Present Perfect Tense Simple or Continuous Basic English Grammar
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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I’m going to talk about the
difference between the present perfect
tense and the present perfect continuous
tense many people ask about the
difference between these two so I’m
going to talk about how to make these
tenses and sometimes when you might want
to use them so let’s get started
first of all I want to begin with sort
of a visual of these two grammar points
I’m going to start with the present
perfect tense here though
so you might have seen another video on
this channel about the present perfect
tense how to use it how to make it but
I’m going to review quickly here the
present perfect tense I’m going to talk
about two uses of the present perfect
tense they are first that we use the
present perfect tense to express life
experience at a nonspecific time in the
past so this means something that we did
in the past meaning before the present
time here on a timeline but the exact
point in time is not important so we use
this for perhaps our job experience or
our travel experience for example with
expressions like I have been to France
or I have worked at XYZ company for
example the specific time is not
important so we can use the present
perfect tense to describe those things
the second point I want to talk about
with the present perfect tense is how we
use it to refer to an action that
started in the past and that continues
to the present or the effects of that
action started in the past and continue
to the present rather so on our timeline
it sort of looks a little bit like this
some actions started in the past and the
action has continued to the present in
other words so these are the two points
I want to talk about with the present
perfect tense let’s take a look then to
review how to make the present perfect
tense when you’re making a statement
with the present perfect
you might use a pattern like this so if
your subject is I we you are they will
use that plus half plus the past
participle form of a verb you might use
for or since depending on the the point
that you’re using here and you’ll finish
the sentence with the extra information
if your subject however is he or she or
it will use has instead of have and then
follow it with the past participle form
of the verb
perhaps for or since depending on your
sentence and your information so some
examples of this are I have been to
Italy so have follows this pattern and
bin is the past participle form of the
verb be I have been to Italy in this one
he has studied English for six months so
here I’m using 0.1 here I’m using point
two in this in this bullet-pointed list
so this is a general life experience I
have been to Italy second this is an
action that started in the past and that
continues to the present he has studied
English for six months so this is an
action that’s probably still in progress
okay let’s look at then some questions I
want to review how to make questions
with this tense so for simple yes and no
questions we can use patterns like this
has if your subject is he or she or it
will begin with pass if your subject is
I we you or they will begin with have so
let’s start with this has he she or it
plus the past participle form of the
verb plus again this for or since
perhaps and then your extra information
at the end of the sentence
with have it’s the same so have I we you
were they plus past participle verb and
may be for or since so a couple examples
of this has she finished her homework so
here has and my subject is she has she
finished as the past participle form of
the verb finish has she finished her
homework and have they cleaned up the
house so these are questions asking has
this action been completed so we’ve
for now in other words these two actions
in this case her homework and the
housecleaning are they finished yes or
no but the time at which the action was
finished is not so important in these
questions the speaker the person asking
the question only wants to know is it
finished
is it not finished that’s it so the
specific time is not important that’s
why the present perfect tense is being
used to ask the question let’s look at a
different question pattern this is when
you want to get information you’re using
a question word like who which what how
and so on so we begin with our question
word and then we follow the same pattern
we saw up here so for example we could
use question word Plus has he and past
participle verb form plus four or since
perhaps and our extra information or
question word plus have and our i we you
they past participle verb and for or
since so one great example of this is
where have you been where have you been
so again the speaker is asking in the in
the period of time before the present
where was the listener where have you
been in this period of time so this is a
very common question so we use these
these types of questions just to ask
about things that happened or maybe that
continued to happen before the present
but maybe not at a specific point in
time also please keep in mind we use for
and since commonly with this point right
here the continuing action point
remember we use for before a length of
time like for three years for five hours
and we use since to refer to a specific
point in time okay so with that in mind
let’s take a look then at the present
perfect continuous tense so present
perfect continuous tense we use this for
actions that started in the past and
continued to the present yes so just
like this one that we talked about here
but this point it emphasizes a
continuing action so we use this for
something that we’re putting our effort
into now
our focus into right now or for an
interrupted action for example so I’ll
introduce some examples here in just a
moment to make the present perfect
continuous the pattern is quite similar
to the present perfect tense we have
this same change with the subject
