Talking About Your Work in English with Present Perfect Tense
back to our weekly livestream my name is
Alisha and today we’re going to talk
about how to talk about your work with
present perfect tense everyone’s
favorite to grammar point
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- lovely shot those are my announcements
I see many people in the chat now hello
on YouTube Marla Prakash Andrews be - ah
shoot rang Brian Lewis hello and on
Ava Lewis yovan hi Mahmud someone’s name
in Russian I can’t read very sorry hello
Timoteo hello hi everybody thanks very
much for joining us live great to have
you so today as I said today we’re
looking at present perfect tense focus
so this is going to be like a very
focused lesson on this one grammar point
and I’m going to cover a little bit of
progressive as well present perfect
progressive or present perfect
continuous so I’m going to slow down my
rate of speech in just a second alright
so I haven’t told you so
if you’re just joining please do make
sure
to like the video and share the video so
that other people can find today’s
lesson I’m going to share the video and
then I am going to begin so as always I
have made the lesson into a few
different sections oh I just did the
wrong thing I’ve just made the lesson
into a few different sections so we’re
going to start with just some basic
patterns that you can use as you’re
talking about your job experience or
your study experience so let’s begin
over here general work experience will
be the first thing I want to focus on so
let’s begin by reviewing then oh let’s
begin by reviewing how we make present
perfect how we make present perfect is
with this half plus past participle form
when your subject is I so for today’s
lesson I’m going to focus on using I as
the subject and then I’ll introduce
later some some sentences and patterns
that use he or she as the subject as
well so let’s begin with I as the
subject to talk about your general work
or your general study experience so to
review basic present perfect I have plus
past participle so this is the past
participle form of a verb so this is
something you need to study for each for
each verb so some are easy to remember
they end in this
edie some however are irregular I’m not
going to cover a lot of verbs in this
lesson I’m going to focus on some verbs
you can use to express your work and
your study experience so please feel
free to send your examples in the chat -
I will try to check ok so I have plus
past participle so here I’ve made this
pattern to express your current
workplace so this is a pattern for your
curt your current workplace means the
place where you work now or the place
where you study now so this can mean
your your office your company
your university your school wherever you
are based now so this is your current
job this pattern current job or current
study so I have plus past participle
verb for example worked or studied or
maybe researched if you’re a researcher
so I have worked here here means at this
specific location so this sentence is
good if you are at your company or you
are at your school explaining something
like you’re explaining now in the
conversation from the location you’re
based in and then for I’m going to talk
about four first four and then a length
of time a length of time so we commonly
use for and I’ll talk about in just a
moment since as well we use these with
present perfect tense but the difference
is that after four we give a length of
time a duration of time after since we
use a point in time so I’ll talk about
this in just a second so when you
express your general work experience or
your study experience - I have for
example worked here for six years so use
past participle ver the past participle
form of your verb to express whatever is
correct for you so I will look for your
example as hacia in YouTube the YouTube
chat says I have worked in a hospital
for two years good in a hospital so this
part here I’ve used here to mean the
current location but if you want to talk
about more generally like a hospital or
like at a police station or something
use use up plus the location so you’re
being very general I have worked at an
office for two years to be super in
general some other examples many people
are still saying hello some people say I
have been something a shakila says I
have studied in Bangladesh for 10 years
so if you want to add
scribe like a city or a country use in
country in city so I have studied in
country or I have studied in city or I
have studied at a place my place I mean
like physical building like hospital
office station and so on so a couple of
different ways we can change this
examples are coming in great I have
studied English for two years
perfect I have worked on YouTube since
two years careful as I talked about this
floor and since is important to remember
yeah so for length of time after for
should be a length of time since should
be a point in time in the past 2010
that’s a point in time yesterday is a
point in time I have what was it I have
worked on YouTube for two years is
correct so please be careful duration or
point in time in the past uh mayor says
I have worked here for a thousand years
great grammatically correct questionable
accuracy okay okay let’s continue to the
second pattern then let’s go to this one
since many people are using since I’ve
been up or an job title since point in
