Tips for using PRESENT PERFECT Tense in IELTS Speaking | Keith's Grammar Guides

- Hi guys, it's Keith

from the Keith Speaking Academy.

And welcome to part two of this video on the Present Tenses.

Last time, part one, we looked at the present simple

and present continuous and today,

it's the present perfect simple,

and the present perfect continuous.

And I'll be showing you how all four present tenses

are connected and how you can use them in IELTS Speaking.

Let's do it!

(upbeat music)

Okay, let's move on.

Oh, but first, I usually drink tea in the morning

but today, I'm drinking water.

Get it?

Why did I say I usually drink tea?

That's right, because it's a habit I have

but why did I say today I'm drinking water?

Because it's temporary, it's only today, exactly.

Now after that refreshing sip of water,

let's move on to number three, the present perfect.

Now this is a present tense.

It's the present perfect,

but it has a connection to the past, right?

And there are four basic ways we can use this.

So make a note and I'll go through each one.

We can talk about how long you've done something.

We can talk about a present result.

Something happened in the past

and has a result in the present.

We can talk about experiences, life experiences,

and we can talk about something called unfinished time.

Let me do them one by one.

Let's begin with how long, okay, so.

You'll remember I said I live in Santander.

I came here actually in 2017.

So I have lived here since 2017

or I have lived here for three years.

Other examples, I have worked here for three years

or I've worked here since 2018.

I'll explain in a moment.

Last example, I've studied Chinese for 10 years.

(gasping) 10 years, such a long time.

Maybe longer, actually.

No, I've studied Chinese for almost, wow, 18 years.

Holy moly. (giggles)

Wode maya (Chinese for 'my goodness!') (laughing)

So how long?

We can talk about so when you began something in the past,

it continues up until now,

and then you tell people how long, right?

So questions in IELTS, again, when people say,

where do you live?

What do you do?

What do you study?

You can say, I live in blah-blah-blah.

I have lived here since blah-blah-blah

or I study Chinese at the university.

I have studied there for three years.

Hopefully, not for 18 years.

They would kick you out if you haven't graduated, right?

So let's, first of all,

have a look at the form of the present perfect.

So we would use the subjects I, you, he,

have or has plus the past participle, right?

I have lived here for two years.

He has broken his leg.

Poor thing.

I've visited Paris.

So notice, again, in spoken English,

we usually do the contraction, right?

I have, I've.

I have lived, I've lived.

Say that with me.

I've lived.

He's lived.

He's lived here for 10 years.

Nice, notice the for becomes for, for 10 years.

He's lived here for 10 years.

I've visited Paris.

Now, that's interesting 'cause it's I've visited.

There's no break, right?

I've visited Paris.

I've visited Paris.

(chuckles) Lovely, good.

In the negative, again, the subject with has,

have, not plus the participle,

the past participle, putting in the contractions, right?

I haven't worked here long.

Have not, I haven't worked here long.

She hasn't broken her arm.

Hooray, I was so worried about her.

She hasn't broken her arm after all.

She hasn't visited London.

She hasn't visited London, okay?

When we talk about those experiences

of I haven't visited London,

we sometimes say never, not or never.

I've never visited London or I haven't visited London yet.

Maybe I will in the future.

So that's the form.

Before we look at the second use

or just a quick word about four and since, right?

When we're talking about how long, when do we use since?

A clue, I have lived here since 2017.

Correct, good.

It's for a point in time, 2017.

May, August, July, last week.

I've lived here since last week.

I've lived here since January.

I've lived here since point in time.

For, on the other hand, I've lived here for three years.

Good, it's the duration, right?

Three years, two months, five hours.

I've lived here for five hours.

What, really seriously?

Yes, I've just moved in.

I've just opened the door.

I've literally lived here for five hours.

Of course, that's not true.

I've lived here since May last year.

So I've lived here for just over a year, actually.

That's true.

In this flat.

We used to live in another flat in Santander.

Okay, good.

Let's move on to number two.

The present result.

So when something in the past happens

like you broke your leg and then the result

in the present is I can see you have a cast on your leg,

you're using crutches and I go, oh dear,

you've broken your leg or you say,

"Oh dear, I've broken my leg,"

and we can see the result here now, okay?

Now then with that, you never identify the time.

You don't say I've broken my leg last week.

No, right?

If you put the time, it's the past simple.

I broke my leg last week, but look, I've broken my leg.

You're emphasizing.

Look now the impacts on the present, right?

Now we can use this in IELTS.

For example, especially in part three

where they may ask you,

how has something changed in recent years?

Or how has this had an impact on something, right?

And if you want to show the results now,

for example we might say,

we can see the government has made a U-turn.

We can see Donald Trump has made a mistake.

We can see COVID has had a big impact on us.

So that cue of weakened see is showing the result

in the present tense.