depending on the subject we’ll use i we
you they plus half then we’ll use bin
but then we’ll follow it instead of with
the past participle form of the verb
will use the progressive or the content
continuous form of the verb the ing form
of the verb and here we can use for or
since
and the ending information same thing
with he she and its subjects the only
difference is we’ll use has instead of
half here and then we’ll follow it with
bin progressive form of the verb and for
or since depending on your statement so
let’s take a look a couple examples here
I’ve been teaching this lesson for five
minutes
maybe so here I’m saying this lesson is
in progress this lesson is continuing
and I’m using four to show the length of
time I’m making a guess there but that’s
roughly or that’s about how long this
lesson has been continuing for I imagine
so I use the progressive in the past
perfect tense to show that so it’s an
action that started in the past and it
continues to now and right now it’s the
focus of my attention right now I’m
focusing everything on teaching this
lesson so I want to emphasize that
therefore I use the progressive tense
here in the past perfect let’s look at
another one he’s been studying all
morning he’s been studying all morning
this sentence sounds like the he in the
sentence is maybe still studying so this
is something he’s put his effort into
and his focus into all morning long so
when we want to really emphasize
someone’s focus or someone’s effort we
can use the present perfect continuous
tense also you might notice I’ve used
this expression all morning at the end
of
the sentence when you’re using the
progressive or the continuous version of
the past perfect you can end your
sentence with like all morning or all
night all afternoon lately or recently
to talk about the period of time that
you’ve been focusing or the period of
time that you want to emphasize that
action was continuing we’ll see another
example later okay
let’s look at those some questions using
the present perfect continuous so just
as we saw with the present perfect tense
we’ll begin with have or has for some
simple yes or no questions and then
depending on the subject will change
this this initial this initial word have
or has and then we’ll again we’ll use
bin plus the progressive form of a verb
and perhaps for or since before our
concluding information so some examples
first has he been sleeping all day
so here I’ve used has because my subject
is he I’ve used bin and the progressive
form of sleeping so sleep becomes
sleeping has he been sleeping all day
meaning in this period of time has he
been sleeping continuously this is the
question has he been sleeping all day so
probably he the person in this sentence
is still sleeping has he been sleeping
all day so let’s look at one more
example if this kind of question pattern
then so another one would be have they
been working on the project so here I’ve
used half because I’m using the word
they here so a group of people and again
I’m using bin and working on the project
have they been working on the project
meaning from some point in time in the
past have they may be a team or a group
of people continuously so non-stop have
they been working so this question
emphasizes their continued progress
their continued work on the project okay
let’s finish up with a different kind of
question pattern so again when you use a
question word like who which what or how
for example we can use has or have again
here depending on the subject of the
sentence so I think that this part is
the same as the question pattern we just
talked about so let’s just take a look
at the example sentences here
first one how have you been exercising
lately how have you been exercising
lately so this how by the way means in
what way have you been exercising lately
so in this case the speaker probably
knows that the listener has been
exercising lately and the speaker wants
to know how meaning in what way so how
have you been exercising lately meaning
in the past up until now in this period
continuously what has been your method
of exercise or what’s the way you’ve
been exercising this is what the speaker
is asking in the last one where has he
been keeping his files so here my
question word is where has he been again
and keeping in this case keeping is in
the progressive or the continuous tense
where has he been keeping his files so
in this sentence for example maybe
someone is searching for some files or
some data maybe a colleague is absent
for example and the speaker wants to
know where has he been keeping so from
the past until now where has he been
keeping his files so when we want to
emphasize something that started in the
past continues to the present or there’s
something we’re really focusing our
effort or our energy on we can use the
present perfect continuous tense to do
that so if you want to emphasize maybe
the completion of an action something
that has finished we can use the present
perfect tense like he has studied
English for six months and he has been
studying English for six months they yes
they communicate the same thing but
using he has studied English for six
months
doesn’t sound like so much effort
continues to be put into the study if
you want to really emphasize your effort
you should use the progressive form he
has been studying English for six months
sounds like it’s continuing it sounds
like there’s more focus on that act
so try to keep this slight difference in
mind and if you really want to emphasize
your effort and your focus try using the
continuous form of the present perfect
tense instead of just the present
perfect so I hope that this was helpful
for you if you have any questions or
comments or if you’d like to try to make
an example sentence please feel free to
do so in the comment section below this
video
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will see you again soon bye bye
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