time so this pattern is used not to talk
about the place where you work but your
role so the name of your job I’ve said
this look is actually this is the
reduced form of this I have yeah I have
been reduces to I’ve been this is a
pronunciation and a listening point for
many of you I’ve been up for and job
title since point in time so again this
can be a year this can be a week
whatever some point in time in the past
is necessary right here for example I’ve
been a teacher for or sorry since
oh wow 2010 maybe mmm I’ve been a
teacher since to that home I gosh mm Wow
2010 maybe so using since means I have
to use a point in time I cannot say
since 10 years that’s incorrect we use
lengths of time with 4 so since 2010 is
a nice one in my case other things
you’ll notice I’ve got this up or and
here yeah so make sure when you have a
vowel sound at the beginning of your job
title you use an for example an engineer
yeah so if you do not have a vowel sound
at the beginning of your job title use
uh I’ve been a teacher I’ve been a
researcher I’ve been an engineer so keep
in mind this is not about spelling it’s
about vowel sounds actually examples are
coming in great okay on Facebook Aaron
Paul says I’ve been a supervisor since
2010
nice mallet says I’ve been a nurse for
six months so many of you many of you
have homework many of you have homework
I’m saying this for sins problem
everybody’s homework this week practice
for length of time oops
for six years for three months for six
days since needs a point in time yeah so
a lot of people a lot of people I’m
seeing in your examples are mixing this
up other examples I’ve been a student
since 2012 great yes so a point in time
can be a year great 2012 is a good
example okay
I’ve been a student with you since 2007
that’s not possible I haven’t been on
the internet teaching since 2007 I have
been an engineer since 2012 good good
many people are fixing okay I have been
a designer since 2010 good over on
YouTube I’ve been a mechanic since 2017
perfect I’ve been working at a hospital
on reports
okay we’ll talk about projects in just a
moment then I’ve been a bank officer
since 2001 good okay everybody got it
now that now that I find it out for and
since again good okay
sounds good to me now I see everything
is correct now everyone is using a year
great work great work okay so let’s
continue to the last pattern for this
section the last pattern is about
projects so like tasks that you’re
working on things you are doing inside
your job so this uses present perfect
continuous are present perfect
progressive so a reminder we use this
grammar point when we want to talk about
something that started in the past and
continues to the present in the comma in
the situation and it’s probably going to
continue after the conversation as well
so to make this we use the same I’ve
I’ve and then our past participle bin
and then we follow this with the
progressive or the continuous form of a
verb so that means this ing form I’ve
been working so a key here I’ve been
working I’ve used on here because I
wanted to focus on projects like I made
this a very general example sentence so
when you want to express a project you
can say I’ve been working on a this
video series so project is a noun phrase
here I’ve been working on this video
series for or since something or I’ve
been working on these reports somebody
wrote that in the YouTube chat earlier
or I’ve been working on a new product
for six months or I’ve been working on a
new product since last month
so you can use either for or since at
the end of this just as we have with
these other patterns too but the key
here you’re introducing a project some
kind of task something that you’ve been
working on don’t forget this preposition
I’ve been working on
phrase so send me your projects and I
will check some people just say I have
been working yes I have been working on
what so express your project what is
your project so for me I have been
working on a video series for almost a
year now
oh man it’s been a long time I’ve been
working on a video series for almost a
year
mm-hmm so some other ones okay good on
YouTube true says I’ve been working on a
sign language translator for eight years
whoa is that like a an app or something
that sounds interesting Bowen says I
have been working on new research since
2018 good I’ve been working on a new
project since September as Patricia cool
cool cool cool
ah other examples on Facebook I have
been teaching English for 14 years okay
uh mode says I have been working on this
job since yesterday
excellent it’s going very fast uh I
don’t see a what
okay I’m going back to YouTube I have
been working on teaching since 2010 okay
I guess so it doesn’t teaching doesn’t
really sound like a project so mm-hmm
we kind of focus on tasks with this
expression so not like a the general
role of your job but a specific project
you’re working on inside your job it’s a
little bit different okay I see some
good examples in there so project so
project job title and location of your
work for studies here so that’s the
first part of today’s lesson thank you
for your awesome example sentences let’s
take a break let’s take a break and then
we’ll go to part two so today I have
again as always free stuff for you this
lesson is very focused on work and
studies so I want to remind you because
