According to AJ. Thomson and A. V. Martinet “the present perfect tense is formed with the present perfect tense of havehas + the past
participle, for negative is formed by adding not to the auxiliary. The interrogative is formed
by inverting the auxiliary and subject.”
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Basically, the present perfect tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb of have and the past participle form of the main verb havehas +
past participle the form of regular and irregular verb and it is commonly accompanied by definite time words such as since and for.
The writer formulates the form of the present perfect tense into three types of sentences. They are: affirmative, negative and
interrogative. Basically, form of the present perfect tense: S + havehas + past
participle. The auxiliary of have is used when I, you, they, we, or a plural noun e.g., teachers as subject.
a. Affirmative
1 To make an affirmative statement, it is used design of the
following formula:
Examples: Table 2.1
Subject Havehas
Past Participle
My aunt
has returned
from Italy We
have finished
our assignments I
have watched
the movie Joice
has been
to Jogja
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A.J Thomson A.V Martinet, A practical English Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986 4th ed., p.165
S + havehas + past participle + .....
Mark has
been sick for a week
Basically, form of the present perfect tense: S + havehas + past participle. The auxiliary of have is used when I, you, they, we, or a
plural noun e.g., teachers as subject. The auxiliary of has is used when she, he, it or a singular noun e.g., Mark as subject. With
pronoun, have is contracted to apostrophe + ve „ve and has to apostrophe + s „s,
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e.g. He’s worked as a police and they’ve played dolls.
b. Negative
1 To make a negative sentence, it is used the design of the following
formula:
Examples: Table 2.2
Subject Havehas Not
Past Participle
My aunt has
not returned
from Italy We
have not
finished our assignments
I have
not watched
the movie Joice
has not
been in Jogja
c. Interrogative
1 To make an interrogative statement, it is used the design of the
following formula:
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Betty S. Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents, 1986, 2nd ed., p.33
S + havehas + not + past participle + .....
Havehas + S + past participle + ..... ?
Example Table 2.3
Havehas S
Past Participle
Has your aunt
returned from Italy?
Have you
finished your assignments?
Have you
watched the movie?
Has Joice
been in Jogja?
2 To
make an interrogative negative statement, the following formula as follows:
Example: Table 2.4
Haven’thasn’t S
Past Participle
Hasn’t your aunt
returned from Italy?
Haven’t you
finished your assignments?
Have n’t
you watched
the movie? Hasn’t
Joice been
in Jogja?
The present perfect tense can be used to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now, the exact time is not
important. It can be used with unspecified expressions such as: never, ever, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc.
Therefore, from the descriptions above the writer can conclude, the present perfect tense is a result that can still feel or happen after
something have done, for example: I have already eaten, and that means “that’s why I don’t feel hungry anymore”.
Have n’thasn’t + S + past participle + ..... ?
3. The Usage of the Present Perfect Tense
