Present perfect

PRESENT PERFECT

T E N S E

Look at the following sentences:

1. The men paint the house.

2. The men painted the house.

3. The men have painted the house.

(Present Tense)

(Past Tense)

(Present Perfect Tense)

Present Perfect Tense Made up of

“ have /has” + past participle form of verb

Present

eat

write

Past

ate

wrote

Present participle

eating

writing

Past Participle

eaten

written

“has/have” + eaten

“has/have” + ate /eat/eating ×

When do we use the Present Perfect Tense?

Examples: You have seen that movie many times.

Have you seen that movie many times?

You have not seen that movie many times.

We use the Present Perfect Tense to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now.

The exact time is not important.

“I think I have met him once before”.

He went for a Gym class yesterday.

He has gone for Gym class yesterday.

×

In using the Present Perfect tense:

-we cannot include the time of action.

“ He has eaten the bread.”

We can use the Present Perfect Tense to describe our experience.

Example: I have been to France.

This sentence means that you have had the experience of being in France. But we don’t know the exact time.

ACTIVITY

Pretend that you are a detective investigating a crime that just took place.

You are to come up with a crime scene report using 8 Present Perfect Tenses in your report.

e.g.

1. When we arrived at the scene of the crime, it seemed that the

suspect has just left the building.

Footprints

Goldfish from the fish bowl.

Piggy Bank

Can of blue paint

Half eaten chocolate candy

2. The burglar has left the Kitchen in a mess. We guess he/she was clumsy!

3. We suppose that the burglar was hungry! We have found a half eaten chocolate candy.

4. It seemed that the burglar has tried to eat the fish! So once more we believe he/she was hungry.

5. He/she was also afraid of water. He/She has left the tap open but hasn’t been able to turn it off.

6. It seems that time hasn´t been enough for the burglar to eat the poor Goldfish. They have been put into the water sink.

7. It was a strange burglary??? The Thief has decided to paint the Kitchen’s floor with blue paint. Well… He was no Picasso!

The burglar hasn’t stolen nothing at all!!!

He was barefoot?!

Who has been the burglar?

Recap:

1.The present perfect tense is made up of ________ a. has/have + present participle

b. had + past participle

c. has/have + past participle form of verb

2. In using the Present Perfect Tense, we should not include ____________

a. the completed action

b. the time in which the action was completed

c. the action

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