When I analyse my students' B1 English, I notice that they don't use present perfect - hardly ever. They try to avoid it by using past simple or present simple, usually, but that might be because my students are Spanish-speaking. Students from other countries may use it more, use it wrongly, or avoid present perfect in different ways. There is another complication, which is that in American English they use present perfect a lot less than in British English - so I'll look at American English usage in this podcast.
So, in today's podcast, I'm going to show you how to use present perfect, and that if you avoid present perfect, you may lose points in your Cambridge exam, especially at B1 level and above. I'm going to play some extracts from my stories here on Practising English as examples of present perfect use.
I'm also including a full transcript of this podcast at my website www.practisingenglish.com podcast 162. This is a B1 podcast for students studying for B1-level English. Here we go…
…The first thing to remember about present perfect is that it's a present tense. Tense means time: past, present and future. Present perfect is present time. Now that might be a bit confusing, because present perfect makes a reference to the past, in fact, the action may happen in the past. In the first examples, I'm going to talk about when present perfect describes a completed action in the past.
Listen to this extract from The Detectives (podcast 133).
Shamrock Jolms insisted on visiting Mrs Snyder's flat so Mr Meeks took him there immediately. Everything in the flat seemed to be normal. There were still clothes in the wardrobe and furniture in all the rooms.
The great detective immediately began to look for something to help him solve the mystery. At last, he found a small piece of paper with something written on it. Then he found another piece of paper very close to the first. He sat down in an old broken armchair and lit his pipe. He thought for about ten minutes and then he stood up, turned to Mr Meeks and said 'You don't need to worry, my good man. I have found your sister and not only that but she is very well and happy.'
The present perfect phrase was:
'I have found your sister.'
Now, when did the action happen? Well, in the past. However, what is important about this piece of news? What is the message? That Mr Meeks's sister is not missing anymore. And that is present - now! Here she is! The detective has found her. The present perfect says that she is now found and not lost anymore.
If I say that in the past tense:
'I found your sister',
we don't really know what happened next. Perhaps the detective lost her again, or she disappeared afterwards. The message is not present, it's past. It's not the same message as present perfect.
Here is another extract from The Detectives.
'Now look at this other piece of paper. What do you see there?'
Mr Meeks took the second piece of paper from the detective. Again, the paper was torn but there was the number 12 then a letter C, then the word 'left' L-E-F-T and another letter – A. 'What does it mean?' Mr Meeks asked.
'It means your sister has 'left' this house for 'a' house somewhere else,' answered Shamrock Jolms with great confidence. 'Where has she gone? you ask.'
The present perfect examples were: 'Your sister has 'left' this house' and 'Where has she gone?'
When the detective said 'Your sister has 'left' this house' he meant:
'She is not here now.'
And when the detective asked the question 'Where has she gone?' he meant:
Where is she now!
He's talking about the present!
What are these examples in past simple? Well, they would be:
Your sister left, and, Where did she go?
However, the past tense doesn't say the sister is not here anymore, nor does it ask where she is now, because they're not present tense.
Is past simple wrong in these situations? Well, if you write that in your story, no, it's not wrong, but it doesn't express what you wanted to say. The message is wrong, although the grammar is ok.
But, and it's a big 'but'. In the Cambridge English exam writing and speaking, if you can use both past simple and present perfect correctly you will get more points. You'll get a higher mark for your writing and speaking.
Mr Meeks left Shamrock Jolms thinking and smoking his pipe in Avenue C. He walked back to his sister's apartment feeling convinced now that he would never see his sister ever again.
But as he arrived, he noticed the door to his sister's flat was open. Then she came out with her arms open wide. 'Stephen! I've just come back and a neighbour told me you were looking for me. How lovely to see you again after all these years!'
Mr Meeks couldn't believe it! They both hugged each other.
'But, where have you been, Mary?' he asked. 'I employed detectives to find you but they were all so stupid…'
The answers are, of course, 'I've just come back' and 'where have you been, Mary?'
Now, here is something to confuse you even more. When we use present perfect in this way, talking about past events with importance in the present, American English will usually say that in past tense.
'I just came back', and 'Where were you?'
This means there might be even less motivation for learners of English to use present perfect - especially if the Americans use past simple instead of present perfect in these examples. My advice to you is what I have just said - use present perfect when there is a present message and get more points in your Cambridge exam.
Now listen to the two extracts from the story Bishop Hatto.
At that moment, they both saw a small group of people from the village approaching along the path. When the group reached the bishop and the farm worker, they stopped and the men took off their caps. Then one of them said,
'Good morning, my Lord Bishop.'
'What do you want?' said the bishop coldly. He didn't like the village people because the only reason they wanted to speak to him was because they wanted something. They always had problems and were always complaining.
