Present Perfect Tense vs. Past Simple: Tom’s Story (English / ESL Video)
Present Perfect Tense vs. Past Simple: Tom’s Story (English / ESL Video)
Synopsis of English / ESL Video
Follow Tom in his everyday life and teach the present perfect tense by contrasting it with the past simple to pre-intermediate level ESL learners.
Title of English / ESL Video
Tom’s Story
Target English Grammar
Present Perfect Tense vs. Past Simple Tense
Student Proficiency Level
Pre-intermediate level grammar
Suggested Courses
General English
Instructions
– Play the video in class after delivering a warm-up activity first.
– Pause the video whenever the narrator asks students a question to give students time to answer. For example, after elicitations and concept checking questions (CCQs).
Summary of English Grammar: Present Perfect Tense vs. Past Simple
Approximate chronological order:
Rules and Explanation:
Functions:
– Past events
– Recent past events
– Unfinished states
Timeline: Past Events
– The present perfect simple tense indicates that something happened in the past.
– We don’t know when it happened. We just know it happened in the past some time between the day that you were born until now.
Visual Representation of Example:
– Example: I’ve been to Australia.
– This means some time in the past, you went to Australia.
– been vs. gone: Gone means you went there, but you’re still not back yet. Been means you went there, and then you left.
– We often use never to emphasize negatives and ever to emphasize questions.
– Example: Have you ever been to America? (No, I’ve never been to America.)
Recent Past Events:
– Example 1: Mum, have you finished cooking dinner?
– Example 2: Yes boys, I’ve made your favourite!
– We can also use just, yet and already for emphasis.
– Example 1: Mum, have you finished cooking dinner yet?
– Example 2: Yes boys, I’ve just made your favourite!
Unfinished States:
– Example: We’ve known each other for two weeks now.
– We use for for a period of time.
– Examples: for an hour, for two days, for the last 10 years.
– We use since for a starting point in time.
– Examples: since last night, since three months ago, since the 1980s.
Timeline: Unfinished States
– We’ve known each other for two weeks now.
– The boy met the girl at a certain point in the past, and they still know each other in the present.
– They have known each other for two weeks, which means they met two weeks ago.
Simple Past: Function
– To talk about finished events where the time is known.
– Example 1: How was your date honey?
– Example 2: We broke up…
– In these examples, although the time is not mentioned, both the boy and his mother know the time of the date.
– We can use just for emphasis that an event recently happened.
– Example: We just broke up.
Form:
Statements:
Subject + have/has (+ never/just/already) + past participle + … (+ for/since, time word, yet)
I + ‘ve + been + to Australia.
I + ‘ve + never + been + to America.
I + haven’t + made + dinner + yet.
We + ‘ve + known + each other + for two weeks now.
Open Questions:
Wh-/How + have/has + subject + past participle + … (+ for) + ?
How long + have + we + known + each other + for?
*Wh-/how question words and for are for open questions.
Yes/No Questions:
Have/has + subject (+ ever) + past participle + … (+ yet, time word) + ?
Have + you + ever + been + to Australia?
Have + you + finished + cooking + dinner + yet?
*Ever, yet and time words are for yes/no questions.
Summary
*** English / ESL Video: No Music Version ***
(19299)
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You’re welcome!
Sorry, but “since three months ago” is not correct…
Hi there, thanks for the comment. That is a great point you made! According to Standard English, “since” and “ago” shouldn’t be used together like this. However, this phrase is still perfectly acceptable. Standard English can be very strict, rigid and dated. We advocate teaching a more modern and relevant English. Both sides of the argument have strong validity. They are simply different ways of approaching ELT.
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Hi! These videos are great, thanks a lot! Do you have subtitles for the videos? Thanks!
These videos are great, thank you for sharing! Do you have subtitles for the videos? Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback. Right now we’re not planning on making any subtitles as the method of teaching is through listening rather than reading. But we’ll take your feedback into consideration and may use subtitles in the future. Cheers!
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