The present perfect tense poses problems to students of English. The blogs of quite a number of blogs I visited made mistakes regarding the use of the above tense.
Let me make it easy for readers on how to use it correctly.
1 When an action has been completed and you do not want to tell when you did it, you can use this tense.
e.g. I have taken my lunch.
Explanation: I could have taken it a minute ago or half an hour ago or some other time prior to this.
2 Present perfect tense also goes with prepositions ‘for’ and ‘since’.
e.g. I have lived here for five years.
I have lived here since five years ago.
I have lived here since 2003.
The following mistakes are often seen in students’ essays.
1 I have received your letter yesterday. (wrong)
I have received your letter already. (correct)
I received your letter yesterday.
2 I have finished the work before you come. (wrong)
I had finished the work before you came. (correct)
1 comment:
It's good to see a blog which is dedicated to teaching the language. I struggle with my English since I learned Swedish. Hope to learn from your site.
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