I know many of you are okay over here I
know many of you who are study
English for work reasons there is a
business English vocabulary sheet
vocabulary PDF you can download this has
on the back a few phrases you can study
for meetings and also on the back job
title so today I talked about a pattern
you can use to express your job title so
if you want some more stuff to review to
study to stick on your fridge whatever
you can download this and a lot of other
ones we have lots of other topics I’m
not going to show all of these but you
can check them all download for free
from the link below the video on YouTube
or above the video if you’re watching on
Facebook if you’re watching on Instagram
please check YouTube or Facebook I’m
sorry I cannot see your comments in real
time alright bad cam shot someone in
YouTube it is our second cam okay let’s
go to part 2 for today’s lesson then if
you are just joining today’s lesson is
how to talk about your work with present
perfect tense we’re going to go to part
2 so please do if you have not already
makes sure to like and share the video
so other people can find today’s lesson
alright on to part 2 part 2 using yet
and already to explain and ask questions
about tasks many of you send me
questions about how to use yet and
already so today I want to introduce a
couple of patterns that you can use at
work or at school as well first I’ve
already finished tasks I’ve already
finished task so task again means a
small responsibility you have at your
job
so I’ve already finished that report or
I’ve already finished that video so some
tasks some responsibilities you have at
your job here again we have this I’ve
I’ve I have this is the reduced form of
I have already finished so again we have
that past participle verb form here
I’ve already
finished that thing reminder we use
already for actions we expected to be
finished so there was some expectation
the action would be done we had some
expectation of the action you would use
this when you’re talking to like a
manager or to like a boss or something
someone may be above you or maybe a
co-worker as well same level as you
so for example if your coworker comes to
you and says hey what happened with that
report you can say I have already
finished that report so they want a
status update you can say I’ve already
finished it that means it’s done you had
an expectation and it’s taken care of I
did it it’s finished so I’ve already
finished some tasks ok someone I’ve
already finished my homework says add on
good
don’t forget past participle form past
participle I’ve already finished
edie at the end I’ve already finished my
homework there examples yes good I’ve
already finished my homework I’ve
already finished my test prep good good
ok
so already the sentence uses already
however if you are in the opposite
situation the task is not finished you
can use this again present perfect
sentence structure but we’re using a
negative so here haven’t is the reduced
form of have not yeah I have not
finished task yet so to use your
examples I have not finished my homework
yet so you’ll notice yet comes at the
end of the sentence yes you may hear
some people using it here
I haven’t yet finished my homework this
tends to sound in American English
anyway
it tends to sound a little bit too stiff
and maybe even a little too formal so
put it at the end of your
sentence I haven’t finished task yet I
haven’t finished my homework yet
so again yet carries an expectation so
again we expect we expect the task will
be done there’s an expectation there so
like you’re a parent or someone says
how’s your homework how’s your homework
coming you can say I haven’t finished my
homework yet so you are planning to do
it if you don’t include yet I haven’t
finished my homework you don’t have that
expectation it’s like maybe you’re not
planning to do it so using yet shows
that you have some sense of
responsibility someone says I haven’t
killed my enemy yet my gosh Wow that’s a
grammatically correct and slightly
disturbing sentence fantastic okay I
haven’t finished sending emails yet
great example man huh okay I haven’t
finished my tasks yet great nice example
is everybody someone says I’ve already
finished my lunch and I’ve already
finished dinner yeah depending on your
time zone sure good someone mayor says I
have not finished finished so don’t
forget your edie past participle form
yeah I haven’t finished my breakfast yet
good I haven’t finished my manga yet
okay I have already finished my degree
good nice examples everybody I haven’t
finished
ahh I haven’t finished studying for my
test tomorrow oh I can’t unpack the
grammar of that sentence live right now
but others I haven’t finished my job yet
okay there are many examples good good
good I haven’t finished my job yet yes
if you want to talk about work like for
example you are at the office and you
get a text message from someone and you
like your continuing work you’re not
finished but you’re going to finish
saying I haven’t finished work yet we
don’t say I haven’t finished my job work
means your responsibilities for the day
so I haven’t finished work
yet that’s one that you can use when
you’re making plans with people you get
a text in you’re like ah I want to come
to dinner but I haven’t finished work
yet so use that to respond
don’t use my job I haven’t finished work
yet this actually looks really funny on
