Present Perfect Tense
v The Present Perfect is used
(1) To indicate completed activities in the immediate past (with Just) ; as,
He has just gone out.
It has just struck ten.
(2) To express past actions whose time is not given and not definite; as,
Have you read “Gulliver’s Travels’?
I have cut my finger (and it is bleeding now)
I have finished my work (=now I am free)
(3) To describe past event when we think more of their effect in the present than of action itself; as
Anne has eaten all the biscuits (e.g. there aren’t any left for you)
I have cut my finger (and it is bleeding now)
I have finished my work (= now I am free)
(4) To denote an action beginning at some time in the past and continuing up to the present moment
(Often with since-and for- phrases); as,
I have known him for a long time
He has been ill since last week
We have lived here for ten years
We haven’t seen Padma for several months.
The following adverbs or adverb phrases can also be used with the Present Perfect (apart from those mentioned above): never, ever (in question only), so far, till now, yet (in negatives and questions), already, today, this week this month, etc.
Note that the present perfect is never used with adverbs of past time. We should not say, for example, He has gone to New York yesterday. In such cases the Simple past should be use (He went to Calcutta yesterday)
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
The Present Perfect Continuous is used for an action which began at some tme in the past and is still continuing; as,
He has been sleeping for five hours (and is still sleeping)
They have been building the bridge for several months
They have been playing since four o’ clock.
This tens is also sometimes used for an action already finished. In such cases the continuity of the activity is emphasized as an explanation of something
Why are your clothes so wet? - I have been watering the garden
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