PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

A. The Definition of the Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect can be divided into two words, they are present and perfect.
· The Present is the time which shows an action or state in the present.
· Perfect is a tense formed with have and past participle.
· The Present Perfect Tense is the time which shows an action that is formed with have and a past participle.

Wittenberg (seventh edition: 64) notes that The Present Perfect Tense shows that the action or state occuring in the past or was recently completed and continuous in the present. It consists of the helping verb has or have plus a past participle.
· The house has been vacant for a month or more.
· Both organizations have received several federal grants.

According to Patricia K. Werner and Lou Spaventa (2007:79) the present perfect tense can also describe actions or situations that developed in the past and that have continued up to the moment of speaking.

Akh. Kardimin, M. Hum (2007: 313) explains that Present Perfect Tense is an action or state occurring today and have completed in the same day.

Formula = Subject + Have/Has + Verb III + Object
Where, Have is used for I, we, they, you
Has is used for he, she, it

Examples:
v I have studied.
v We have sung together.
v She has seen this movie three times.


B. The Usage of Present Perfect Tense

There are some usages of the Present Perfect Tense. These are complete list of Present Perfect Forms:
1. Unspecified Time Before Now
We use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important. You cannot use the Present Perfect with specific time expressions such as: yesterday, one year ago, last week, when I was child, when I lived in China, at that moment, that day, one day, etc. We can use the Present Perfect Tense with unspecific expression such as: ever, never, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc.

Examples:

o I have seen that movie twenty times.
o Nobody has ever climbed that mountain.
o Have you read the book yet?
o There have been many earthquakes in Indonesia.
o A : Has there ever been a war in the United States?
B : Yes, there has been a war in the United States.

The concept of “unspecified time” can be very confusing for us, English learners. It is best to associate Present Perfect with the following explanation:

a) Experience

You can use the Present Perfect to describe your experience. It is like saying, “I have the experience of…” You can also use it to say that you have never had a certain experience. The Present Perfect is not used to describe a specific event.

Examples:

v I have been to France.
(This sentence means that you have had the experience of being in France. Maybe you have been there once or several times).
v I have been to France three times.
(You can add the number of times at the end of the sentence).
v I have never been to France.
(This sentence means that you have not had the experience of going to France).

b) Change over time

We often use the Present Perfect to talk about change that has happened over a period of time.

Examples:

v You have grown since the last time I saw you.
v The government has become more interested in arts education.
v My English has really improved since I moved to Australia.

c) Accomplishments

We often use the Present Perfect to list the accomplishment of individuals and humanity. You cannot mention a specific time.

Examples:
v Man has walked on the moon.
v Our son has learnt how to read.
v Doctors have cured many deadly diseases.
v Scientists have split the atom

d) An uncompleted action you are expecting

We often use the Present Perfect to say an action which we expected has not happened. Using the Present Perfect suggests that we are still waiting for the action to happen.

Examples:
v James has not finished his homework yet.
v Bill has still not arrived.
v The rain hasn’t stopped.
v Susan hasn’t mastered English, but she can communicate.

e) Multiple actions at different times

We also use the Present Perfect to talk about several different actions which have occurred in the past at different times. The Present Perfect suggests the process is not complete and more actions are possible.

Examples:
v I have had four quizzes and five tests so far this semester.
v We have had many major problems while working on this project.
v The army has attacked that city five times.
v She has talked to several specialists about her problem, but nobody knows why she is sick.


2. Duration From the Past Until Now (Non-Continuous Verbs)
With Non-Continuous Verbs and non-continuous uses of Mixed Verbs, we use the Present Perfect Tense to show that something is started in the past and has been continued up until now. All durations which can be used with the Present Perfect Tense are “for five minutes”, “for two weeks”, and “since Tuesday”, etc. Examples:

v She has walked for two hours.
v They have stayed in the same house for a week.
v Ririn has had a cold for two weeks.
v Reni has loved chocolate since she was a little girl.
v The woman has taught in the school for twenty years.

C. The Way of Forming Present Perfect Tense

1. Verbal Sentences

Verbal sentence is a sentence which is used for explaining an action of being occurred. The action which is happen is most important than its timeline.

a. Positive Sentence

In this sentence, the verb is using V-III (past partciple) and helping verb
(Has/Have).
Structure : S + Have/Has + V-III + O

Examples:

v I have written a letter to you.
v She has seen that film twice.
v Rusdi has moved into a new house.
We have read the “Twilight” novel.
v The family has eaten lunch.


b. Negative Sentence
Structure : S + Have/Has + Not + V-III + O
Examples:
v Rinal has not eaten.
v They have not done their homework.
v Dian has not lived in the same house.
v I have not mastered English, but I can communicate.
v The rain has not stopped.

c. Interrogative Sentence
Structure : Have/Has + S + V-III + O
Examples:
v Have we ever gone to Jakarta?
v Has she worked hard?
v Have you finished your work?
v Has Rusdy got my picture?
v Have you read the news?

d. Negative Question
Structure : Have/Has + Not + S + V-III + O
Examples:
v Haven’t the teachers gone to Bali?
v Haven’t you taken a pray?
v Hasn’t the team given all the best?
v Haven’t the students received their reports?

e. Interrogative sentence which is used for asking news.

