Grammar for Speaking & Listening
  • Present Perfect

    • 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

    1. Narrate in present
    2. Use tense to communicate changes in time while narrating
    3. 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.

    1. An experience in general, not a specific event in the past
    2. Changes over time
    3. Accomplishments
    4. Happened multiple times
    5. 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

    InfinitiveSimple pastPast 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

    InfinitiveSimple pastPast 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

    InfinitiveSimple pastPast 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.

    Transcript Practice

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

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

    Transcript Answer Key

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

    1. I've never seen him before.
    2. I've never been sick before.
    3. I've come to talk with you again.
    4. I've made changes for you, Shrek.
    5. How long has he been gone?
    6. I've come to say good bye.
    7. Commuting to work by bike has risen by about 60% in 10 years.
    8. Alice has escaped.
    9. I've made a decision.
    10. Have you ever imagined a future with me?
    11. My dream has come true.
    12. The maniac Boov has ruined everything.
    13. Their mother has not eaten for five months and has lost half of her body weight.
    14. Something wonderful has happened.
    15. 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.

    1. Nurture in nature: Top 5 species used in medicine (reading) from CSIROscope
    2. How the study of insects can help us discover cures and manage our environment (video) from Science Philanthropy Alliance
    3. 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

    1. 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.
    2. The student will say the sentence to the class.
        • Ex. I have never gone swimming in the ocean
    3. 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."
    4. The last person to write "I have" will be it next.
    5. 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.
        • 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.

     

    This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.

    Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/advanced_low_listening__speaking/present_perfect.