PRESENT PERFECT

PRESENT PERFECT

1. Expresses actions or events that began in the past and are still true or appropriate in the present time, or are now finished.

   • Is also used to tell about something which happened in the past but the exact time of the action isn’t known.

2. We form The Present Perfect with have/has

   • a. I have visited my grandfather.

3. We use present perfect for a past action whose time is not mentioned and has a relation to the present.

   • I have never been to London.
     • I have read ‘Hamlet’.
       • Have you ever played chess?
         • We often use present perfect tense for actions which happened in the past and that have an effect or a result in the present.
           • The teacher has just gone out. (The teacher is not here)
             • I’ve washed my hair.(My hair is wet now)
               • We use it for an action which began in the past and is still happening now.
                 • My grandparents have lived in Florence for sixty years. (They are still living in Florence.)

4. SINCE and FOR

   • We can use the present perfect tense with ‘for’ and ‘since’ to talk about actions and events that take place in a period of time from the past until now.
     • JUST / YET / ALREADY
       • ‘Just’ comes after the auxiliary verb ‘have/has’. This combination is used chiefly in the affirmative, though the interrogative from is possible. It isn’t normally used in the negative.
         • The teacher has just gone out.(She went out a few minutes ago)
           • ALREADY: The adverb ‘already’ is used when something has happened before we expected.
             • I’ve already written a letter to my friend.
               • YET: Is used when we are expecting something to happen but it hasn’t happened.
                 • Mrs. Roberts hasn’t replied to my letter yet. (She hasn’t replied but she will).

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