Lesson 10 - Shopping
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This page: Learn how to form the present perfect tense in English and how to use the words "already" and "yet".

study
My brother has studied English for three years.

Present Perfect in English
Grammar

Present Perfect in English
Affirmative/Negative	Question
He has walked. (He's walked.) She It He has not walked. (He hasn't walked.) She It	Has he walked? she it Short Answers: - Yes, he has. - No, he hasn't.
They have walked. (They've walked.) I You We They have not walked. (They haven't walked.) I You We	Have they walked? I you we Short Answers: - Yes, they have. - No, they haven't.

The present perfect is a verb tense used to describe something that happened at an unspecified time in the past or that started in the past and continues into the present.

I have visited the White House.
(It happened at an unspecified time in the past.)
I have studied English for three years.
(It started in the past and continues in the present.)

The present perfect is formed with have or has and a past participle.

I have finished the project.
She has worked at that company since 1990.

Negative

The word have when used with the present perfect is an auxiliary verb.* As with other auxiliary verbs, we can add "not" to the auxiliary verb to form the negative and place the auxiliary verb at the beginning of the sentence to form a question.

*The verb "have," when it means "to possess," is not an auxiliary verb. Have is only an auxiliary verb when it is used with the present perfect.

Examples of the negative:
I have not finished the project.
(or the contraction)
I haven't finished the project.
She has not worked at that company.
(or the contraction)
She hasn't worked at that company.

Question

To form a question, use have or has, the subject, and the past participle.

Examples of questions:
Have you finished the project?
Has she worked at that company?

A contraction of have or has can also be formed when used with the present perfect tense (but not when have or has means "to possess"). In the present perfect, have contracts to 've and has contracts to 's.

I've finished the project.
She's worked at that company since 1990.

The Participle

The participle of the verb is used with the present perfect tense.

Verb - Participle
work - worked
live - lived

The past participle is generally formed by adding -ed to the verb (the same as the past tense). However, there are many irregular past participles. Sometimes the irregular form is the same as the irregular past tense form of the verb, and sometimes it is different.

Examples of Irregular Participles
Examples of Irregular Participles
Verb	Participles
be	been
see	seen
go	gone
do	done
buy	bought

Negative in red text
(Contractions in parentheses)

Exercise - Have you ever . . . ?

Answer the questions according to what is true for you. There are no right or wrong answers.

ever = at any time

1. Have you ever been in the United States?

2. Have you ever seen a British TV program?

3. Have you ever gone to Australia?

4. Have you ever seen a movie in English?

5. Have you ever bought a book in English?

Exercise - Sentences in the present perfect

Write the sentences in the present perfect tense. Use a contraction only in the negative for this exercise. Make sure you use correct capitalization and punctuation (period or question mark) at the end of each sentence.

examples
He/work in Japan

They/not/go to Canada

Exercise - Sentences about your life

Write sentences that are true for you. Use contractions only in the negative for this exercise.

example
go to Canada

- o -

Exercise - Sentences with contractions

Write the sentences using contractions.

examples
He has worked in that company.

They have not gone to the party.

Already y Yet

The word already means that something happened before now, often earlier than expected. The word already goes between the word have or has and the past participle.

I have already finished.

The word yet means that something has not happened before now but is expected to happen. The word yet is placed at the end of the sentence.

I haven't finished yet.

Exercise - The Shopping List

Read Tammy's shopping list. Write sentences about what she has and hasn't bought. She has already bought the items that are crossed out.

Tammy's Shopping List

1. bread
2. milk
3. meat
4. apples
5. broccoli
6. pasta
7. ice cream
8. cereal

examples
bread
(Since "bread" is not crossed off the list above, she hasn't bought it yet.)

milk
(Since "milk" is crossed out on the list above, she has already bought it.)

Find the Mistake

Instructions
Identify the error in the following sentences and write the corrected version.

example
He are a teacher. → He is a teacher.

Writing

Write one sentence in the present perfect tense using already and another using yet.

examples:
I have already finished my homework.
I haven't cooked dinner yet.

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