The Present Perfect

Because we're going to start studying the present perfect this month, it's necessary to look at some differences among the present tense, the past tense, and the present perfect all at the same time.

The present tense is used for every day:

I go to school Monday through Friday.

The past tense is used for yesterday, last week, last year:

I went to school every day last week.

The present perfect is used to show a length of time or some indefinite amount of time:

I have gone to that school for the last three years.

The present perfect is one of the most important tenses for conversational English. In fact, one of the first questions asked of someone who is new to the United States is, "How long have you lived here?" You answer this way: "I have lived here for _______," or "I have lived here since _______.

I like to teach the present perfect because it really helps people at the intermediate level of English to improve. But you must know your past participles, especially for irregular verbs, so start studying them now. �