> Other English exercises on the same topic: Present perfect [Change theme]
	> Similar tests: - Present perfect simple - Past simple or present perfect - Present perfect simple - Present perfect - Choosing your past tense... - Continuous + Perfect - Enough with the Present Perfect... - Preterite or Present Perfect
	> Double-click on words you don't understand

Present perfect

PRESENT PERFECT  TENSE

First things first. Let's first get comfortable with how to write this tense at all. Let's consider the following sentence.

I ____________ (complete) my task and so I am off !

If you are asked to fill in the blank with the present perfect tense form of the given verb then do go by this "formula"

has/have + v3 (or the past participle of the given verb which in this case is complete and v3 of complete is v3).

And since have agrees with I our answer is--- have completed.

You should of course know how to use has and have correctly. It unfortunately varies with the person and the number of individuals involved in the sentence we use.

So if it is the first person singular I we use 'have' . The plural of the first person I is we,  which we know also takes have with it.The second person for both singular and plural  is you and you always take have with it. Now as far as the third person singular is concerned i.e. he/she we need to write has but again for third person plural viz. they we need to use have. So much for persons and their number.

Similarly it is, it has (it also being third person singular) 

What if you have the name of a person? Nothing very complicated. If only one person is the subject like say Peter or Clara we write has. But if two or more people are there i.e Peter and Clara then we use have.

Again it is always -- my mother has.... or my father has... (one person again) but my mother and father have (more than one person).

Having clarified ourselves on the accurate use of has and have and having also learnt how to write the Present Perfect Tense we are left with the task of knowing when to use this tense while writing and speaking.

For Indians and may be even for those who are not the native speakers of the language this tense poses a problem. Indians often use the past time adverbial like ‘yesterday', 'last year' with this tense which is quite a blunder!

For instance-- I have read this boom yesterday! (WRONG)

Say I have read this book (which means I can enlighten you on it) or I read this book yesterday (just letting others know when I read this book.)

So NEVER use the past time adverbial with the Present Perfect Tense.

So when do we use it?

 It is used to talk of an action which started sometimes in the past and either got completed in the past or may be just now.

Remember that we are more interested in the effect of the action no matter when it was completed by us. So when a mother tells her children,"I have cooked the lunch already” she wishes to convey to them that they could have their food if they wished too (it is NOT important when she had completed the cooking!)

This tense is normally used with adverbs like yet already, just, recently, lately, ever, never etc.

Now an exercise follows in which you need to put the given verb in the Present Perfect Tense i.e has/have + v3 of the given verb.

N.B. Do check up the list of irregular verbs otherwise v3 for certain verbs will prove to be a bother!

Twitter Share
English exercise "Present perfect" created by sreedhar with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from sreedhar]
Click here to see the current stats of this English test

Please log in to save your progress.

1. Oh, no! I (break) the flower vase into bits! Mummy will definitely give me a nice dressing-down!

2. This car (cost) me a lot of money. So don't ask me to buy a mink coat for you now!

3. The police (handle) the situation pretty proficiently. It is all quiet and peaceful now!

4. She (eat) all the biscuits! The greedy girl! There aren't any left for her brother!

5. The soldiers (fight) pretty bravely! You can see them all smiles for having done their job well.

6. My parents (forbid) me from joining you all without their consent. So, I am afraid I can't accompany you for the outing.

7. You (forget) your promise to assist me in the task. Very mean of you indeed!

8. The farmer (sow) all the innumerable seeds that were in his possession. Now he is looking for some rains!

9. She (sweep) the gigantic hall twice. That's why it looks spic and span.

10. My mother (knit) a lovely sweater for me! Now I am not scared of the winter!

11. Enid Blyton (write) scores of books for children to read and strengthen their English. Why don't you begin with The Famous Five Series?

12. The rascal of a false friend (slink) away. I wanted to teach him a fine lesson for his treachery.

13. You (spell) the word millennium incorrectly! Do correct it!

14. They (lend) me a helping hand. I will always remain grateful to them.

15. We (mistake) him for someone else. That's why we are apologising to him