PAST SIMPLE VS PRESENT PERFECT

1. What do we use the Past Simple and the Present Perfect for?

PAST SIMPLE PRESENT PERFECT

Action started in the past, finished in Action started in the past and is
the past and is not continuing now continuing now

Finished actions Unfinished actions that started in the

past and continue to the present

● I knew Julie for ten years (but ● I've known Julie for ten years
then she moved away and we lost (and I still know her)
touch)

A finished action in someone’s life (when A finished action in someone’s life (when
the person is dead) the person is still alive: life experience)

● My great-grandmother went to ● My brother has been to Mexico

Mexico three times three times

A finished action with no result in the A finished action with a result in the
present present

● I lost my keys yesterday. It was ● I've lost my keys! (The result

terrible! (Now there is no result. I is that I can't get into my
got new keys yesterday) house now)

With a finished time word With an unfinished time word

● I saw John last week ● I've seen John this week

2. Circle the correct answer:

1) Desmond worked / has worked / have worked as an engineer since 2003

2) Mrs White taught / have taught / has taught at our school 20 years ago
 3) Tina is afraid of flying. She hasn’t been / wasn’t / haven’t been abroad for ten
years

4) I has gone / went / have gone diving last weekend

5) Susie got her marks, but her parents have seen / haven’t seen / didn’t see
them yet

3. Fill in the gaps with the correct form in Present Simple or Present Perfect

1) He ______________ (leave) Singapore in 1985

2) I ______________ (not see) Emma since we left school (not see)

3) ___________ you ____________ (finish) the report yet?

4) Last summer, we ___________ (stay) at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai

5) Adam ____________ (rescue) a cat from a tree last week

6) I like music, but I ______________ (not practise) the piano since last year

7) Lucy ___________ (work) as an animal trainer for three years. She loves it!

8) ________ they _________ (visit) Scotland in 2007?

4. Correct the mistake in each of the sentences

1) Have you ever eat Chinese food?

2) She has moved to another city last year

3) They have sent out the invitations yet

 4) Jack hasn’t seen Jill since she has graduated

5) Mr Brown already left the office

6) We haven’t been abroad since a year

7) The lesson has started ten minutes ago

8) Did she just leave?

5. Complete the text with the verbs in brackets. Use the Present Perfect Simple
or Past Simple

Marlee Matlin ____________ (work) on TV and in films for more than 20 years. She

____________ (start) acting at age 7. She ____________ (appear) in her first film,

Children of a Lesser God, in 1986. A year later, she ____________ (win) the Academy

Award for Best Actress. This was special because Marlee Matlin is deaf. Matlin

____________ (lose) her hearing as a baby, but she ____________ (never let) her

problem stop her from acting. On TV and in films, she ____________ (play) many

characters, including a teacher, a police officer, an artist and a lawyer. No other deaf

actor ____________ (become) so successful.

6. Let's play a game!

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