I wonder if you can help. I am having some difficulties with a group of students, who just seem to be not very bright. It happens I guess. The problem is in their tenses work. They always seem to confuse the present perfect and the simple past. Can you think of some ways I can highlight the difference between the two tenses in a way thats practical to 14 year olds? It’s driving me crazy! Thanks. :help:
A: How’s your father?
B: He’s dead.
A: Really, I’m sorry to hear that. When did he die?
B: He died for 10 years.
Um, perhaps “He died ten years ago” or “He has been dead for ten years” might be a bit better.
(Unless you mean that the poor man was dying for ten years.)
Well, as a start we use present perfect to talk about experience (things done at an indefinite time in the past.) get them talking about a bunch of things that they have done (or have never done).
you can make a comparison by then talking about some things that were done yesterday (or at any definite time in the past).
do a composition where a student starts by mentioning a special experience (I’ve gone bungee jumping) and then fills in details of what happened at that time using past tense. (It happened last year, i was really nervous, etc etc)
[quote]Quote:
B: He died for 10 years.
Um, perhaps “He died ten years ago” or “He has been dead for ten years” might be a bit better.
(Unless you mean that the poor man was dying for ten years.)[/quote]
That’s what the original poster asked for - a salient example. See even you got it.
Usually, the present perfect is easy to teach; however, getting the students to adopt it is a challenge as there are occasions when it is confusing.
For example:
A: What’s it like outside?
B: It has been raining.
Is it still raining? …No.
If it’s not raining now then why use the present perfect. To use the past continuous, “It was raining.” is not appropriate.
The connection to the present is contained in person A’s question, “What’s it like outside?” is a reference to now. Rain being rain there is probably some evidence of it having rained which makes the use of the present perfect appropriate.
There are also times when using either or is quite OK.
For example:
Have you done your homework?
Did you do your homework?
Americans tend to use the simple past more frequently than other English speakers, and also confuse the usage. George Bush being one of the greater exponents.
They frequently say things like, “I done it.”
I have ever gone bungee jumping. 
[quote]A: Really, I’m sorry to hear that. When did he die?
B: He died for 10 years.[/quote]
But your dialogue makes no sense.
Person A is asking when the man died, not how long it took for him to die.
Person B does not answer the question asked. Person B could say “He died ten years ago.”
[quote=“fee”]Person A is asking when the man died, not how long it took for him to die.
Person B does not answer the question asked. Person B could say “He died ten years ago.”[/quote]
That’s the point. It’s a negative example.
Oh, got it.
Don’t be too embarassed. Even fox seems to have confused the present perfect with the present perfect continuous. And I probably mispelled embarassed.
[quote=“Fox”]Americans tend to use the simple past more frequently than other English speakers, and also confuse the usage. George Bush being one of the greater exponents.
They frequently say things like, “I done it.”[/quote]
Hey, I don’t!
I have taught the present perfect to both native and non-native English speakers, and there are difficulties on both sides.
In Chinese, there is only one form of past tense, which may explain why learners of English have so much trouble with this. My Taiwanese aunt, who has just retired from a career of teaching English in Kaohsiung, told me the present perfect is the most difficult verb tense for students to understand. So don’t feel like your teaching is particularly inadequate.
I would agree that more practice with questions in the present perfect might make the difference starker for your students. Example:
Past simple: Did you go to Disneyland last month?
Present perfect: Have you been to Disneyland (yet)?
And then tell them that whatever tense they see/hear the question in, they must answer with the same tense.
I don’t think so bob. In that I don’t think that I’m confused about them.
In fact anybody with the slightest understanding of the use of the perfect tenses and my presentation would be thinking you fool bob…you poor fool.
“It has been raining” is the present perfect continuous.
You should have said “If it is not raining now, why use the present perfect continuous?”
Calling someone a fool hardly makes them one but in this case it does kind of make you look like one yourself.
Everybody makes mistakes. You have made two here so far. Lets leave it at that.
[quote=“bob”]“It has been raining” is the present perfect continuous. quote]
i’d have to agree with Bob there Fox, unless you cab show me why it’s wrong.
has + be = present perfect continuous, regardless of wether the action has ceased or not. i.e. She has been painting all day.
Any fool knows it’s the present perfect continuous tense, unless this is a discussion about naming the tenses, which seems like a patently absurd endeavor.
I’m simply making the point when teaching the present perfect tenses, the tense must have a connection to the present. In the above example, the connection to the present is not immediately clear as we say it has been raining (which is a present perfect tense albeit continuous) when actually it is not raining outside. In this case, where is the connection to the present? It is confusing for students and even for native speakers to explain at times. I thought it might be of help to you to point out areas that are confusing to both teachers and students alike. I didn’t realize I would be bombarded by precious twits as if I were some kind of a grammatical retard.
Some people love to be know it alls. bob is one.
In fact what I was doing was trying to make fee feel a bit better. Read the thread again. It is pretty obvious.
so…
the answer is NO. :s