Unit 3  Grammar reference and practice

simple Past and present perfect Present perfect Present perfect continuous
The simple past is used for completed past actions in the past, • emphasizes the fact that an • emphasizes the fact that an
often with expressions of completed time (last week, yesterday). action is finished. action is unfinished.
Australia beat Fiji on Sunday in the World Cup.
William has practiced enough Jo’s been practicing all day.
The present perfect is used to talk about: today. He’s coming off the court. She won’t stop until late.
• actions that started in the past and continue to the present. • emphasizes the present • emphasizes the action itself.
Teams have played modern ice hockey for almost 150 years. result of the action (i.e., How
The girls have been training
(This continues today.) many/much/often?).
hard.
• actions in the past which are connected to a present situation. We’ve played five times. I’ve
He's been sick this week, so he's not going to practice. won two games and lost three.
(He still doesn't feel well.) • is used with stative verbs • emphasizes the duration of
• past experiences when the exact time isn’t stated. (e.g., want, know, believe, be). an action.
If they choose Lee, it’s because he’s played more matches than Kal. I’ve wanted to try his racket They’ve been playing together
(He played more matches at any point in the past until now.) ever since he bought it. for a couple of years.
• recent actions.
The present perfect continuous is formed with has/have + been
You haven’t missed anything. They’ve just started. + present participle.
The game’s already finished—you missed it!
A Has Chloe been practicing?
I haven’t seen her score yet, but she’s looking very good.
B Yes, she has. She’s been resting, but will start again soon.
There are many cases where either the simple present or the Questions with How long are often formed with the present
present perfect can be used without much change in meaning. perfect continuous.
The game just started. (simple past) How long has she been competing professionally?
The game has just started. (present perfect)
The first example expresses that the start of the game is in Time expressions
the past; the second expresses that this is a recent event and For and since are used with the present perfect and present
connects it to the present. Both sentences are correct, with a perfect continuous to say how long an action has been going on.
slight difference in the intended meaning.
They’ve been swimming for an hour. (for + period of time)
The present perfect is formed with has/have + past participle. He’s played golf since the age of ten. (since + point in time)
Has and have are often contracted to ’s/’ve.
Use ever and never + the present perfect to say at any/no time in
She’s improved her swimming style. the past.
Go has two past participle forms: been and gone. Use been to say He’s never been snowboarding. Have you ever tried it?
someone went to a place and came back. Use gone to say that
Use already and just + the present perfect to say that an action is
the person is still in that place.
complete.
He’s been to China. (And now he’s back home.)
We’ve already played three games this morning. (past action)
He’s gone to China. (He’s still in China.)
I’ve just come back from work. (I came back very recently.)
For a list of irregular past participles, see page 148.
Yet is used in questions and negatives to ask if an action is
Activities 1 and 2 complete, and to say it isn’t.
Has the team won yet?
We haven’t played any games yet.
Present perfect and present perfect
continuous Activities 3–6
These tenses both describe actions that started or finished in
the past but have a connection to the present. However, they
emphasize different things.

132  Unit 3  Grammar Reference