Everyday Uses of Present Perfect Basic English Grammar

hi everybody welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is Alisha and today

I’m going to talk about everyday uses of

present perfect tense present perfect

tense is a grammar point that many of

you have asked questions about so today

I’m going to share some patterns that

you can use in your everyday life I’m

going to talk about using questions with

present perfect tense to make greetings

I’m going to talk about how to use it

for news and reports and I’m going to

talk about just some general life

experience questions and responses so as

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now - if you missed it today’s topic is

everyday uses of present perfect tense a

lot of you have asked questions about

this so I’m excited to discuss it today

if you have questions during today’s

lesson please send the messages in the

chat I will try to check as much as

possible but if you want more

information about today’s grammar point

you can find it on the English class 101

youtube channel or of course from the

lessons on the English class 101.com

website so please check that out there

are lots of resources for you okay

I will share the video done and then I

had one thing I wanted to mention to

everybody - I actually I shared this

last week I shared this photo last week

if you have not seen this we have a

weekly question and answer video session

this is a picture from when we were

making this last week but I’ve noticed a

lot of people send in the chat maybe

questions that are about a topic

different from the lesson that I’m

teaching live so for those kinds of

questions if you want to send something

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there’s something small you want to know

oh ok so with that as I said today we’re

going to talk about present perfect

tense let’s begin

hi everybody there are lots of people

here now great great okay I’m gonna get

started then so first I want to review

the present perfect tense present

perfect tense we’re going to use present

perfect tense and we’re going to use

present perfect with the progressive or

the continuous form so to kind of give a

visual to be able to see this grammar

point we use this tense for actions that

started in the past so there’s something

in the past a beginning point in the

past this is a timeline here’s now in

this case watching this lesson or

teaching this lesson if you mean the

past and the future so for today’s

grammar point present

perfect tense is used for actions that

started in the past and they continue to

the present or the effect of that action

continues to the present so when we make

sentences like I have studied English

for three years or I have lived in this

country for three years those are

examples of present perfect tense today

I’m going to talk about this with

progressive tense a lot too so just a

refresher what is present perfect tense

it’s for actions that started in the

past and continued to the future for

more information about this grammar

point

please check the English class 101

YouTube channel - ok so I want to first

talk about how to use this grammar point

in greetings so this is a really great

thing to do for intermediate students if

you want to go past like hello how are

you these are some more natural

greetings that you can use and they use

the present perfect tense or the

progressive tense as well so here first

one how have you been so I’ve broken

this down how have you been how have you

been it’s like how are you but how are

you since the last time I saw you so

imagine you’re speaking to someone now

you’re saying hello to someone now back

here you met them maybe and they have

been doing other things but you haven’t

seen them in a long time

how have you been means in this period

when I didn’t see you like what were you

doing what was your status how have you

been how have you been I’m going to

cover pronunciation points today - so

this how have you been we reduced this

part right here so this how have becomes

how of halluf and this why oh you sounds

like yeah how have you been how have you

been

so this is a much more natural way to

greet someone especially if you have not

seen them for a long time

how have you been so to answer this

question a very simple answer is the

most natural and also it’s just easy to

remember so how have you been good

have you been busy how have you been a

bit sick or a little sick so just use a

one word just a simple adjective great

fine good how about you so this is a

good one to use to level up from how are

you how have you been

so please remember you can use this only

with people you have met before

so if this is a new person you can’t use

how have you been use this with friends

family members and so on okay yeah

someone has another example I’ve been

good

only yelled oh yeah only although in the

YouTube chat says I’ve been good so

using the present perfect tense in the

response I have been good since the last

time I saw you great um how have I been

I’ve been great yeah how how is

everybody else been yeah and that’s

another point I just used the expression

how has everybody else been so if your

subject in this case I’m using you how

have you been if you want to talk about

someone else like for example someone

sick you can use that same pattern like

but you need to change you to in this

case he or she and you also need to

conjugate your verb here to has how has

he or she been so like a sick parent for

example how has he been how has she been

and so you’ll hear the same reduction

how has he been how has she been reduces

to how has he been