So you're probably going to use the present perfect.

We can see Trump has made a mistake.

We can see COVID has had a big impact on us, okay?

Of course, there are different tenses you can use

but the present perfect gives you that,

something in the past with a present result.

You're emphasizing the present result, okay?

We also use present perfect

to talk about experiences in our life.

So you may get the same tense in the question, right?

Have you ever cooked?

Have you ever run a marathon?

Have you ever done this or that, right?

Yes, I have cooked.

Yes, I have run a marathon.

You can see it's a life experience

when using the present perfect.

Or interestingly, the question

what new hobby would you like to try?

Well, I've never tried parachuting

or well, I've never tried painting

or I've never tried sailing, so I might try that, right?

Talk about things you haven't done,

and therefore, you want to try something new, right?

Also present perfect, I haven't been sailing.

I've never tried sailing, so I would like to have a go.

And now one of the most common one is talking about

places you have visited.

I've been to Paris.

I've been to London.

I've been to New Delhi.

When you say that, again, don't say when.

So you can't say I've been to London last week.

No, no, no, no, no.

I went to London last week, right?

The present perfect is just to show the experience like hey,

I've been to London, right?

What's important is not when, it's the experience, right?

Hey, I can speak English.

I've been to London.

I can speak a bit of French.

I've been to Paris, right?

That kind of thing.

Good, let's move on.

The next one is unfinished time.

I usually drink tea, but now,

I'm drinking water.

Nice one, you are learning very quickly, good.

Unfinished time.

Unfinished time is basically when we use,

we're talking about a period of time that has not finished.

Like today, I've eaten a lot today.

I've had two cups of water.

I've had one cup of coffee today

because today is not finished.

Yesterday, I had a cup of coffee,

but today, I've had two cups of coffee.

That unfinished time, we can use the present perfect.

For example, I haven't done any sport this month.

Now, that would be great, right?

If somebody asks you, do you often do sport?

Yes I do.

I usually do.

I usually play football,

but I haven't done any sport this month.

This month hasn't finished, right?

I haven't done any sport this month

because I've broken my leg, ta-da! (chuckles)

Right, good.

What about the question, do you like traveling?

Yes, I love traveling

but I haven't traveled at all this summer.

It's now August, summer hasn't finished.

I haven't traveled at all this summer because of COVID-19.

I don't think it's very safe, right?

Can you see how we're developing the answers?

We can use different tenses to create different meanings.

How often do you eat fast food?

Well, usually, I eat quite a lot of fast food, right?

But I haven't been to a restaurant

in the last three months.

The last three months is unfinished time.

We're still within those three months, right?

I haven't been to a restaurant.

Notice the past participle of go can be been.

It can be gone if you're still there, right?

He has gone to London.

He's still there, but he has been to London means

he went and came back.

I have not been to a restaurant these last three months.

Present perfect, unfinished time.

Excellent, so remember, it's all about creating the meaning.

Let's move on.

Okay, let's move into the fourth tense,

the present perfect continuous.

Great, now let me take you back, ti-di-di-di,

to the beginning of the video.

And you remember when we looked at the question,

where do you live, right?

I said, you could actually say, I live in Santander.

I am living in Santander.

And then my family in England will be happy.

I have lived in Santander since 2017

or I have been living in Santander since 2017.

They're all correct.

So what's the difference between the last two?

I have lived here or I have been living here?

Well, they're very, very similar.

The difference is very, very small actually.

And I think you can use both perfectly fine.

The slight difference is the first.

I have lived in Santander for three years.

The emphasis is on the action, have lived.

I have lived in Santander for three years.

I have been living in Santander for three years,

the emphasis is more on the time, right?

For three years, I've been living for three years.

Of course, I know the city, right?

Somebody comes to visit and says,

"Do you know any good restaurants?"

Of course, I do.

I've been living here for three years.

Emphasis on the time, the present perfect continuous

is probably the better tense to use,

although you can use both.

I think you can interchange both

but if you want to emphasize the time,

present perfect continuous, right?

Imagine you're waiting for a friend, right?

Agh, then like an hour later,

they turn up and say, "Oh, I'm so sorry I'm late."

And you go, come on, I've been waiting for an hour, right?

If you say, I've waited for an hour,

it doesn't have the same impact, right?

You want to emphasize the time.

Oh yeah, I've been waiting for three bloody hours.

Pardon my French, right?

But so this is what I mean about creating meaning.

You can create a feeling

by using the present perfect continuous, right?

Let's have a look.

So the same with when the questions, what do you study?

Where do you work?

Well, I work as a teacher.

I've been working as a teacher for 20 years, right?

Showing off your experience.

For 20 years, I've been working for a teacher.

I've not been working for a teacher,

I've been working as a teacher for 20 years, right?

