Present perfect

[margyf]

Hi

I'm currently doing my CELTA, one of my assignments was on the 'Present Perfect' which has come back for re-submit.

I was wondering if any of you would be able to help . I have also written my Tutors comments.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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A: The following are typical student errors. Identify the error and try to give a possible reason for the mistake.


1. John’s living here for the past five years- He’s lived here for the past five years
We use PP to talk about a period of time before NOW- e.g. Five years continuing action.
TUTORS COMMENTS: and the past simple (she underlined a period of time and continuing action?? and put up to now).

2 I wrote ten letters so far this evening-I have written ten letters so far this evening
The auxiliary verb Have is missing it’s what makes the PP. Wrote is the past of write, written should be used as the action has happened several times. The use of ‘so far’ defines up to this point the evening isn’t over.
TUTORS COMMENTS: She underlined 'is missing its what makes the PP' and puts check your own grammar.

3 Look! That girl fell down –Look at that girl she has fallen down
The simple present of look and the past simple of fall is being used together.
We know that the speaker was present when the girl fell, when look has an object here (girl) it’s followed by at. Fall into PP is (she) has fallen.
TUTORS COMMENTS: She has underlined LOOK has an object...This is confusing and not specifically why the sentence is unnatural think about the RESULT of the fall and now.

4 We’ve heard from Peter two weeks ago- We haven’t heard from Peter for two weeks
We usually contract the subject (Peter) and auxiliary verb. (Have)
We have We've
The speakers have not= haven’t (heard) from Peter. We use the PP to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. For + period of time two weeks. for should be included in negative sentences.
TUTORS COMMENTS: Your answer doesn't give the same information as the first sentence. Think about DEFINITE past time and write the sentence again. With ?? by 'for should be included...'

5 He’s been smoking 10 cigarettes today-He smoked 10 cigarettes today
PP continuous used for an activity that has recently stopped or just stopped. There is a connection with now (today) whereas the 1)PP simple is used for when something has finished; in this sentence we are interested in the result not the activity.
We use PPS to say how much, how many times (for completed actions)
So we know from this sentence he’s smoked 10 cigarettes today.
TUTORS COMMENTS: She has commented that my answer of 1)'PP simple is used ...'
not necessarily true?

6. I’ve painted the house. I expect I’ll finish it on Sunday-I’ve painted the house.
The action is complete from have/has + past participle which often ends in –ed. The error is that the speaker is talking as if it’s not and that it needs to be finished.
TUTORS COMMENTS: So what should the speaker say?

7.What happened? b. I’ve been cutting myself- I’ve cut myself
When we say something ‘has happened’, this is new information after we have announced it we usually use the simple past to give more detail the action is in the past but has a result now (she’s bleeding NOW)
TUTORS COMMENTS: This is also a confusing reason.Look again at the EVENT and the verb CUT.

[Soup]

1. John’s living here for the past five years.

Correction: John's been living here for the past five years.

Explanation
The present perfect continuous takes the form HAS + BEEN + VERB-ing; e.g., John has been living here for the past five years.

John's living here is a gerundival phrase, a noun, which makes example 1. ungrammatical because it lacks a verb; Cf. John's living here for the past five years is driving me crazy.

2. I wrote ten letters so far this evening.

Correction: I have written ten letters so far this evening.

Explanation
The adverbial phrase so far means from then up until now, a meaning which is compatible with the present perfect; e.g., So far, that is, up until now, I have written 10 letters.

3. Look! That girl fell down.

Correction: Look! That girl has fallen down.

Explanation
The present perfect tells us that the event happened recently, between now and some unknown time in the past. Use the present perfect to place focus on an event, not when the event happened; Cf. Look! Just now that girl fell down.

4. We’ve heard from Peter two weeks ago.

Correction: We heard from Peter two weeks ago.

Explanation
The present perfect is not compatible with time adverbials expressing definite time; e.g., two weeks ago; Cf. We've heard from Peter before.

5. He’s been smoking 10 cigarettes today.

Correction: He has smoked 10 cigarettes today.

Explanation
The present perfect continuous expresses an event as ongoing. Example 5. above means the man has been smoking the same 10 cigarettes all day. That's odd, wouldn't you say?

What the writer wants to say is that the man has smoked 10 cigarettes so far today. Notice
the PP compatible time adverbial 'so far'.

6. I’ve painted the house. I expect I’ll finish it on Sunday.

Correction: I've been painting the house. I expect I'll finish it on Sunday.

Explanation
The house is still in the process of being painted. The event is ongoing, so use the present perfect continuous. You could use the simple continuous; e.g., I'm painting the house, but this exercise is about using the present perfect.

7. What happened? I’ve been cutting myself.

Correction: I’ve cut myself.

Explanation
The present perfect continuous expresses an event as ongoing from some unknown or unstated time in the past up until now, the present. Example 7. means the person is still in the process of cutting himself/herself.

[margyf]

Dear Soup

Firstly may I apologise for the late response, I have been without a PC for the past few days, arggggggggggggh.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you checking my work it makes much more sense now and I’m able to clarify where I went wrong.

I have all the grammar books but the explanations sometimes go over my head, it's good to have it written in simple terms, so thank you ever so much.

As my tutors say there is so much to learn with English grammar and no one is perfect it will take time I hope that one day I will be able to master it as well as you have.

I was just wondering what CF means?

Happy Easter

Margyf

[Pedroski]

Cf is compare.

Just wanted to say that you will often find that the present is not perfect!

[margyf]

Hi

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter I had a great one but feeling extremely full from all the chocolate.

I was wondering if someone could help I kindly had some help with the above questions and I was able to take that away and clearly understand the grammatical errors. I've now been told that I need to explain why students have made the 'mistake possible reasons for the mistake' and for the life of me not sure how to word it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated I’ve looked at various websites checking for why foreign students have problems with the various uses pf Present perfect but they seem to go into information that is beyond me.

Argggggggggggggh

Regards

Margyf