'My Lord Bishop,' continued the man. 'My name is Hans. I speak for all the farmers in the village. My Lord Bishop has seen what a terrible harvest we have had this year. Your corn and ours lie useless in the fields. The heavy rain has destroyed nearly all of it. We do not have enough corn this year to make the bread we need to feed our families.'
The castle had been empty for many years, so nobody lived there now and it was only used in emergencies - such as this one!
The bishop felt safe once he was inside. However, he shut all the windows and locked all the doors. He climbed to the top floor, where there was a tiny dark room with a bed, and there the bishop lay down, feeling exhausted after his long ride and the terrible events of the morning. But the bishop did not sleep because suddenly there was a terrible scream! He sat up shaking with fear. He quickly lit a candle by his bed and there on the floor stood a cat looking with large red eyes at the bishop - its eyes wide with fear.
'What has frightened you, cat?' said the bishop. 'Here, we are safe from all the rats in Germany.' He opened the door and the cat ran out as though the devil was behind it.
Present perfect is important because they can see the corn lying useless in the fields - now, and in the second example, the bishop can see the large red eyes of the cat - now.
All the situations above have been completed actions in the past, but what happens when we talk about a time that started in the past and continues to the present. For example: today, this week, this month, this year, recently, in the last few days… In British English, we should use present perfect because we are still in that period of time, but what about in American English? Listen to this extract from my story The Great Dying.
'Who's got ticket 142?' said the elegant middle-aged woman with glasses behind the desk.
There were about fifty people in the room – all sitting down on uncomfortable wooden chairs looking towards the desks. Nobody answered.
'Who's got ticket 142?' the elegant woman repeated more loudly this time.
A man suddenly stood up and went quickly to the desk.
'Sorry, it was me,' said the man. I didn't see the number on the screen.'
'Good morning, Raphael,' said the elegant woman. 'Dreaming again, were you?' Raphael didn't answer. 'Right. Same old questions, Mr Booker. 'Have you done any work, paid or not paid in the last 30 days?'
'No, I haven't,' Raphael replied.
The example of present perfect is, of course:
'Have you done any work, paid or unpaid…?'
And the time period from past to present is
'...in the last 30 days.'
The question the lady in the Unemployment office is asking is whether Raphael has worked in the last 30 days. Present perfect is used in British English because it's a period of time to the present. If he has done work, he will lose his unemployment pay.
However, if we understand that question to mean if Raphael worked on one particular day, or a couple of days, this could refer to completed actions in the past, so American English may still use past simple here.
'Did you do any work, paid or unpaid in the last 30 days?'
With the words 'yet' and 'already', British English always uses present perfect if we're talking about a past action that has importance in the present.
Interestingly, American English frequently uses past tense for adverbs that express time periods such as 'yet' and 'already'. So in British English, we would say,
'Have you eaten yet?'
'Yes, I've already eaten.'
In American English, they often say,
'Did you eat yet?'
'Yes, I already ate.'
The question is then, when must we always use present perfect, and when do the US Americans always use it? Well, present perfect is essential when both the time period referred to goes from past to present and the action started in the past goes on until the present. This happens when we use words like 'for' and 'since' with present perfect as in this extract from Podcast 152 called The Attic.
'Well, we'll just have to go to the first-floor apartments,' said Mrs Parker. 'Perhaps they will be more suitable for you.' And she walked out of the room and towards the stairs as though she were hurt by Elsie's lack of interest in her luxury apartment. Elsie ran after her the best she could with her heavy typewriter.
On the first floor, they visited a room that obviously wasn't available for rent. When Mrs Parker knocked on the door, a badly-dressed man with a beard opened the door and looked worried when he saw the owner. He was smoking a cigarette, and when Mrs Parker walked in uninvited, Elsie noticed how the room was full of smoke.
'Mr Skidder is a university professor. He has been with us for eight years now, haven't you Mr Skidder?'
So the present perfect example was: 'He has been with us for eight years now, haven't you Mr Skidder?' with 'for' which describes a time that started in the past (eight years ago) and continues till the present.
Let's think about it. We all must use present perfect in this situation. Why? Because if we use past tense, we have the sentence:
'He was with us for eight years', which means, of course, he is not with us now. The message is the opposite of what we're trying to say.
So, my final message is this. Try to use present perfect for all situations of completed actions in the past if the message refers to the present e.g.
I have found your sister - I know where she is now.
And especially in situations when the action started in the past and continues to the present. E.g.
'He has been with us for eight years.'
And that's it for now! I have finished this podcast on present perfect. I have finished - present message: this podcast is finished.
Until next time!
Goodbye for now!
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