3. The Usage of the Present Perfect Tense
Betty Schrampfer Azzar said that the present perfect expresses the idea that something happened or never happened before now, at an
unspecific time in the past, the exact time it is not important.
18
She also said that the present perfect also expresses repeated activities that
occurred before now.
19
Swan said we use the present perfect with ever and never to emphasize that we are talking about the whole of a period of time up
until the present.
20
In A Practical English Grammar, Thomson and Martinet state when we report that someone has recently invented, produced,
discovered or written something chiefly used in conversation, letter and radio reports we use the present perfect.
21
From those statements above which is conducted with Thomson statements, the present perfect tense has several usages as follows:
22
a. To express past action whose time is not given and not definite.
Examples: I have read the newspaper but I don’t understand them.
Susan has never been to New Zealand b.
To express that an action or event has been repeated. Examples:
We have watched that movie three times He has visited Lampung several times
c. To express the action finished in the past and still progressing now.
Examples: I have lived in Indonesia since 1990 I still live in Indonesia now
He has been in the army for two years he is still in the army
d. To refer to the present result of an activity or experience in the
past.
18
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1989, 2
nd
ed., p. 29
19
Ibid
20
Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 494
21
A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, Opcit, p. 166
22
A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet, Opcit, p. 166
Examples: I have come to school without my glasses so now I can’t see to
read She has finished her works so now she can sit back and rest
Some adverbs that often used in present perfect tense.
1. Just: to indicate completed activities in the immediate past.
23
Examples: George has just gone out he went out a moment ago
We have just finished breakfast we finished breakfast a few minutes ago
2. Already: to say something happened sooner than expected.
24
Examples: ‘What time is Mark living?’ ‘He has already gone’
3. Yet: to show that speaker is expecting something to happen.
Use yet only in question and negative sentences. Examples:
Has it stopped raining yet?
I’ve written the letter but I haven’t posted it yet 4.
Lately Examples:
I have been very busy lately She hasn’t been well lately
5. Recently
Examples: I’ve seen Michel recently
There have been a lot of changes recently
B. Games
1. The Meaning of Games
Everyone likes to play a game, boy and girl, no matter child or adult. Game is a fun activity to plays that acceptable for children and
adult people . As Andrew Wright noted that “... it is generally accepted
that young learners and adults are very willing to play game”.
25
23
Raymond Murphy, Opcit, p. 16
24
A. S. Hornby, Guide to Patterns and Usages in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975, 2
nd
ed., p. 494
25
Andrew Wright, at al., Games for Language Learning, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984, p. 2
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