camera okay let’s go to the next one the
next pair this is a question so when you
need to ask someone else about the
status of something have you already
done tasks so again let’s use homework
for our example that’s a nice one
have you you’re asking someone already
done your homework have you already done
your homework so again with already we
have this expectation there’s some
responsibility that the other person is
going to do their homework you want to
ask about this status is it finished or
not have you already done your homework
just say yes you can use this I’ve
already finished my homework or no I
haven’t finished my homework yet yes you
can respond with a full sentence but
Morse naturally we just say yes or no I
haven’t then if you need a reason so
maybe there are some situations
especially if you are a parent perhaps
if you need a reason you can start your
question with why why haven’t you
finished your homework yet why haven’t
you finished your homework yet this
again we’re using the negative haven’t
why haven’t you why haven’t you finished
your homework yet so this is a good way
to ask for a reason of course you can
change the task to something relevant or
something you can use at your workplace
too
so why haven’t you finish this report
yet or why haven’t you updated the
spreadsheet yet or why haven’t you made
that video yet Alisha
so uh all right let’s take a look at
your comments and then we’ll go to the
last part of today’s lesson
someone says have you already done your
task yeah okay let’s try to make
something specific something specific
con while G says have you already asked
him about our startup good nice example
lots of people are saying I haven’t
finished my homework yet good examples
have you already done your research says
that so yeah nice
have you already uh Adriana says have
you already done your dinner and
grammars correct vocabulary choice for
food have you already eaten your dinner
have you already eaten dinner so today
I’m focusing on work and study related
vocabulary for food we need to change
our vocabulary choices of it uh wow
there are so many examples here why
haven’t you finished your uh what plate
yet ah why haven’t you finished maybe
your food yet you could use if you’re
eating some examples on Facebook have
you already taken your medication maybe
instead of treatment treatment is more
general so again today I’m kind of
focusing on work and study related
vocabulary why haven’t you finished your
exercises yet good good good good
why haven’t you finished your makeup yet
Oh sounds like someone’s in a rush in
the morning all right sounds good nice
examples everybody so yes you can use
these in situations outside of work
outside of study but for today I wanted
to focus on your work work-related
things so let’s take one more break and
then we’ll go to the last part of
today’s lesson expressing ongoing
activities primarily with continuous the
continuous form so earlier I showed you
this one this business English PDF I
will show you a couple of other ones
since we’re talking about it many people
are sending examples that are relating
to food so I guess I’ll show you this
one we do have a PDF for food and
for eating this is specifically for
eating at restaurants so on the back you
can find expressions and vocabulary
words that you can use in restaurants
here so there are a couple a couple of
good things to take a look at on this
one so check this out you can get this
for free from the link below the video
or above the video if you’re watching on
Facebook and I showed you this one
earlier there’s a whole bunch of other
stuff too
for travel hotel these vocabulary and so
on so please have a look if there’s
something that you want to pick up you
can download it for free you do need an
account at English class 101.com but you
can make one for free so check it out
there are a bunch that I haven’t shown
you today so please take a look tons and
tons alright let’s go to the last point
for today’s lesson then the last thing I
want to talk about is expressing ongoing
activities ongoing means continuing
progressing so maybe you can guess we’re
going to focus on present perfect
continuous this week if you have not
already please do make sure to like and
share the video so other learners can
find today’s lesson okay let’s go to
number three in this section I want to
focus on like I said present perfect
continuous and I also want to share some
vocabulary words some key verbs that you
can use to talk about your work and your
studies so first one if you are a
researcher you’re a researcher or even
just doing some research for your job
and you want to talk about an ongoing or
a continuing project you can use a
pattern like this we’ve been researching
topic and again for or since for or
since
so we’ve been researching English
language education for 10 years or we’ve
been researching English language
education since 2009 for example so your
topic the ship
ain´t noun phrase noun phrase we’ve been
researching noun phrase for or sits so
this is good for research again breaking
down the grammar of this point we’ve
this is we have so I’ve used I’ve used
we have here if you belong to like a lab
a laboratory a research group or just a
company a group of people doing
something together you can use we have
we have if you’re by yourself I have is
fine I’ve been researching this topic
