Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Present perfect simple and past simple - Coggle Diagram
Present perfect simple and past simple
Present perfect simple
We use the present perfect simple to talk about
experiences in our lifetime
, or
another unfinished time period
.
Have
you ever
had
a job interview?
I’ve never worked in an office.
We can use
adverbs
like
ever
,
never
,
three times
, etc.
news
and
recent events
, often with a
present result
They
’ve
just
offered
me the job. (result = I've got a job.)
The interviews
have
already
finished
— you're too late.
(result = You can’t have an interview.)
She
hasn’t called
me back yet. (result: I'm still waiting to speak to her.)
unfinished states
(when we want to talk about the duration)
I
’ve
only
had
this phone for a week.
We
’ve lived
in London since 2010.
We use for to give the duration or since to give the starting point.
Past simple
We use the past simple for
completed past actions
in a
completed past time period
She
didn’t
get
the job.
The interviews
finished
five minutes ago.
Why
did
you
miss
the bus?
We often use past time phrases like
last week
,
a few days ago, when l was a child
.
Present perfect or past simple?
We often
introduce a topic
with the
present perfect
and then
change
to the
past simple
in the
next sentence to talk about the details
I'
ve had
lots of job interviews. The last one
was
about three months ago — it was terrible.
I’
ve lost
my keys. Maybe I
left
them on the bus this morning.
He
hasn't worked
here long. He
started
a few weeks ago.
Don't use the present perfect
when you describe an
action
that
happened at a particular time.
Use a
past tense
instead
They
left
yesterday
/ at
four o’clock /
ten minutes ago
.