Okay, let's nail the form.

So we have the subjects as me,

not me, it's I, you, he, she,

have or has with been, not Mr. Bean or the bean that you eat

but been, B-E-E, B-E.

(laughing)

What am I doing?

B-E-E-N.

B-E-E-N, B-E-E-N.

So if that's not confused you, I don't know what has.

Subject plus have or has, plus been

plus verb plus ing, okay?

For example, I have been living here for two years.

He has been driving since he was 18 years old, right?

The negative, subject, plus have or has,

not, been, plus the verb ing, right?

Again, with the contraction.

I haven't been living here long.

She hasn't been working here for more than a month, okay?

So that's the form.

So one of the big uses of the present perfect continuous

is about a temporary activity.

So remember, the continuous tense

like the continuous has this feeling of temporary.

So temporary activities that are happening in the past

but still today or recently,

we often say, what have you been doing recently?

What have you been doing?

What have you been doing lately?

That's nice, isn't it?

Instead of what have you been doing?

What have you been doing?

What have you been doing?

Nice chunk, right?

What have you been doing recently?

Well, I've been decorating my house.

I've been busy helping my daughter with her homework.

I've been learning how to paint, right?

Temporary activities or new activities

that started in the past but continue now, today.

Some more examples.

I've been working late a lot recently, so I feel tired.

I've been eating out a lot lately.

Now that we can go out at last,

I've been making the most of it

and I've been eating out a lot.

I've been catching up with friends.

I've been, I've been catching up with friends, right?

The chunking is nice.

I've been eating out a lot.

I've been catching up with friends.

Great, good.

I've been watching a lot of TV.

What about you?

What have you been up to recently?

What have you been doing lately?

Excellent.

Very, very good, right?

So these are temporary activities.

So maybe you can see how these might fit in

with some IELTS questions.

Often we get questions like,

What would you like to change about your work?

Well, I've been working a lot lately

and I've been doing a lot of overtime,

so I would like to work less, right?

What would you like to change about your diet?

Well, I've been eating out a lot lately,

so I would like to eat at home and cook more at home,

have more home-cooked food.

What would you like to change about your free time?

Well, I've been watching too much TV lately,

so I would like to do more sports.

So we can see this is a nice tense to use

to talk about temporary activities

because the question about change suggests

something temporary, right?

If you want to make a change,

often there's a temporary situation

and you want to make a change.

I've been working late, so I'm going to change that

and work less, hopefully. (laughs)

Next bit.

The present perfect continuous

also has this present result use,

similar to the present perfect, right?

So we can say, for example,

what has changed in this situation?

Or how has this impacted us?

So we could say, right?

The government has been making a lot of mistakes lately.

So similarly, before we said the government has made

a lot of mistakes, we can see that government has made

a lot of mistakes.

So what's the difference?

Well, the government has been making a lot of mistakes.

The emphasis is more on the action.

The making of the mistakes.

The government has made three mistakes.

The emphasis is on the completed action,

and sometimes the number, right?

The government has made three U-turns, right?

You can't say, the government

has been making three U-turns, no.

The government has made three U-turns.

So you're emphasizing the completed action.

Whereas the government has been making mistakes,

you're emphasizing the action,

the ongoing action of making mistakes, right?

Similarly, thinking about numbers, right?

I've been reading a lot of books lately.

I have read three books lately.

So I have the read is for the completed number of books

but the action, I've been reading a lot of books lately.

Great, so we can use this also for the present result.

Brilliant, so that was a whistle stop tour

of the four tenses in the present, right?

Present simple, present continuous,

present perfect, present perfect continuous, holy moly.

I hope you have enjoyed this video.

Have enjoyed, present perfect, present result.

Result is you're happy.

I have enjoyed the video.

A word of warning though, right?

Most students will take six to nine months or more

to learn these tenses.

And you've just done it in less than 30 minutes, I think.

So the point is, I'm going to be really honest with you

is by watching this video, you have not learned the tenses.

You've seen them and you've got to know them,

become a little bit more familiar with them

but you really need to make friends with them.

You need to go out and have a drink

and have a meal and celebrate the birthdays

of these tenses to get to know them really well.

So I suggest that you go back, you take the individual uses,

like habits, temporary, states, annoying habits

and just practice making some sentences,

and then slowly, start practicing them with a friend

or a speaking partner or a teacher, and start using them.

And remember, it's partly about the rule, the grammar rule,

but it's also about the meaning,

creating the meaning that you want.

That's really important, okay?

Great, I hope this has helped you

and clarified a little bit about these tenses.

Keep practicing, keep going.

If you have liked this video, give it a thumbs up.

Give me a comment below,

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and keep following this series.

Look out for the next videos on grammar, okay?

Thank you very much for watching.

Take care now.

Bye-bye.