Grammar Reference

 

10.1 ■ Present perfect: affirmative and negative

Regular verbs

Affirmative and negative
I We You They	've (= have) haven't (= have not)	competed in the Olympics.
He She It	's (= has) hasn't (= has not)

Form

• We form the present perfect with have / has and the past participle of the main verb.
• The past participle of regular verbs is the same as the past simple form.
  Past simple: We played football in the park yesterday.
  Present perfect: We have played football three times this week.

Use

We use the present perfect:

• to talk about experiences and things that have happened at an indefinite time in the past.
  I've worked in a lot of different places in my life.
  He's rowed across the Atlantic Ocean three times.
  They've travelled a lot in Africa and Asia.
• to talk about an action or event that started or happened in the past, but has a connection with the present. The action or event might be finished or unfinished.
  I've opened a box of chocolates. Do you want one?
  She's used the last clean cup in the house!
  We've lived in this town all our life.(We were born here and we still live here now.)
• to talk about recent events.
  Our head teacher has resigned!

Irregular verbs

• Many verbs have irregular past participle forms.

been and gone

The verb go has two past participle forms: been and gone.

• We use been when we know that someone has returned from a place.
  Dad has been to the supermarket.(He is back home now.)
• We use gone when the person has not returned.
  Dad has gone to the supermarket.(He is still at the supermarket.)

Common irregular past participles
become	become	make	made
buy	bought	meet	met
break	broken	put	put
catch	caught	ride	ridden
come	come	run	run
do	done	say	said
eat	eaten	see	seen
find	found	sing	sung
get	got	swim	swum
give	given	teach	taught
go	gone / been	think	thought
have	had	understand	understood
hear	heard	wear	worn
know	known	win	won
leave	left	write	written

10.2 ■ Present perfect: questions and short answers

Yes / No questions and short answers
Have	I / we / you / they	met my brother?	Yes, I have. No, they haven't.
Has	he / she / it		Yes, he has. No, she hasn't.
Wh- questions
Where	have	I / we / you / they	been?
What	has	he / she / it	done?

• We make present perfect yes / no questions with:
  Have / Has + subject + past participle + ?
• We make present perfect wh- questions with:
  Question word + have / has + subject + past participle + ?

10.3 ■ Present perfect with ever and never

• In present perfect questions, we often use ever (= at any time in the past).
  Have you ever eaten Japanese food?
• To express a negative, we can use never (= at no time in the past) + affirmative verb.
  She's never left her home town.