have you been waiting?

I have been runningYou have been cooking

He has been readingShe has been waitingIt has been raining

We have been workingYou have been dancingThey have been crying

I’ve been runningYou’ve been cooking

He’s been readingShe’s been waitingIt’s been raining

We’ve been workingYou’ve been dancingThey’ve been crying

Short formFull form

I haven’t been runningYou haven’t been eating

He hasn’t been readingShe hasn’t been waitingIt hasn’t been raining

We haven’t been workingYou haven’t been dancingThey haven’t been crying

Short form

Have I been running?Have you been eating?

Has he been reading?Has she been waiting?Has it been raining?

Have we been working?Have you been dancing?Have they been crying?

Questions (?)

Negative form (✗)

Full form

Affirmative form (✓)

You’ve been texting all day!


Present perfect

We use the Present perfect progressive:

to talk about progressive actions which have recently stopped and

have a result in the present. I’m tired. I’ve been working very hard.

to talk about progressive or repeated actions which started in the past and

continue up to now. The action can still be happening or have just stopped. It has been raining all day, and now it’s sunny. I’ve been calling her all afternoon.

to talk about actions which started in the past and are still in progress in

the present. I’ve been learning Chinese for 3 years.

to talk about actions repeated over a period of time.

She’s been playing tennis since she was 10.

To say how long a progressive action has been in progress, we use for + a

period of time. How long has she been teaching music? She’s been teaching music for over 12 years.

To say when a progressive action began, we use since + the start of a

period. Nick is still texting his friends. He’s been texting since lunchtime!

We use the Present perfect progressive with action verbs only. We don’t use it with stative verbs (see Stative verbs, page 61). We don’t generally use the Present perfect progressive with verbs like know, like, hate believe, have (got).

How long have you known each other?

I’ve known her since we were young.

With live, work, teach we can use either the Present perfect progressive or simple.

We use the Present perfect simple for long, settled situations.

I’ve lived here since I was born.

We use the Present perfect progressive for shorter and temporary actions, or to emphasize the duration of the action.

I’ve been living here for two months, but I’m moving next week.

We don’t often use the negative form of the Present perfect progressive unless we want to emphasize the duration of the action or contrast it with another action.

I haven’t been studying Spanish for long, but I’ve learned a lot.

I haven’t been running. I’ve been jogging.

In negative statements we often prefer to use the Present perfect simple.

I haven’t watched TV for ages. You haven’t phoned since last Saturday!

1 Complete the sentences with the Present perfect progressive of the verbs in parentheses.

I’m fed up. She ________________ (talk) about her problems all day.

1 I _______________ (organize) the party all week.

2 They are breathless. They _______________ (run) for hours.

3 You’re a TV addict. You _______________ (watch) TV all day.

4 I _______________ (decorate) my bedroom, and I’m exhausted!

5 My little brother _______________ (play) computer games for hours.

6 It _______________ (rain) for two days!

has been talking


Affirmative (✓)

I have fixed my bike. It’s OK now.


I’ve been fixing my bike all afternoon.


Present perfect

2 Put the words in the right order.

crying / the / been / since / left / I / has / baby / ? Has the baby been crying since I left?

1 studying / hasn’t / for long / she / been / .

2 many years / has / Mrs Reynolds / singing / for / been / .

3 all afternoon / been / onions / chopping / you / have / ?

4 piano / for / teaching / been / he / 15 years / has / .

5 we / since / what / been / have / you / last met / doing / ?

6 too much / have / eating / you / lately / been / chocolate / .

3 Write questions and answers. Use the Present perfect progressive and for or since.

you / wait (half an hour) How long have you been waiting? I’ve been waiting for half an hour.

1 they / learn Japanese (6 months) _____________________________________ _____________________________________

2 your friend / live in New York? (last June) _____________________________________ _____________________________________

3 the children / study (three hours) _____________________________________ _____________________________________

4 Mom / cook (two o’clock) _____________________________________ _____________________________________

5 Dad / work in the garden (breakfast) _____________________________________ _____________________________________

6 you / read that book (last month) _____________________________________ _____________________________________

Present perfect simple / Present perfect progressive

I haven’t played that game for ages.

I haven’t been playing that game for an hour, only for fifteen minutes.



Negative (✗)

Have you ever been to the USA?

Have you been waiting for long?



Questions (?)

How long have you known Emma?

How long have you been learning English?



Wh- questions


Present perfect

4 Circle the correct verb tense.

Ouch! I’ ve cut / ve been cutting my finger!

1 Dad has had / has been having his car for ten years.

2 I’ ve met / ve been meeting your brother three or four times.

3 You have eaten / have been eating all day!

4 We have sat / have been sitting here all morning.

5 I’m tired. I have cleaned up / have been cleaning up since eight o’clock.

6 Our team has scored / has been scoring two goals.

5 Complete the sentences with the Present perfect simple or progressive of the verbs in parentheses.

I (go) __________________ to the gym for a year.

1 My brother (use) ________________ the computer since eight o’clock this morning!

2 Great! I (do) ________________ all my homework. Now I can go out with my friends.

3 Our parents (buy) ________________ a new house. We’re going to move soon.

4 I (meet) ________________ two friends of mine this morning.

5 He’s so boring! He (talk) ______________ about himself all evening.

6 Everything’s wet. It (rain) _______________ for a week.

have been going

Both the Present perfect simple and the Present perfect progressive relate a past action to the present.

We use the Present perfect simple for recent, completed actions, and when we want to emphasize achievements or results.

I’ve written an e-mail.

I’ve written five e-mails this morning.

The teacher’s angry because we haven’t done our homework.

I’ve eaten too much chocolate. I feel ill.

We can use both stative and action verbs in the Present perfect simple.

We use the auxiliary verb have / has / haven’t / hasn’t + past participle.

We can use the Present perfect simple with ever / never, already / just / yet, for / since.

Have you heard their new CD yet? It’s amazing!

I’m not going to watch the movie on TV tonight. I’ve already seen it.

We use the Present perfect progressive for completed or non completed actions, and when we want to emphasize the duration of an activity.

How long have you been playing the piano? I’ve been playing the piano all morning.

How long has she been learning the violin? She’s been learning the violin for two years.

In the Present perfect progressive we can use action verbs only. We can’t use stative verbs.

We use the auxiliary verb have / has / haven’t / hasn’t + been + -ing form of the main verb.

We don’t generally use the negative form.

We can use the Present perfect progressive with for or since.

How long have you been learning Spanish?

I’ve been learning Spanish for two years.

I’ve been learning Spanish since I was 12.

Documents

Present perfect Present perfect simple · TEAM UP – PT Grammar © StandFor Present perfect To form the past participle of regular verbs we add -ed to the base form. This is the