how has she been

okay let’s continue on to the next

expression I want to talk about which is

what have you been up to what have you

been up to I practiced this one a lot in

like a quick response session with my

students one day and this was a really

fun one what have you been up to we make

this very short in everyday speech so

you can see this part what have you been

this is exactly the same as the first

sentence or the first question I

introduced but we have this up to this

is like asking what have you been doing

but up to this what have you been up to

sounds very casual and very friendly so

what have you been up to at native speed

sounds like what have you been up to

what have you been up to so when you

respond to this question what have you

been up to not much you can use the same

response as what’s up not much or you

can say just work just study that kind

of thing nothing much is a very natural

response but notice this question here

what what so this is a key difference

from how have you been how have you been

is like asking mmm were you good were

you busy and so on not yet so what have

you been up to is asking about your

activities about your activities so

study and so on okay I am getting a

message from control just for a second

here what

why I don’t understand okay

so let’s move on to the next point here

you’ll notice there’s a Grammer

difference in this case so what have you

been doing what have you been doing the

difference here is right here in this

first one I used up to to end the

sentence to end the question here I’m

using the progressive form what have you

been doing what have you been doing so

natural responses to this will use this

ing form

I’ve been studying what have you been

doing I’ve been studying I’ve been

working been cleaning my house so you

can use that ing form to answer this

question okay

finally I want to do one more and then

we’ll take a quick break so this one

this question be careful when you use

this question where have you been where

have you been is used in many cases when

you’re upset with someone you’re unhappy

with someone you were looking for

someone but you could not find them

where have you been

so to answer this you need to give a

location the person is asking about your

location here so where have you been in

the house at the office so these very

quick responses are very natural so try

to use these when someone asks you one

of these kind of greeting style

questions okay good so that’s a few

examples of using the present perfect

tense for greeting so if you have

questions send them along but I’m going

to take a quick break okay so if you

have not seen it yet this year as always

we have free stuff for you guys so this

week I thought it would be really good

to share a couple things that you can

use with the present perfect tense so

like for example are we going to use

this camera

oh but there’s a couple of these are all

free PDFs we have on our website but I

thought a few of these would be really

good for present perfect tense in your

everyday life

one of them business you’ll see it in

just a second I think maybe but for now

this is the business English PDF so you

can find all of these for free in the

link below the video on youtube or above

the video on Facebook but actually and

we’ll zoom in in a minute I think on the

back of this is a list of common job

titles for example president or

assistant manager general manager and so

on so I was thinking and we’ll see this

later will be 8 Bob Wilson will show it

here it’s hard to see here but there’s a

list of job titles on this business

English PDF and I thought this would be

a nice match especially for a part 2 of

today’s lesson when you need to give

information about who you’ve been

talking to recently or who you’ve been

meeting with recently so I know many of

you are trying to study English for

career opportunities so this might be a

good one to get a few this might be a

good PDF I mean to find a few natural

ways to explain someone’s job title and

then there’s also just some other good

business English related phrases so

there there are a lot more but I want to

focus on some kind of everyday

vocabulary words that you can use with

this grammar point to so I’ll share

another one of these layers but if you

want to get all of these like you can

get all of these actually and more they

are from the link below the video on

YouTube above the video on Facebook

please check that out everything is in

English class 101 dot-com

okay so if you’re just joining today’s

lesson is about everyday uses of present

perfect tense present perfect tense so

if you have not already please make sure

to LIKE the video and share the video so

that other learners can find today’s

lesson to refresh if you’re just joining

remember present perfect tense is used

for actions that started in the past and

continue to the present or the effects

of that action continue to the present

so with that I want to go to the second

part of today’s lesson this part is

going to use this ing form the

progressive with present perfect tense

here so we use this when we really want

to emphasize that an action started and

is continuing when we want to show that

something is continuing and that perhaps

it’s going to continue even after the

conversation into the future we can use

the progressive form so part two of

today’s lesson is sharing recent news so

sharing recent news or this is also

useful for talking about work like if

you want to report on your recent

activities at work so for example if

you’re at a meeting or if you’re

explaining your work to someone you can

say I’ve been working on so preposition

