Centre de Ressources Linguistiques SIMPLE PAST  PRESENT PERFECT Practice making syntactic changes between these two devilishly challenging tenses.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect2 Part 1: Simple Past => Present Perfect Change the verbs in the following sentences into the Present Perfect, making any other changes you think necessary. Keep in mind that your answers may (and probably will be) different from those given.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect3 –1. Sandra moved to Paris 7 years ago. –Sandra has lived in Paris for 7 years. –2. Heath wrote bad checks last year and the year before. –Heath has written bad checks over the past two years.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect4 –3. There’s no need to cook tonight, as last night Margaret cooked dinner for tonight also. –No need to cook—Margaret has already cooked tonight’s dinner. –4. Edgar bought the new Peugeot 307CC car yesterday. –Edgar has bought the new Peugeot 307CC.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect5 –5. Our customer said that he sent the check a week ago. –Our customer said that the check has been gone for a week. OR –Our customer said that the check has been gone since last Friday. OR –Our customer said that it’s been a week since he sent the check.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect6 –6. Robb didn’t get a raise in January or in any other month. –Robb hasn’t had a raise this year. –7. Our team didn't win any games at the beginning of the season, but we did win our last one as well as all of the others from mid- season on. –After a rocky start, we have won all of our games since mid-season.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect7 –8. My father wrote all of his books after he was wounded in the war. –My father has written (all of) his books since he was wounded in the war. –9a. Susan went to London and is not here. –Susan has gone to London.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect8 –9b. Susan went to London, but is back now. –Susan’s been to London. –10. You don't have to pay for dinner--it's on the company's account. –The company has picked up dinner for us. –The company has graciously paid for dinner.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect9 Part 2: Present Perfect => Simple Past Change the following radio news program headlines from the Present Perfect to the Simple Past, making any other changes you think necessary. Again, your answers will probably be different from the ones here. And are probably right!

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect10 –1. American planes have bombarded Shi’a insurgents attacking Basra. –Today American planes bombarded Shi’a insurgents who were attacking Basra. –2. The Queen has opened a new hospital in Wolverhampton. –This morning the Queen opened a new hospital in Wolverhampton.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect11 –3. A Royal Navy frigate has collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Ireland. –An oil tanker is in trouble after it collided with a Royal Navy frigate off the coast of Ireland. –4. Environmental groups have warned of a major ecological disaster resulting from the accident. –The accident provoked outrage from environmental groups, who warned of a major ecological disaster.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect12 –5. The stock market has plunged to a record low after some bad news from the government about the economy. –The stock market plunged to a record low after the government announced some bad economic news.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect13 –6. Motorway tolls have gone up again for the second time in less than a year. Neither of the hikes has taken place in this fourth quarter. –Motorway tolls went up twice during the first three quarters of the year.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect14 –7. For the past week French dock workers have continued striking major ports in their third bout of industrial action in as many years. –French dock workers began a strike at major ports last week. They also held similar industrial actions last year and the year before.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect15 –8. The Third National Bank has announced spectacularly bad first quarter results. –The Third National Bank registered spectacularly bad results in the first quarter of this year.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect16 –9. Major British banks have decided to lower their interest rates collectively before next week’s meeting of the IMF. –Major British banks decided to lower their interest rates collectively because of a meeting next week of the IMF.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect17 –10. Prince Harry has brought a lawsuit against The Sun. The newspaper has claimed that the Prince has been having an affair with a stripper. –Prince Harry brought a lawsuit against The Sun after the newspaper claimed that he was having an affair with a stripper.

Centre de Ressources Linguistiques (c) ESSEC - CRLSimple Past & Present Perfect18 And as Porky says…: …That’s all folks!