The Present Perfect is used when the time is not specific: i.e. The Simple Past is used when giving older information: i.e. The Present Perfect is often used when giving recent news: i.e. I saw 3 movies last week (last week is finished). The Simple Past is used when the time period HAS finished - i.e. I have seen 3 movies this week (this week has not finished yet). The Present Perfect is used when the time period has NOT finished - i.e. For – can be used with all tenses (period of time).Įxplain Further Differences Between The Tensesĭon’t get bogged down in grammar.

‘ Have you had lunch?’ rather than ‘ Did you have lunch?’ Since – usually used with the Perfect Tenses only (point in past time). buy a car.Ĭ) Continuing situation – a state (not an action).īritish speakers use this tense more frequently: i.e. Limit the teaching uses at the Lower Intermediate Level:Ī) experience – not when you did something, but if you did it.ī) change or new information – e.g. Tell students not to try and translate into their own language – try to think in the tense itself. This tense gives speakers of some languages a degree of difficulty, because the concept/idea does not exist in their L1 – it is expressed with a present tense. When we tell a story we usually use the simple past – for ‘ action’ and the past continuous to ‘ set the scene.’ We say or understand the time and/or place of the event. The event is in the past – it is completed/finished. The past form for irregular verbs needs to be learned by heart.Īn action/situation – an event in the past, which can be short or long: i.e.

Verbs ending in a consonant + ‘y’, change to …ied e.g. Check spellings and practice for short verbs with only one syllable, as the consonant is doubled i.e stopped, planned.

The past form for all regular verbs ends in …….ed/ or …….d: e.g.

Present perfect and past perfect