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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #106054: Preterite or Present Perfect
    > Other English exercises on the same topics: | Past | Present perfect | Find the correct tense [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Present perfect simple - Past simple or present perfect - Present perfect simple - Past tenses - Past simple (video) - Modal: may/might - Past simple or continuous - Placement test 1
    > Double-click on words you don't understand


    Preterite or Present Perfect


    In lesson test, you had learnt how to make and use the 2 preterites and distinguish them. Now, we're going to learn how to use a 'strange' tense, which doesn't really exist in French, but which is very important in English :

    The present perfect (simple) !

     

    Before starting, let's revise the simple prétérite very quickly :

    1) THE  SIMPLE PAST or PRETERITE : 

     a) How it is formed : -- for regular verbs  :  

    verb (infinitive without 'to ': play -like - work ...)  + ed

    The finals in  -ed must always be pronounced : [t], [d], or [id] ; learn them  systematically as you learn the infinitives ;

                                      -- for  irregular verbs  : .... There's no rule : YOU HAVE TO LEARN THEM ! 

    No secret, no mystery ! You have to  know them by heart, very precisely !...

    b) The negative and interrogative forms of the  simple past  : are quite easy to make : You must use the auxiliary : Did/Didn't : ex : Last month, I didn't know him, but he knew me ! Did you know him ?

    c) The simple past is used to express an action completed in the past. The time of the action may be more or less precise according to the adverb. What's important is that it is a   completed past  as shown by the expressions : when I was young - then - last week - last month - last year - yesterday - ago ... The moment when the action took place is important (even if it's not explicitly given.)

    d) The simple past  is  the tense of narration.  ex : I saw him when I arrived.

     

    2) THE  PRESENT  PERFECT  SIMPLE :

    a) How it is formed : The auxiliary HAVE only is used to build this tense :

    HAVE (HAS in the 3rd pers.sing.) + past participle

      The past participle is either the verb + ed  for regular verbs

       or  the 3rd column of the irregular verbs (see above ! )

    The interrogative form is obtained reversing the auxiliary and the subject, and the negative form, simply by adding not !

     ex : Yes ! I have seen him but he hasn't seen me ! Have you seen him too ? 

    b) You must use the present perfect simple:

    ** When the moment of the action is not insisted on, or indicated, because it is the action which is important (Have you, or haven't you done the action ?).

    ** To express an action which started in the past and has a visible impact in the present. The present perfect simple is the tense of  the result of the action.

    ex : Have you read this book ? (meaning : have you, or haven't you ?)

    ex : He hasn't met my sister => He doesn't know her ...

    ex : Look ! Somebody has broken this vase !  (there are pieces of crystal on the floor ! = it's the present result of a past action !)

    ** The sentence in the Present Perfect Simple may contain an adverb (already, ever/never not ...yet, so far (to this day ...) (Take care of putting the adverb between the auxiliary and the main verb !)

    ex : Of course ! I have already read this book several times.

     Here is what you need to manage ... Then, if you want to go further, you'll have to learn the Present Perfect in -ing and then, use both forms to express duration or the beginning of an action ... Many excellent tests and lessons are already on this site.  test  test  test

     Good luck for the exercise ! Be careful, and everything will be OK !  

     

     

     

         

     

     





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    English exercise "Preterite or Present Perfect" created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
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    'OOOOOOlie! up your room ?' 'Yes, Mom, I yesterday before going to bed !' 'OLIVIA ! An hour ago you to tidy up your room... In fact, nothing ! I mean : ' all your games away into the right boxes tonight ? (no answer...) Olivia ! Look at your room ! It's in such a mess... You all the pieces of your jigsaw puzzles on the floor ! And what with your Sylvanian families ? The hedgehogs in the same room as the squirrels ! the wolves in the same house as the sheep? You that !' 'Yes! ! and it ! They in the Lego house... ' ' Oh ! Yes, the Legos too... Well, little girl, I'm sorry but a decision... Either you put all your toys away OR I'll do it myself !
    'Oh dear! When Mommy holding the big garbage can, and putting Nicholas (my favourite doll...) into it, I scared... Mom ! Please.... the lesson... Please...'
    Twenty minutes later, most of my toys in their boxes on the shelves, and then Mom me to sort out the puzzles ! I that ! Dear Mommy !'








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