on is used here to introduce the topic

so for example I’ve been working on this

livestream or I’ve been working on a

Scalia these sorts of things what is the

topic what is the thing your project in

other words if it’s not a work-related

situation you can talk about like a

personal project so I’ve been working on

my garden or I’ve been working on my

website so a couple

I hear many learners forget this sound

either I’ve this I’ve is the contracted

form of I have I’ve been working on

something so please don’t forget I’ve

I’ve and then of course as I said the

ing I’ve been working on something okay

second another example I’ve been reading

about I’ve been reading about if you

read the news a lot or if you read a lot

of books if you’re researching something

you can introduce the topic of your

reading with this pattern I’ve been

reading about US politics I’ve been

reading about my favorite research topic

I’ve been reading about how to improve

my website so introduce the topic in

this sentence same thing here don’t

forget your eyes you can use I have I

have been reading about I have been

working on but it sounds really stiff

and kind of unnatural so I recommend

I’ve been nice there’s some good example

sentences on the youtube and facebook

chat for YouTube some examples on house

on el angel says I’ve been working on my

new car great or I’ve been working up

Felipe I’ve been working on on my next

project so I’ve been working on

something preposition is on I’ve been

working on my research since last year

nice um what else

us a lot the from Thailand I I’ve been

reading about the universe good on

Facebook says I’ve been working on my

resume nice very nice nnedi says I’ve

been listening I’ve been listening ok

I’ve been listening maybe to podcasts

about meditation or I’ve been listening

to like meditation

CDs I’m not exactly sure great

okay nice examples everybody okay let’s

move on to another one this is one I’ve

seen many questions about I have some

work we’re keeping this

I’ve been pattern but here I’m using the

verb wanting I’ve been wanting to so a

lot of students a lot of learners ask

like why is wanting used here like

wanting is like a state right I want to

do something actually this next week’s

lesson is going to be about this topic

but I’ve been wanting to for example

I’ve been wanting to see that movie

like let’s say I’ve been wanting to see

the new spider-man I have not seen the

new spider-man you think here it’s good

anyway I’ve been wanting to see the new

spider-man for example so why do we use

wanting here like why not use I want to

see the new spider-man we use the

progressive form here to show oh we’re

zoomed in right now oh we can see it

cool that’s fine so to show like maybe

thank you when we first learned the

first time we learned about the movie in

this case the new spider-man movie we

thought oh I want to see that movie but

like I haven’t seen it yet I still

haven’t seen the movie so from that

point when I learned about the movie and

I thought I want to see it I

continuously wanted to see it so I

expressed that with I’ve been wanting to

see the new spider-man movie this is the

reason we use the wonked are wanting in

the progressive form I’ve been wanting

to someone says is it important to use

the comma perhaps on the IV yes and this

is not a comma this is an apostrophe the

spelling is this apostrophe AP OST

your fee yes you must use an apostrophe

here punctuation is very

important punctuation is your friend so

yes you must use that there but to kind

of summarize this is the reason we use

wanting I’m the progressive form here

good so some of you are sending other

examples great I’ve been wanting to do

my homework really very nice okay

I’ve been wanting to improve my English

very nice I’ve been wanting to travel to

Hawaii great I’ve been wanting to see

Cole to pursuit what’s that I don’t know

that is that a TV show it’s a movie I

don’t know okay great example sentences

I’ve been wanting to propose to her like

to your girlfriend Wow okay I’ve been

what I’ve been wanting to speak with

Alicia woohoo cool thanks for joining

live great nice examples let’s go on to

the last pair I want to change the

subject here like literally change the

subject from I’ve to he or she is also

okay the reason I want to do this even

though in many cases you’re talking

about your life your work the things you

have been doing if you want to talk

about someone else again so a great

example like we talked about before is

like a sick person in your life or

something like that anyway my point is

when your subject is like he or she

you’re talking about another person or

maybe it as well remember this part

right here conjugates so we’ve been

using I have been I’ve been I’ve been

when your subject is he or she this

apostrophe s refers to has he has been

she has been so please don’t forget that

in everyday speech we say he’s been

talking to me she’s been talking to me

so this is something you could use to

describe like a an ongoing which means a

recent a continuing conversation at work

or in your personal life like he’s been

talking to me about a new project or

she’s been talking to me about a

promotion so you can use

thing like this with the verb talking in

this case to explain a recent

conversation you have had like what I

want to say like a conversation about

the same topic that you’ve had a few

times with someone this is a natural way

to express that she’s been talking to me

about he’s been talking to me about it

isn’t necessarily gossip no so if you’re

talking about a work project and you

have regular meetings about this topic

