Grammar - Tenses -Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Tense

 

Once again Kurulu joins with us to continue our discussions on Grammar especially on Present Perfect Tense

Let’s begin

            This is Kurulu. She lives in a beautiful village. This village is situated near the beach. Therefore she goes to this beach every weekend. Today is Sunday and  I came  to the beach too. I’m at the beach now and Kurulu has already come to the beach.She has not come here alone. She has visited the beach with her family. They all have enjoyed at the beach because it has been sunny. Vihanga, her elder brother has flown a kite and now his kite is high up in the sky. His little brother Pavan has ridden the pony and now he is getting down. Her father has walked beside him and he is helping Pavan to get down. Has Pavan been happy? Yes. Pavan has bee happy because he  has enjoyed the ride and he is smiling happily. Her friends also have joined them in that visit as usual. Her friends Smanali and Sepalika have built sand castles and there are number of sand castles around. Those castles are very beautiful. Kokila and Pahan have played with a ball. Kokila has thrown the ball and Pahan has caught it now they are tired and relaxing on the beach and the ball is just lying beside them. Sandaras has collected sea shells and there are many seashell in his bag. After building sand castles Samanali and Seplaika   have bathed in the sea and now they are sitting on a rock with wet hair. What has Kurulu done all this time at the beach? Has she swum in the sea? No, Kurulu has watched the rolling waves in the sea and now she is up to her feet to go to collect sea shells as usual. They have not idled a single moment today too. Their mother has waited sitting on a rock. She has watched them at play all this time and now she is walking towards the rolling waves. An ice-cream seller has sold lot of ice cream because most of the people at the beach are eating ice-cream. He has sold different kinds of ice-cream. The Kadala vendor has not come to the beach today. Where has the kadala vendor gone?  Nobody knows! This Sunday has not been a dull day. It has been an enjoyable day for all of them because they all are shouting and laughing happily.

 

This paragraph tells us what Kurulu and her family have started doing at the beach a few hours ago and they have  continued  it up to now.

 

We use

Present perfect Tense

to talk about

 things which have started in the past  time

 and

 extended or continued to the present

and

the result of those actions can be seen now at the present

 

 

The above story also tells us about how Kuruulu, her family and her friends have spent their weekend at the beach a few hours ago. We can also see the result of their actions too.

To describe their actions which have started few hours ago and continued up to now we use Present Perfect Tense.

Look at the following sentences again paying attention to the highlighted verbs

Kurulu has already come to the beach.

She has not come here alone.

She has visited the beach with her family.

 They all have enjoyed at the beach because it has been sunny.

 Vihanga, her elder brother has flown a kite and now his kite is high up in the sky.

His little brother Pavan has ridden the pony and now he is getting down. Her father has walked beside him and he is helping Pavan to get down.

 Has Pavan been happy?

 Yes. Pavan has enjoyed the ride and he is smiling happily.

Her friends also have joined them in that visit as usual.

Her friends Smanali and Sepalika have built sand castles and there are number of Sand castles around.

 Kokila and Pahan have played with a ball.

Kokila has thrown the ball and Pahan has caught it. Now they are tired and relaxing on the beach and the ball is just lying beside them.

 Sandaras has collected sea shells and there are many seashell in his bag.

After building sand castles Samanali and Seplaika   have bathed in the sea and they are sitting on a rock with wet hair.

What has Kurulu done all this time at the beach?

 Has she swum in the sea?

No, Kurulu has watched the rolling waves in the sea and now she is up to her feet to go to collect sea shells as usual.

 They have not idled a single moment today too.

Their mother has waited sitting on a rock.

She has watched them at play all this time and now she is walking towards the rolling waves.

An ice-cream seller has sold lot of ice cream because most of the people at the beach are eating ice-cream.

He has sold different kinds of ice-cream.

 The Kadala vendor has not come to the beach today.

 Where has the kadala vendor gone?

 This Sunday has not been a dull day.

 It has been an enjoyable day for all of them because they all are shouting and laughing happily.

 

All these sentences talk about

Actions which have happened

Kurulu has already come to the beach.

She has visited the beach with her family.

 

Actions which have not happened

She has not come here alone.

The Kadala vendor has not come to the beach today.

 We can also ask

Questions about the actions which have happened

What has Kurulu done all this time at the beach?

 Has she swum in the sea?

Has she built sand castles?

Where has the kadala vendor gone?

 

Remember!

Not only the actions

we can also say and ask

Something about them and that weekend

It has been sunny.

Has Pavan been happy?

It has been an enjoyable day for all of them

 

They all use present perfect form because those actions have started in the past and continued up to the present and completed in the present. The result of certain actions can be seen now

Look at the following examples

Vihanga, her elder brother has flown a kite and now his kite is high up in the sky.

Here Vihanga started flying the kite in the past and as a result of his past action which continued till now his kite can be seen high up in the sky.

So we use present perfect form and say

Vihanga has flown a kite

Here is another example

Kurulu has collected sea shells and there are many seashell in her bucket.

