Present Perfect

Narrate & Describe

In this section, we will review the basics of tense and aspect. We will practice applying different aspects when speaking in the present.

Objectives

Narrate in present
Use tense to communicate changes in time while narrating
Communicate changes in flow of action with aspect changes

Narrations & Descriptions

When we talk about narrations in terms of grammar and language, there are two very important vocabulary words: tense and aspect. These two concepts give us different, but essential, information about the story we are listening to.

Tense: tells us WHEN in time a verb occurred. Think of this as a timeline.
Aspect: adds information by telling us HOW that verb occurred in that time. Was it continuous? Or was the action in one particular moment?

Present Perfect

The third aspect we will discuss is present perfect. We use present perfect to talk about an action that has already happened once or many times before this moment. We use this when we are talking about an event that happened in an unspecified time.

An experience in general, not a specific event in the past
Changes over time
Accomplishments
Happened multiple times
Something you are waiting for but you expect will happen

For example:

You have been to Thailand. (The speaker does not want to give details or a narration but is just stating the fact. It is not specified when or how many times.)

The population of the city has increased. (Change over time, the timeframe does not matter to the speaker)

The university has won many awards. (accomplishment)

I have heard this song on the radio so many times! (multiple times, when is not important)

The teacher hasn't posted our grades yet (something you expect will happen in the future)

Structure of Present Perfect

Present Perfect has two pieces: the auxiliary had and a past participle. A past participle can sometimes look like the past form of the word or can be totally different. Here are some examples.

The class hasn't started yet.

There has been construction on this road for a long time.

They have watched the videos for class.

You have paid for the class.

Many past participles are regular and follow the pattern of adding -ed, -ed, or -ied to make the simple past and past participle forms. However, there are irregular verbs that change in these different forms.

Examples of irregular verbs with the same infinitive, simple past, and past participle forms

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
to cut to hit to let to put	cut hit let put	cut hit let put

Examples of irregular verbs with different infinitive, simple past, and past participle forms

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
to give to grow to mistake to do	gave grew mistook did	given grown mistaken done

Examples of irregular verbs with the same simple past and past participle but different infinitive forms

Infinitive	Simple past	Past participle
to buy to pay to meet to keep	bought paid met kept	bought paid met kept

Exercise 1: Listen

Watch this video with examples of present perfect. Notice that the clips from each video are very short. You need a combination of tense and aspect to make a conversation. It is very unnatural to use only one form.

Complete these sentences with has/have + the past participle you hear. You can check the spelling with the subtitles included in the video.

I___ never ___ him before.
I___ never ___ sick before.
I___ ___ to talk with you again.
I____ ___ changes for you, Shrek.
How long ___ he ___ gone?
I___ ___ to say good bye.
Commuting to work by bike ___ ___ by about 60% in 10 years.
Alice ___ ___ .
I___ ___ a decision.
___ you ever ___ a future with me?
My dream ___ ___ true.
The maniac Boov ___ ___ everything.
Their mother ___ not ___ for five months and ___ ___ half of her body weight.
Something wonderful ___ ___.
I___ ___ you so much.

Complete these sentences with has/have + the past participle you hear. You can check the spelling with the subtitles included in the video.

I've never seen him before.
I've never been sick before.
I've come to talk with you again.
I've made changes for you, Shrek.
How long has he been gone?
I've come to say good bye.
Commuting to work by bike has risen by about 60% in 10 years.
Alice has escaped.
I've made a decision.
Have you ever imagined a future with me?
My dream has come true.
The maniac Boov has ruined everything.
Their mother has not eaten for five months and has lost half of her body weight.
Something wonderful has happened.
I've missed you so much.

Exercise 2: Gratitude

Describe someone you are grateful for.
Focus on giving a description rather than telling stories about memories with that person.
Use a combination of simple, perfect, and progressive sentences.

Exercise 3: Mini-Presentation

Your teacher will assign you to a group of 3 students. Each student will choose one of these sources. You will take a little time to read or watch. You can take notes on the information. Think about what information was most interesting or important. Share that information with your group. Your group can ask questions. If you did not hear the answer in the source, you can try finding the answers on the internet.

Nurture in nature: Top 5 species used in medicine (reading) from CSIROscope
How the study of insects can help us discover cures and manage our environment (video) from Science Philanthropy Alliance
Zebrafish Research (video) from Johns Hopkins Zebrafish Facility

Exercise 4: Guess Who

You will write 6 sentences about yourself using simple present and present perfect. Use the chart to think of different information you can include.
- ex. I have a dog. I have traveled to England. There are 5 people in my family. I run a mile every day. I don't like peanut butter. My favorite food is macaroni and cheese.
When you have your sentences, you will send them to your teacher privately.
Your teacher will then send you 6 sentences from one of your classmates.
You will read the sentences to the class and everyone will try to guess who wrote the sentences.

Exercise 5: Never Have I Ever

Your teacher will choose one student to be it.* This student will think of a NEGATIVE present perfect sentence. This needs to be a true statement for that person.
The student will say the sentence to the class.
- Ex. I have never gone swimming in the ocean
All students will write "I have" or "I haven't" in the Zoom chat.
- Ex. If I have gone swimming in the ocean, I will write "I have."
The last person to write "I have" will be it next.
The student will say the next negative present perfect sentence.
- If you want to make the game a little more interesting, you can ask the last person to write "I have" for more details about the experience.
  1. Ex. I have gone swimming in the ocean. My home is close to the beach, and the weather is hot in the summer. My family goes swimming often.

*Cultural Note: When we play games where one person does one thing while the others do something else, we call that person it. For example, if you are playing tag or hide and seek with children, they would ask who is going to be it first. That means they want to know who will be chasing or looking for the other players first.