TITC

Past Simple vs Present Perfect

Exercises

A Complete the chart below:

Infinitive Past simple Past participle

be
forget
speak
go
began
did
wrote
brought
flown
drunk
eaten

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B In pairs, A and B take turns to ask and answer these questions.
You can make up the answers – they don’t have to be true!

For each answer, the first should be present perfect, and the second
past simple. (Complete the questions in 4 and 5 first).

1. A. Have you been to another country?

B. Yes, I _______________ to _______________.

A. When did you go there?

B. I _____________________________________________.

2. A. Have you seen a good film recently?

B. Yes, I ______________________________.

A. When did you see it?

B. I _____________________________________________.

3. A. Have you ever broken a bone?

B. Yes, I ______________________________.

A. When did you break it?

B. I _____________________________________________.

4. A. Have you ever eaten _______________?

B. Yes, I ______________________________.

A. When did you eat _______________?

B. I _____________________________________________.

5. A. Have you ever ______________________________?

B. Yes, I ______________________________.

A. When did you ______________________________?

B. I _____________________________________________.

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Past Simple vs Present Perfect
In this lesson we are going to contrast the form and usage of the past simple with the present
perfect.
It is assumed that the students are aware of both these tenses and some of their uses.
The main teaching point here is the ‘specification’ of time.

ENGAGE
Put three column headings on the board as below and elicit responses from the students after
you have completed the first line for yourself.

Activity I enjoy How often you do it Last time you did it

Go to the cinema About once a month Three weeks ago

Etc…

Use some of the students’ answers to generate sentences from columns two and three.

E.g. (2) I have been to the cinema about 6 times this year

(3) I last went to the cinema three weeks ago.

STUDY
Elicit the actual tenses from the students: present perfect (2) past simple (3)

Draw a timeline on the board and show how we can be quite clear about where to put
sentence three, but it is not easy to place sentence two.

Explain the difference.

Past simple…tells us about an activity that occurs at a specific time in the past

Present perfect…tells us about an activity that occurs in an unspecified time in the past

Study activity 1:

A Complete the chart below:

Study activity 2:

B In pairs, A and B take turns to ask and answer these questions.

Tell the students that they can make up the answers – they don’t have to be true!

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ACTIVATE
Play “O – X” on the board. First get the students to write 12 reasonable challenging verbs on
the cards they’re given. Collect them and shuffle them. Draw a giant tic-tac-toe grid on the
board:

Take the nine top cards and write the verbs in the grid. Divide the class into 2 teams – “O”
and “X”. One person from “O” team picks a verb and makes 2 sentences with it – one past
simple and 1 present perfect. The other team judges whether the sentences are appropriate
and accurate, and team “O” gets an “O” in the relevant spot on the grid. If one or both of the
sentences is judged to be incorrect, then team “X” gets an “X” in the spot instead. The roles
are reversed and a team member from team “X” chooses a verb, etc… Continue until one
team gets 3 in a row, as in regular tic-tac-toe.

Repeat the game within the time you have using the verbs on the cards.

Have fun!

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Cut out 12 cards per pair of students for them to write a verb on each card.
Copy as many sheets as you need.

verb: verb: verb:

…………………..…………………. …………………..…………………. …………………..………………….

verb: verb: verb:

…………………..…………………. …………………..…………………. …………………..………………….

verb: verb: verb:

…………………..…………………. …………………..…………………. …………………..………………….

verb: verb: verb:

…………………..…………………. …………………..…………………. …………………..………………….

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