Here Kurulu started collecting seashells few hours ago and as result of her action which continued up to this moment there are many seashell in the bucket now.

So we use present perfect form and say

Kurulu has collected sea shells.

Remember!

When the past action has a connection with the present we use present perfect

 

Do you notice any difference in the use of the verb?

Yes, there is a difference.

Some sentences used action verbs in the past participle form with the verbs has and have

Kokila and Pavan has played with a ball.

Kokila has thrown the ball and Pavan has caught it.

 

But some others used auxiliary verbs

It has been an enjoyable day for all of them

It has been sunny.

 

 And in some has not before the verb.

This Sunday has not been a dull day.

She has not come here alone.

 

 So we need to learn the reason for that difference

 

Next we are going to learn the reason.

For that we need to learn how the Present Perfect Tense sentences are formed.

Let’s learn that

 

Let’s look at how Present Perfect Tense sentences are formed.

 

When talking about actions happened we use

 

               Subject   + has /have+ Verb    +   Object / Adverbial

                                   (Past participle form)

She has visited the beach with her family.

They all have enjoyed at the beach

Remember!

In the Present Perfect Tense the verb is used in the Past Participle form

 Past Participle form is also formed as follows.

  

We also add ed, d, ied & t at the end of the verb when forming the verb in the past participle form

 

We add ed to most of the verbs when making the past participle form.

wait      - waited

join      - joined

collect -collected

watch    - watched

 

When do we add d?

 

We add d when the verb ends in e

 

Examples

 

prepare - prepared

share -shared

care - cared

bathe – bathed

 

When do we add ied?

 

When the verb ends in y and followed by a consonant we drop y and add ied

cry - cried

hurry- hurried

burry- buried

Carry- carried

marry - married

 

But we keep y and add ed when the verb ends in y followed by a vowel

     play   -  played

  delay   -  delayed

employ   - employed

stay  - stayed

 

There are some unusual verbs in English

 They never follow the above rule 

What are they?

They are

say   pay   lay

They are made in the past

said   paid   laid

 

In some English verbs t is added after the base form

learn     -   learnt

burn      -   burnt

 meant   -   meant

send      -      sent

spend     -    spent

 

 

These verbs are called regular or weak verbs because they take the same pattern or regular pattern  when forming the past participle .

There are also strong verbs or irregular verbs

 

 How do they take their past participle form?

In some words the vowel sound is changed

           meet -   met   

       get   – got

                                                                   lead -  led

       

 

Some take a completely different word

 do           -   done

go           –  gone

eat          -   eaten

give        -   given

hide       -   hidden

steal      -   stolen

write      -  written

swim     -   swum

sing       –  sung

sink       -   sunk

begin     -   begun

teach     –  taught

catch     -   caught

think     -   thought

bring     -   brought

seek       -   sought

buy        -   bought

  

Some take the same word

cut -  cut

put – put

shut –  shut

hit  -  hit

come  -  come

run    - run

Some take the past form of the word

  have -   had

       loose – lost

             make –made    

Now see how the sentences are structured.

If the subject is singular, or if we talk about one person, we use

 

Subject Singular + has + verb +    Object / Adverbial

                                      (Past participle form)

                                    Kokila      has thrown   the ball.

 

More examples 

An ice-cream seller has sold lot of ice cream.

Vihanga, her elder brother has flown a kite.

 

Their mother has waited sitting on a rock.

Kokila has kicked the ball.

If the subject is plural, or if we talk about more than one person we use

 

Subject Plural + have + verb +    Object / Adverbial

                                      (Past participle form)

Smanali and Sepalika      have     built     sand castles on the beach

More examples

Kokila and Pahan have played with a ball.

They all have enjoyed at the beach .

Her friends also have joined them

 

if we talk something about somebody or something in the present perfect

we use

 

Subject    +   auxiliary verb   +      Compliment / Adverbial

                                           (has been/have been)                              

 

It has been an enjoyable day for all of them

They have been happy at the beach.

 

If

Subject Singular    +   has been   +    Compliment / Adverbial

                               It               has been an enjoyable day for all of them

 

Subject Plural    +   have been   +     Compliment/Adverbial

                            They       have been            happy            at the beach.

 

More examples

It has been sunny.

Pavan has been happy riding the pony.

 

Remember!

 

 When we use a pronoun as the subject,

 If the subject is I  we use the helping verb have

If the subject is He, She and It we use the helping verb has

If the subject is You, We and They we use the helping verb have

 

Do the following activities

 

Activity 1

Fill the blanks with the present Perfect form of the verb. Use the verb stems in the brackets.