for 10 years
great so if you work with a group you
can use we have we have been researching
so don’t forget in this shows that the
action is ongoing its continuing we’ve
been researching this topic for a long
time another one you can use is develop
develop so if you are a developer or
maybe a programmer you make new apps
whatever you need to make something new
and you want to talk about that you can
say I’ve been developing product or item
or app whatever it is in your case and
follow the same for or since pattern for
example I’ve been developing this app
for three months or I’ve been developing
this app since summer so you can follow
the exact same pattern this I’ve been
this something for well I’ll talk about
later he and she patterns bin plus the
ing form of a verb noun phrase for or
since you can follow exactly the same
pattern just change your vocabulary
words here examples we have been
researching medicine since 2000 good ok
I’m running out of time so I’m going to
cruise through the next phone’s cruise
means go at a swift pace next one this
one uses the verb plan so I’m using
planning if you do event planning or
maybe party planning something like that
is part of your job or just as a hobby
you can use something like this here
I’ve used a difference
check the subject that I’ve used here is
she she so just a quick reminder when
your subject is he she or it in a
present perfect sentence you need to use
she has in this case or he has or it has
so has is used in these three cases when
you’re talking about yourself or your
like a group of people use we have so a
reminder she’s been planning this event
for or since again so all of these will
end with this for or since pattern she’s
been planning this event since summer or
she’s been planning this trip since
October so use some kind of event or
maybe like travel plans as well here so
she’s been planning or he’s been
planning maker says developing is this
just for a technology task good question
I would say we probably use develop
mostly in terms of technology but if
you’re making something that’s entirely
new so for example like in construction
we use develop a lot as well it’s like
you’re making you’re developing a new
material for example so it’s not just
relating to like computers but also it
could be to like scientific developments
as well hmm so I hope that that answers
your question thanks for that one okay
on to the last two because I’m out of
time and late he’s been thinking about
topic lately so this is one for things
you are considering or a person is
considering he’s again he has been he’s
been thinking about a new product lately
I’ve used this lately means recently
recently so in recent days or in recent
weeks lately lately and recently have
the same meaning he’s been thinking
about new products a lot recently so you
can use lately as well instead of for or
since you don’t need to use anything
this just means in the last few days or
the
last few weeks finally because I’m very
late
we haven’t been focusing on topic I’ve
used a negative here we have not been
focusing so focusing means you’re using
your attention you’re directing your
attention to one thing
so hopefully you are focusing on me
right now yeah so you think of your
company your company’s focus on
something you’re using your attention
for that one thing we have not been
focusing on research this year we have
not been focusing on I don’t know
fashion this year for example so
something that you did not focus on so
for example you are not focusing on the
TV right now I hope so
so you’re talking about something that
is not the focus of your group or not
the focus of your job you can use a
negative to express that too so focus is
a nice vocabulary word choice alrighty
I’m going to end there so we’ll finish
there for today but I hope that this
lesson gave you some useful patterns and
some things to review especially using
for and since I hope that this helps you
be able to express your work and your
studies a little bit better so of course
as always if you have questions or
comments please leave them in the
comment section I will check after the
live stream so please be sure to do that
otherwise we’ll be back next week next
week uh what did I say next week
December 12th Wednesday no Thursday is
it Thursday or central Wednesday next
week Wednesday 9 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time that is New York City time or 11
a.m. Japan Standard Time how to talk
about your plans with may might and
probably this is something I did with
students recently my real-life students
recently and this was a good one so I
decided to make a livestream out of it
with may might and probably modal verbs
don’t we love our modal verbs so please
join us next week for talking about your
plans with these three kind of focus
words join us again soon I’ll sign off
for now thanks very much for liking and
sharing the video really really
appreciate it as always don’t forget to
download your free things if you have
not already from the link below the
video on youtube or above the video on
Facebook if you’re watching on Instagram
I’m sorry can’t see your comments check
YouTube or Facebook to get the free
stuff there so I’ll say goodbye thanks
very much for joining again this week as
always enjoy the rest of your day enjoy
your week enjoy your weekend and I’ll
see you again soon
bye bye