Present Perfect or Past Simple?

The Present Perfect tells us about the past and the present. - United have won the Cp, so it’s theirs now.

The Past Simple tells us about the past, a time which is finished. – Last year is in the past.

We use the Past Simple (not the Present Perfect) to talk about times in the past such as yesterday, last week, in 1994, a hundred years ago.

We watched United last week. NOT We have watched United last week.

Long ago dinosaurs lived here. NOT Long ago dinosaurs have lived here.

For and since

To say how long a current situation has lasted

We use since with a point in time in the past (8 o’clock, 1975, August, last week, I was born, he arrived).

I’ve lived here since 2004.

Things have been better since I changed schools.

We use for with a period of time that continues until now (82 years, a month, a few minutes, half an hour, ages, hundreds of years).

I’ve lived here for four years.

My dad has had the same car for fifteen years.

You can also use for with the Past Simple. Compare theses sentences.

Present Perfect: I’ve lived in Hamburg for three years / since 1998. (I still live in Hamburg).

Past Simple: I lived in Hamburg for three years /from 1995 to 1998. (Now I live somewhere else).

We also use the negative form of the Present Perfect with for and since to say the last time something happened.

The last time I spoke to David was two days ago. = I haven’t spoken to David for two days.

Exercise 1. Write positive sentences in Present Perfect Simple.

The following people have just completed an action.

1. Bob / visit / his grandma

2. Jimmy / play / on the computer

3. Sue and Walter / wash / their car

4. Andrew / repair / his bike

5. Phil / help / Anne with Maths

6. Brad and Louise / watch / a film

7. Tamara / talk to / her best friend

8. Bridgette / draw / a picture

9. Carol / read / a computer magazine

10. Tom and Alice / be / to a restaurant

Exercise 2. Write negative sentences in the Present Perfect Simple.

The weather was wonderful today. So the children were in the park all afternoon and have not done their household chores:

1. Sarah / not / wash the dishes

2. Anita / not / clean the kitchen

3. Maureen and Gavin / not / water the plants

4. Joey / not / make his bed

5. David / not / buy milk

6. Lisa / not / be to the baker's

7. Aran and Jack / not / do their homework

8. Jane and Ben / not / tidy up their rooms

9. Alex / not / feed the hamster

10. Hazel / not / empty the bin

Exercise 3. Write questions in the Present Perfect Simple.

1. you / answer / the question

2. Jenny / lock / the door

3. Walter / call / us

4. you / see / the picture

5. your parents / get / the letter

6. it / rain / a lot

7. how often / we / sing / the song

8. Maureen / watch / the film

9. how many books / Bob / read

10. ever / you / be / to London

Exercise 4. Write the Past Participle of these verbs. Use a dictionary if necessary.

a. see ____ e. find___ i. write ___ m. fall ___

b. buy ___ f. come ___ j. break___ n. rise ___

c. sell ___ g. put ___ k. set ___ o. meet___

d. do ___ h. take___ l. read ___ p. think ___

Exercise 5. Use the prompts to write a sentence.

1. The teacher/arrive. - The teacher has arrived.

2. The students/leave. –

3. The exams/finish. –

4. Danny/break/leg. –

5. I/sent/you/e-mail. –

6. She/see/this film/before. –

7. Dave and Joe/win/a scholarship. –

8. There/be/accident. –

Exercise 6. Put the words in order to make a question. Then write a short answer.

1. You have school finished?

Have you finished school? – Yes, I have./No, I have not.

2. Rained has today it? ______. ______.

3. Done this you exercise have before? _____. _____.

4. Got better has for life people? _____. _____.

5. Have world’s risen temperatures the? _____. _____.

6. Gone petrol the price up has of? _____. _____.

7. At you have seen the play theatre? _____. _____.

8. Season football has the begun? _____. _____.

Exercise 7. Complete the sentence with a verb from the box in the Present Perfect and any other necessary information.

1. Half an hour ago it was raining and now it isn’t. – It has stopped raining.

2. John is at school. His homework is at home. – ___ at home.

3. Ten minutes ago you ordered a pizza by phone. The doorbell is now ringing. – Great. My pizza ___.

4. Last year the school had 540 pupils. This year there are 600. – The number of pupils ___ by 60.

5. You can’t find your revision notes. - ___ notes.

6. You’re doing an experiment. You did the same experiment last week and the week before. – This is the third time ___.

7. Philip Jones goes to your university. Last year he went to a different university. - ___ universities.

8. Last year your school was easy. Now it’s not. – The school work ___ more difficult this year.

Exercise 8. Complete the sentences with for and since.

1. Kathy has been off university ___ last Thursday.

2. Tom has had his own PC ___ a few months now.

3. We haven’t had a holiday ___ Easter.

4. The university has had that old microscope ___ years.

5. They have been friends ___ they were at primary school.

6. I haven’t seen you ___ a while. How are things going?

Exercise 9. Complete the second sentence so it means the same as the first.

1. The last time I cooked a meal was on Saturday.

I haven’t cooked a meal since Saturday.

2. The last time I washed up was a week ago. ______ for a week.

3. The last time my dad did any gardening was six months ago.

___ for 6 months.

4. The last time we helped with the shopping was at Christmas. - ___ since Christmas.

5. The last time I did some DIY was when I painted the sitting room.

_____ I painted the sitting room.

Exercise 10. Add a sentence. Use the Present Perfect.

E.g. I’m tired. (I/walk/miles). I’ve walked miles.

1. Emma’s computer is working now. (she/repair/it) _____

2. It’s cooler in here now. (I/open/the window) ____

3. The visitors are here at last. (they/arrive) ____

4. Mark’s car isn’t blocking us in now. (he/move/it) ____

5. We haven’t got any new videos. (we/watch/all these) ____