Present Perfect Tense

or the most confusing tense you have

ever tried to understand !

BY : GROUP 5
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STATEMENT FORMULA
Positive (+) S + (have/has) + V-3 + O

Negative (-) S + (have/has) + not + V-3

+O
Interrogative (?) (have/has) + S + V-3 +O
Note :

Have is used for plural subject I, you,

they, we, but has is used for singular
subject she, he, it, and the third person
singular.
 What do you need
the Present Perfect for ?

• to tell what you have done recently/ lately.

• to tell what you have just or already done.
• to tell what you have never/ ever done.
• to tell what you have done so far/ up to now.
• to tell what you have done today/ this week/
this month/ this year.
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We form the present perfect tense
with have / has + past participle.

I
You have eaten an apple.
We
They

He
She has eaten an apple.
It
John
Example (1)
We use the Present Perfect tense to
show the result of an action.

e.g. (a) Ben is eating a chicken leg.

(b) Ben has eaten a chicken leg.

Example (2)
We cannot use the Present Perfect tense
with adverbs of time,
e.g. yesterday, two weeks ago.

 I have done my homework yesterday.

 I did my homework yesterday.

Already / yet
In the Present Perfect tense, we use
yet with questions or negative (no)
sentences.

Have you eaten the apples yet? (question)

‘Yet’ goes at the END of the sentence or question.

No, I haven’t eaten the apples yet. (negative)

Already / yet
In the Present Perfect tense, we use
already with positive (yes) sentences.

Have you eaten the apples yet? (question)

Yes, I’ve already eaten the apples. (positive)
‘Already’ goes in the MIDDLE or at the END of the sentence.

or Yes, I’ve eaten the apples already. (positive)

once / twice
In the Present Perfect tense, we use once
/twice to express frequency.

How many time have you given flowers to the

pop star ? (question)
I’ve given flowers to a pop star once only.
‘once’ goes at the END of the sentence.

or I’ve given flowers to a pop star only once.

 ever / never
In the Present Perfect tense, we use ever
(question) and never (answer) to express
frequency.

Have you ever celebrated the Cheung Chau Bun

Festival ? (question)

No,I’ve never celebrated the Cheung Chau Bun

Festival. (answer)
What is so confusing about it ?
• It can describe either
present or past
activities !

• There is no similar
grammatical item in
Polish !

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Why don’t you try some exercises?

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 Choose the correct answer.

• Peter ........never • Peter ........ has

watched „Maja never watched
bee”. „Maja Bee”.
• A) had
• B) have • Congratulations!
• C) has
• D) none of these
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1. We use present perfect tense for

To describe our experince up to now.

We can add number of times at the end of the
sentences such as : twice, three times, etc.
For negative senteces we use ‘never’ and for question
we use ‘ever’.
Examples :

I have gone to Bali twice .

We have never drunk beer or wine.

Have you ever met my uncle?

How many times have you gone to Singapore?

2. We use present perfect tense for

To describe changes or new information.

To state accomplishment
In emphasizing we use ‘already’ for positive and ‘yet’
for negative
Examples :

He has already moved another city.

We haven’t heard any news yet.

Has the price gone up?

What have you done so far?

3. We use present perfect tense for

To describe a state that started in past and continues

in the present and probably in the future.
We use ‘for’ or ‘since’.
For question we use ‘how long’.
 Examples :

He has worked in this company for ten years.

We have lived in Depok since 1995.

Has he played football since 3 o’clock?

How long have you studied English?

4. We use present perfect tense for

To describe an action that is very recent.

We use ‘just’ placed between auxiliary and main verb.
Examples :

He has just signed the proposal.

We have just opened our new branch office.

They have just launched their new album.

Has he just gone out?

Remember...

Don’t use specific time in the past such as :

yesterday, last night, last week, two days ago,
in 2010 etc.