1. Asking news in positive types
Structure : Who/What/When/Where/How/Why + Have/Has + S + V-III + O
Examples:

v Where have you put your pen?
v How long has she worked hard?
v Why has he studied hard?
v Who has spoken English well?
v What have they eaten?
v How much money have you spent?

2. Asking news in negative types

Structure: Who/What/When/Where/How/Why+ Have/Has +Not +S+V-III+O
Examples:
v When haven’t they spoken Arabic?
v What hasn’t he done?
v How long hasn’t she studied hard?
v Who hasn’t read the novel?
v Why haven’t they worked in the office?
v Why haven’t you brought a map?

f. Interrogative sentence which the subject is unknown

The interrogative sentence which has unknown subject is intended to use WHO for asking person and use WHAT except person. Then, we use Has in positive sentence and Hasn’t in negative sentence although the answer is in plural type.

1. Positive

Structure : Who/What + Has + V-III + O
Examples:
v Who has worked hard?
v What has eaten rice?

2. Negative
Structure : Who/What + Has + Not + V-III + O
Examples:
v Who hasn’t played Pingpong well?
v What hasn’t worked hard?

2. Nominal Sentences

Nominal sentence is used to explain a condition which has happened in the past.

a. Positive Sentence
Structure : S + Has/Have + Been + Non Verb
Examples:
v I have been here for three years.
v He has been present on time.
v They have been happy.

b. Negative Sentence
Structure : S + Has/ Have + Not + Been + Non Verb

Example:
v You have not been there.
v She has not been sick.
v The woman has not been lazy.

c. Interrogative Sentence
Structure : Has/ Have + S + Been + Non Verb
Examples:
v Have they been a pilot last year?
v Has Renny been happy with her darling?
v Have we been successful people?

d. Negative Question
Structure : Has/Have + Not + S + Been + Non Verb
Examples:
v Hasn’t she been a nurse?
v Haven’t you been sick last week?

e. Asking subject which is unknown

Structure : Who/What + Has + Been + Non Verb

Example:
v Who hasn’t been in the class?
v What has been at the garden?
v Who has been here last night?

f. Interrogative sentence which used for asking news

1. Positive question

Structure : Who/What/When/Where/Why/How+ Have/Has + S + Been+ Non Verb

Examples:
v Who has she been at present time?
v What has it been at the garden?
v When have they been with their parents?
v Where has she been scholarship?
v Why have they been here?
v How have you been sick?

2. Negative question
Structure : Who/ What/ When /Where/ Why/ How + Have/ Has + Not + S + Been + Non Verb
Examples:

v Who hasn’t she been at present time?
v What hasn’t it been at garden?
v When haven’t they been with their parents?
v Where hasn’t she been persent?
v Why haven’t we been here?
v How haven’t you been sick?

D. Time Signal

The time signals involve the past time and the day now on which can be used in Present Perfect Tense. When we use the Present perfect, it means that something has happened at some point in our lives before now. Remember, the exact time when the action happened is not important.
Sometimes, we want to limit the time we are looking in for an experience. We can do this with expressions such as: in the last week, in the last year, this week, this month, so far, up to now, etc.

Examples:
Have you been to Mexico in the last year?
I have seen that movie six times in the last month.
They have had three tests in the last week.
She graduated from university less than three years ago. She has worked for three different companies so far.
My car has broken down four times this week.

Notice:

“Last year” and “in the last year” are very different in meaning. “Last year” means the year before now, and it is considered a specific time which requires Simple Past. “In the last year” means from 365 days ago until now. It is not considered a specific time, so it requires Present Perfect.

Examples:

v I went to Mexico last year.

I went to Mexico in the calendar year before this one.

v I have been to Mexico in the last year.

I have been to Mexico at least once at some point between 365 days ago and now.

The adverbs already, (not) ever, just, never, recently, still, and not (yet), since are frequently used with the perfect tenses.For those adverb of time can be used by Present Perfect Tense with some rules, they are:

1. Just

Just refers to the very recent past.
Just comes before the past participle.

Example:
Anne has just gone out.
I’ve just visited that museum.

2. Recently

It is usually come before the past participle or at the end of the sentence. It can be used in all types of sentences.
Examples:
Recently, they have been on vacation.
They have recently been on vacation.
They have been on vacation recently.

3. Already

It can be placed in front or end of past participle (V-III) and usually used in affirmative sentence (positive) and question sentence (positive), and not with both of negative sentences.

Examples:
v Have you already eaten?
v Have you eaten already?
To explain which time is faster than it is being expected. Examples:

v The class always begins at 08.00 a.m. It is only 07.55, but the lesson has already begun.
v The plane has already left the airport.

4. Yet

To explain which time is slower than what it is being expected. It is always placed in the end of sentences.
It is used in negative and interrogative sentence. Examples:
v The class begins at 08.00 a.m. It is 08.05 but the teacher hasn’t come yet.
v Has he ported the letter yet?
v She hasn’t come yet.

5. For

For explains the duration of an occuring action. Examples:
v They have lived in London for ten years.
v My mother has been sick for three days.

6. Since

It shows when an action is started. Examples:
v We have lived in this house since 1990.
v I haven’t seen him since last February.

7. Ever

Ever must come before the past participle and be used in interrogative sentence.
Example:
v Have you ever read that book?

E. ACTIVE / PASSIVE

Examples:
Many tourists have visited that castle. Active
That castle has been visited by many tourists. Passive