for example you could use this

so sometimes yes it is for gossip like

oh she’s been talking to me about her

new boyfriend that kind of thing

sure true but it’s also used in non

gossip related situations

let’s see Israel on Facebook says what

about the preposition about before

inactivity can I use an activity erver

yes you can your example I’ve been

reading about swimming yes that is

correct that is correct that’s fine

so before an activity is great activity

or another topic like a topic of

discussion great

other examples she’s been talking to him

about work great nice all right

I’ll finish off with this another one a

different subject we again when you use

we as the subject we’ll go back to this

book we’ve been we’ve been if you are

for example in a relationship or you’re

married or you’re living with someone

and you make decisions together with

that person you can use this like we’ve

been thinking about buying a house we’ve

been thinking about building a pool

we’ve been thinking about getting a dog

so these are this is a great pattern to

use for decisions you make with other

people we’ve been thinking about

something okay so this is for recent

news for given reports and in this part

yes I focused a lot on using the program

SIV form here this sounds very natural

okay great we’ll take one more break and

then we’ll finish with the last part

some question and response practice so

the first break I showed you this

business English PDF I thought the job

titles would be good to practice for

those of you who are studying for career

reasons but for other reasons actually

this is funny somebody in the chat

mentioned gossip if you’re interested in

gossip and like romantic gossip there is

a romance and love related PDF but this

one this one actually has lots of like

phrases you use for dates so that could

be good for Valentine’s Day that’s

coming if you want to pick up a few

phrases for that this one does exist

there is a romance one um that’s good

but there’s one more that I wanted to

mention which was the school your school

related vocabulary so this is the back

it says back to school yes but on the

back there’s a list of like common

classes so if you want to describe your

studies like I know many people are

students many of you are students if you

want to talk about your studies and

you’re looking for like a quick

reference for the titles of your classes

this has there’s eight on the back here

that you can take a look at and of

course there are some other classroom

related things here too so this I

thought would be good for students

perhaps and then of course if you want

to talk about your family members there

is a family PDF too with here a family

tree and key words for each family

member so you can take a look at these

so I thought these would be nice for

today but as I said there are a lot

there I don’t even know how many like

somewhere around there I don’t know

there are a lot of these so if you are

interested these are free you can

download these from the link below the

video on youtube or above the video on

Facebook please check the link in the

description not in the chatbox so I

think chat desk is sending a few things

in the chat so please take a look at

that I hope it’s useful for you alright

we are going to finish now with the last

topic for today’s lesson if you’re just

joining today’s lesson is about everyday

uses of present perfect tense which we

use to talk about actions that started

in the past and continue to the present

so if you have not already please do

like and share the video so other people

can find it that would be great ok let’s

go on to the last point for today

I want to talk finally about questions

and responses for life experience and I

want to talk about natural ways to like

kind of fit present perfect tense

together with simple past tense so these

are some common questions about life

experience so you’ll notice here these

are not using the progressive tense I

focused on progressive ing farm here I’m

not going to focus on it here these are

four things that you want to ask about

like just general experience for example

have you ever heard of have you ever

heard of ever is an emphasis word have

you ever heard of have you ever read

have you ever heard of is more natural

than do you know so like I hear some

people saying like do you know sushi

like right do you know sushi or like do

you know you know this pop star do you

know that a more natural way and this is

the way native speakers ask the question

is have you ever heard of have you ever

heard of sushi have you ever heard of

this

star have you ever heard of English

class 101 check it out have you ever

heard okay so use this instead of do you

know that’s like a levelled up version

of do you know similarly have you ever

read this I included this specifically

as a pronunciation reminder the spelling

is ar e ad but the pronunciation is red

have you ever read so spelling no change

but the pronunciation does change this

is the past participle form of the verb

read have you ever read that book have

you ever read my blog have you ever read

that story so this is for written

information this is a question for

information we get with our ears or just

kind of more general information we

learn about for written information use

have you ever read have you ever read

someone write have you ever heard of

India yes of course

great okay I don’t see other examples

nice okay another one very similar to

have you ever heard of is this one have

you heard about okay what’s the

difference here have you ever heard of

and have you heard about this one I’ve

labeled one and two to hear is about a