Present perfect

What you will practice

• Build have or has plus a past participle.
• Choose for or since.
• Keep yesterday with the past simple.

Explanation

The form

The present perfect is have or has plus the past participle: I have seen that film, She has lost her keys. he, she, and it take has. Everyone else takes have. The participle is not always the past simple. go has past simple went but participle gone: She has gone home.

for and since

for measures a length of time: for three years. since names the starting point: since 2020, since Monday. Both can sit with the present perfect when the situation continues to now: She has lived here for three years. during three years is not the substitute for for in this pattern.

Not with yesterday

A finished time closes the door on the present perfect. I saw him yesterday is past simple. I have seen him yesterday mixes a present-perfect verb with a finished time, and that mix is the error. Words such as just, already, and yet do fit the present perfect: I have just finished, She hasn’t left yet.

Examples

1. I have seen that film.experience up to now
2. She has lived here for three years.a continuing state
3. for three yearsa length of time
4. since 2020a starting point
5. I have just finished.a recent completion

Common mistakes

• has went uses the past simple instead of the participle. The participle of go is gone.
• since three years treats a length as a starting point. A length takes for.