2 LANGUAGE BANK GRAMMAR present perfect and past simple Present perfect simple: have/has + past participle (lived, worked, seen etc) + | Ive been to Poland a few times. = | He hasn't worked here before. 2. | Have you bought a new car? For irregular past participles see the list of irregular verbs on page 127. time up to now Use the present perfect for actions which have happened in your life before now, These are often general experiences. It isn’t important exactly when these things happened. Conversations which begin like this in the present perfect usually continue in the past simple as the speaker adds details: I've been to Colombia. Really? Where did you go? He's played in an Indie band. What were they called? We often use the adverbs ever and never with the present perfect: We've never been to China. Have you ever been to the Opera? narrative tenses past simple Use the past simple for states and actions in the past. We often specify the time when they happened: Heft university in 1996, He didn’t know the way to Sal's house. past continuous Use the past continuous to talk about the background information for a story, Use the past simple to talk about the main events. ‘BACKGROUND INFORMATION MAIN EVENT ppast continuous past simple J was walking through the park WHEN heard a noise The sun was shining. ‘The birds were singing ASE ‘As | was walking through the park, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Suddenly, | heard a loud noise. Often the past continuous action is interrupted by another action {in the past simple}: | was having a bath when the phone rang. We can use conjunctions like as and while to talk about two actions which were happening at the same time: While | was reading the paper, I watched the women buying vegetables in the market. For more information on state and dynamic verbs section 1.2, page 128. recent events Use the present perfect to talk about events which happened a short time ago. We often use the adverbs just, yet and already: I've just finished his book. t was brilliant. We've already eaten, Have you done your homework yet? We've seen a lot of Jude recently. present perfect or past simple? Use the past simple to talk about a specific event which happened at a specific time: I've been to Sweden, {at some time in my life up to now. We don't know when) We went to Stockholm in 2002 NOT sheen nnn opt (This isa specific occasion and date, so we use the past simple) past perfect, + Ihhad finished my work. = They hadn't had time. Had they been there before? Use the past perfect to make it clear that. one action happened before the other. past perfect past simple ‘Host my wallet. Ididnt have ary money. past 4+ now | didn't have any money because | had lost my wallet When before or after is used in the sentence, its already clear which action comes before the other, so we can use the past simple instead of the past perfect: She had lived in London for five years before she moved to New York She lived in London for five years before she ‘moved to New York We often use the past perfect with ‘thinking’ verbs lke remember, realise, thnk, discover, find out, etc: When | got to the schoo, | realised I'd left my books at home. present telling a story beginning the | This happened when . questions to Keep | So, what happened? What did you do? story In the beginning, story going | What happened next? Really? Well... Anyway,.... Before long, I dont believe it! Oh no./ Oh dear ene ed |S0-~ And then, al ofa sudden .. responses to How embarrassing! sppened | The next thing | knew, show interest That's really funny. inthe end, .. Finally You must be joking. Yes, Know.PRACTICE A Tick the correct sentences, a) or b). 1a) I've been to india last year. b) I went to India last year. 2 a) | finished my studies in 2006. b) I've finished my studies in 2005. 3. a) Did you have lunch yet? b) Have you had lunch yet? 4 a) Did you ever see Metallica play live? b) Have you ever seen Metalica play live? 5 a) Is this the first time you've tried judo? b) Is this the first time you tried judo? 6 a) It's the most beautiful place I've ever been to. b) It the most beautiful place I ever went to. A Underline the correct alternatives to complete the story. | remember when Marvin Gaye ‘died/had died. I*had been/was going to one of his concerts a few months before. Infact, he 2hadn't played/wasn't playing very well and I was disappointed. | also remember when JFK was shot. | ‘had lived/was living with my parents in New York and I 'studied/was studying at the time. | remember the cleaning lady “came/was coming into the room, and said to me, ‘Hey, President Lincoln has been shot | replied/was replying, 'I know that ‘No, she said. ‘President Lincoln has been shot!’ So | said, ‘What do you mean?” And she said, ‘Oh no, | mean .., President, you know, what's his name, the one now. President Kennedy's been shot’ So then I ‘was turning/tumed on. the radio. B Use the prompts to make short conversations, ‘ou / be / here / before? (ever) : no / not 2 A: you /see/the film The Reader? B: no/ not / see (yet) 3 A: he/be/ to Budapest? B: yes / go /last summer 4: you / finish / that book? (yet) B: yes / start / the next one (already) 5 A: you / see / Maria? yes, she / leave / a message for you 6 A:he/ decide / what job /want to do? (yet) : no / have / not BB Find and correct the mistakes. One sentence is. correct. 1 Iwas leaving the room when lami heard someone saguine 2 Fouldn't open the door because I left my keys at POG a 3 ‘We drove trough the tunnel when the car broke down {As soon as the film started I realised ISeen it before. 5. Ihever been to Egypt before, so| was really excited to see the pyramids. 6 By the time we arrived at the party, everybody elses leaving. 7 We had waited for nearly an hour before the waiter ahaa order 8 [looked through some old photographs when I found this one of you. ‘A Complete the conversation with the words and phrases in the box. Intheend don't believe it The next thing! knew this happened when So, what happened Well reallyfunny Anyway You must be joking So A Well,’ Iwas working in a photographic store. Be ? as? cone day a woman came in and asked if we could fix the problem she had with a photograph. | asked her what the problem was. 8: OK. Ae she had taken this old photo out of her bag which showed an old man sitting behind a cow, milking it. when asked her what she wanted us to do to the photo, she said, ‘Can you move the cow?"’Move the cow?’ | asked. Yes,’ she replied, 'l want to see what my grandfather looked like’ She pointed to the feet sticking out from under the cow. B: Ohno.” A: No, seriously. She wanted us to move the cow, 0 that she could see her grandfather’ face. Blt 1So, what happened next? a! when I told her we couldn't do it, she got quite angry, and left the shop saying, ‘Then I'll have to take it to someone else B: That's”