Present Perfect

1. Differences between the Past Tense and the Present Perfect Tense
2. Forming the Present Perfect Tense
3. Using the Present Perfect
4. Prepositions and Adverbs associated with the Present Perfect
5. Present Perfect Continuous
6. Forming the Present Perfect Continuous
7. Using the Present Perfect Continuous
8. Differences between Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous

1 Differences between Past Simple and the Present Perfect Tense

We do not have the Present Perfect tense in Czech so it is difficult for us to
distinguish this tense from the Past Simple.

The main difference is that the Past
Simple describes an event that happened in the past.
I was born in 1988. – it happened in the past
X
The Present Perfect is more connected with the present or at least the time of the action is in
the present.
I have found it. – I see the result here and now in the present.
I have lost it. – I see here and now that I don’t have it.

5 Present Perfect Continuous

Unlike the Present Perfect, which focuses on the outcome of the event, the Present Perfect Continuous focuses on the course of the activity.

These are still the present perfect tenses, thus the events we describe in this way have started in the
past and are still in existence.

Here’s an example:

I have been drawing a picture. – Here we emphasize that we are drawing a picture, not whether it is already done, so we will use the Present Perfect Continuous. (The event began sometime in the past, and now it continues. However, its result is not important, nor whether it has ended.)
x
I have drawn a picture. – Here we are interested in the fact that the picture is already finished and therefore we will use the Present Perfect. We’re just saying we’ve finished the activity. (Even this
form connects the past with the present. I have drawn a picture (it happened, the finished event, the past) – the picture is now finished (impact on the present).

6 Forming the Present Perfect Continuous

How to correctly form a sentence in the Present Perfect Continuous?
subject + have / has + past verb “to be” + gerund  (-ing) + rest of the sentence

• The negative of the Present Perfect Continuous is created by adding the negative NOT to the auxiliary verb have / has.
  • For example: I haven’t been talking on the ‘phone all evening!
• It is rarely used, for example, when we want to say that instead of doing one thing we were doing something different.
  • A: You have been lying in your bed since this morning!
    B: I haven’t been lying in my bed, I’ve been repairing the car in the garage.
• If we use a negative in the Present Perfect, we show that the activity has not taken place at all, it has not been taking place – thus the emphasis on activity is disappearing, and therefore we use a simple variant of the Present Perfect.
  • For example: We haven’t been dancing since the last ball. x We haven’t danced since the last ball. – We are not trying to show that the activity has not taken place at all, but that it has not been taking place.

• As we already know from the Present Perfect, another way to form a negative in the Present Perfect tenses is to use the word “never”. The same rule can be applied for the Present Perfect Continuous.

Never forms a negative in the sentence and therefore we no longer use the negative NOT after the auxiliary verb HAVE.
I have never been working so hard. I have not never been working so hard.
I’ve never been running for so long.

7 Using the Present Perfect Continuous

We use the Present Perfect Continuous:

a) When we talk about an activity (event), which started sometime in the past and is still going on.
Example: I have been sitting here for ten minutes.

b) If we focus on the course and not on the outcome.
Example: She has done her homework. x She has been doing her homework.

• In the first case, the activity is finished – the homework is already done, so we use the Present Perfect. In the second example, the activity is likely to continue – the person started doing their homework in the past and (probably) is still doing it.
  Therefore, we use the Present Perfect Continuous.

c) If we are talking about an activity (event) that has led to something that is happening at the same time.
Example: I am prepared because I have been training – In this example I do not mention the exact time when the activity was going on, but I just mention it as the reason for the current state. We use the Present Perfect Continuous because we indicate that the course of the activity is the reason for the current state.

8 Differences between the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous