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The differences between the past tense and the present perfect tense

Step I:

What happened? 1.I wrote to him last month. 2.He bought this car last year. 3.They came to see me this morning. 4.I saw him ten minutes ago

What has happened? 1.The train has just left the station. 2.Ive already seen that film. 3.He has been abroad for six months. 4.Have you ever met him before? 5.She has not finished work yet. 6.There have been a great number of accidents lately.

Step II:

ModelA: T: the train left S1: Has the train left? S2: Yes, its just left. It left a minute ago.

: 1.The play begun 2.The taxi come 3.The noise stopped

Model B: T: driven a car– last year S1 Have you ever driven a car? S2: Yes, I drove one last week.

1.Won a matchat school a year ago 2.Read an interesting story–--two years ago

Model C T: Go abroad S1: Hes gone abroad S2: Really? He went abroad last year too, didnt he?

1. 1. Paint his house 2.Give her a present 3.Climb the hill

. Model D: T: When did you have breakfast? Ten minutes ago S: Ive already had breakfast. I had it ten minutes ago.

1.When did he leave? This morning. 2.When did they go? A few minutes ago. 3.Who did you read this book with? Lucy 4.Where did she write those postcards? At the Summer Palace 5.When did they do their homework? This afternoon 6.When did he send the letter? Yesterday

Step III:

. Give the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

( A) 1. What ________ you ________ (buy) yesterday? 2. Up till now, he never ____________(lend) me anything. 3.They already ______(leave). 5.When______you __________(lose) your umbrella? 4. ________ you __________(listen) to the concert last night? 5. We just ____________(win) the match

( B ) ( B ) 1. ________ they _________ in Toronto last year?(travel) No, they ________. They ____ _ __ in that part of the world yet. (not travel) 2. ______ the headteacher ______to you just now? (speak) No, he _______. He ____ _____ to me yet. (not speak) 3. _______ you _________ a letter from home? Yes, I _________. I ____________ it last week. (receive)

4. ____________ it _________ here last week? Yes, it _________. It __________________ here since winter began. (snow) 5. __________ the man ___________ your bike yesterday? No, he ______________. He ____________ it yet. (not repair) 6. ________ you _________ your new coat last night? No, I _____________. I __________________________ it yet. ( not wear) 7._________ my brother _________ you the message just now? No, he __________. He ______________ me yet. (not tell)

C:Fill in the blanks with the right forms Mr James Scott has a garage in Silbury and now he just (buy) another garage in Pinhurst. Pinhurst ___(be) only five miles from Silbury, but Mr Scott cannot get a telephone for his new garage, so he just (buy) twelve pigeons. Yesterday, a pigeon ________ (carry) the first message from pinhurst to Silbury. The bird ________ (cover) the distance in three minutes. Up to now, Mr Scott __________ (send) a great many requests for spare parts and other urgent( ) messages from one garage to the other. In this way, he _________ (begin) his own private telephone service( ).

Summary: 1. When do you use the past tense? 2. When do you use the present perfect tense?