1.      Some tourists  ………   …………   along the beach so they are tired. (run)

2.     Kurulu’s father ………   ……..beside the pony and now he is helping her brother to get down.(walk)

3.    The children  ………    ………… ice-cream.(eat)

4.    The boats  ……   ……….. to the beach.(return)

5.     Kurulu’s younger brother  ………  …………… a pony .(ride)

6.    Kurulu  ………    …………...  to the beach. (be)

7.      Pavan’s father  ………   …………. with him (come)

8.     The ice cream seller   ………………. ice-cream to the children(give)

9.     The boys  ……………    …………. kites.(make)

10.                        I …………    ………….. my car towards the beach.(drive)

11.  Kurulu’s mother………      …………… on a rock. (sit)

12.Some tourists   …… …      …….……. in the sea now. (swim)

13. The  poor children  at the beech  ..... ............ hungry. (be)

14. the  Kadala vendor  .... ........... under the tree for a long time selling kadala (be)

 Activity 2 

Fill the blanks with the present perfect form of the verb. Use the verb stems in the brackets.

1.    Kurulu’s  mother ………    ……………  rolling waves.(watch).
2.      The birds ………   ………….  in the sky.(fly) 
3. Pavan    ………   ……… the ball. (catch)
4.  Kurulu’s father   …….     …….…... her brother to fly the kite.( teach)
5.   The  children ……….     ………….   for ice-cream.(run)
6.  Kurulu  ……     …...……… to collect most beautiful shells. (try)

When talking about actions that has not happened

(negative form) we use

has /have not

                 Subject  +  has not + Verb   +  Object / Adverbial

                                                    (Past participle form)

 

                        She        has not gone                          there   alone.

The Kadala vendor has not come                        to the beach today.

 

More examples

Pavan has not flown kites.

Mother hasn’t had a bath.

Vihanga has not ridden the pony.

 

When talking about something about someone or something we use

  

          Subject +has/have+ not +been   + Compliment/Adverbial

                It         has         not    been        a dull day.

          They        have        not   been         bored           on that day.

More examples

Kurulu and her friends have not been bored.

The sea has not been rough.

Pavan has not been sad on that day

 Do the following activities

 

 Activity 3

Change the following sentences in to negative form.

1.      The birds have flown in the sky.

2.    Kurulu’s mother has made sand castles.

3.    Kurulu  has collected sea shells.

4.    The ice-cream seller has sold cool drinks at the beach.

5.     Vihanga has bought kites.

6.    You have built the sand castles well.

7.     I have come to the beach by my car.

8.    They have enjoyed  the day at the beach.

When asking about actions happen (interrogative form) we use

Has & Have

We form ‘yes, no’ questions in the present simple by adding the auxiliary

Has /Have before the subject of the verb.

What are ‘yes, no’ questions?

They are the questions which get either yes or no as the answer.

If the subject is singular or about one person we use Has and if we ask about a plural subject or if it is more than one person we use Have before the subject of the verb

 

Has/Have   +     Subject     +    Verb    +   Object / Adverbial

 

Has she gone to the beach last week end?

Yes, she has.

Has she gone to the beach alone?

No, she has not.

Have they flown kites?

Yes, they have.

Have the children bought kites?

No, they haven’t.

 

More examples

 

Has Pavan ridden pony?

Yes he has.

Has mother had a bath?

No, she hasn’t

Have the children made sand castles?

Yes, they have.

 

When talking about something about someone or something we use

Has /Have  +  Subject    + been  + Compliment / Adverbial

                     Has        Pavan          been       happy?

Yes, he has been happy.

 

                   Have          they             been                                at the beach?

Yes, they have been at the beach.

 

Do the following activities

 

Activity 4

Make questions to get the following as the answers.

1. Yes, the birds have flown in the sky.
2. No, kurulu’s mothe rhas not made sand castles.
3. Yes, Kurulu has colleceds sea shells.
4. No, the ice-cream seller has  not sold cool drinks.
5. Yes, Vihanga  has flown a kite.
6. Yes, you  have built the sand castles well.
7. No, I have not come to the beach today.

No, the children do not sun bathe. 

We form ‘information’ questions in the past simple by adding a question word before the auxiliary has/have before the subject of the verb.

What are ‘information’ questions?

They are the questions which get certain information as the answer.

 

If the subject is singular or if we ask about one person we use has and if the subject is plural or more than one person we use have after the question word

 

Question word + has/have + Subject + Verb + Adverbial

 

                            Where         has             she            gone      today?

                       She has gone to the beach today.

 

                              What        have             they     collected at the beach?

                                  They have collected seashells at the beach.

 

More examples

What have the children built on the beach?

The children have built sand castles.

 

Where has mother sat at the beach?

She has sat on a rock.

 

What has pavan riden?

Pavan riden a pony.

 

When talking about something about someone or something we use

Question word + has/have + Subject + been + Adverbial

 

                           Where    has                 Kurulu     been         today?

   Kurulu has been to the beach.

 

More examples

Why have they been happy?

They have been happy because the day has been good.

 Do the following activities 

 Activity 5

Make questions to get the highlighted word or phrase as the answers.

1.      The birds  have flown in the sky.

2.    Kurulu’s mother has not made sand castles.

3.    Kurulu has collected sea shells.

4.    The ice-cream seller has sold ice-cream at the beach.

5.     Vihanga has bought two kites.

6.    You have built the sand castles well.

7.     I have come to the beach by my car.

8.    They have enjoyed a lot because it is a sunny day.