The difference between the forms and meanings of the simple
past and the present perfect is often confusing for learners. Both deal with finished action but there is
slight difference in the meaning.
We use past tense form of the verb in simple past. For
example,
·
Regular verbs – completed, played etc.
·
Irregular verbs – saw, sang, spoke etc.
The past simple is used to express the following meanings in
English.
1. We use the past simple to talk about an action finished in
the past.
For example,
1.
Ramesh played
football yesterday.
2.
He went to
Goa on Monday.
2. We can also use simple past to talk about habits in the
past.
For example,
1.
I played
football everyday when I was in school.
2.
I did my
homework everyday when I was in school.
The form of the verb in the present perfect is as follows
Have/has + Past Participle
of the verb.
•
I/we/you/they/plural
noun + have + Past Participle of the verb.
•
He/she/it/singular
noun + has + Past Participle of the verb.
We use present perfect to
talk about an action completed in the past but that action is connected with
the present time in meaning. The present
perfect is used to express following meanings in English.
1. Perfect of Result
The
Present Perfect is used to talk about an action finished in the past but its
result is seen in the present time.
For
example,
She has cleaned this room. (Result: The room looks clean now.)
2. Perfect of current
relevance.
The present perfect is used to talk about an
action took place in the past and it is still true.
For example,
He has
gone to America. (Current relevance:
He went to America and is in America now.)
3. Perfect of experience
The present perfect is also used to talk
about an event that happened at least once until now.
For example,
Mehar has been to Goa once. (She has experience of visiting Goa at least
once until now. She is not
in Goa now.)
4. Perfect for recently
finished action
The present perfect is used to talk about
an action completed recently.
For example,
I have
just had lunch.
We can use adverbial
indicating past time in a simple past sentence. For example,
He went to Delhi on Tuesday.
However, we cannot use adverbial
indicating past time in a present perfect sentence.
* He has gone to Delhi on Tuesday.
The above sentence is
wrong. The correct sentence would be
He has gone to Delhi.
The difference in meanings
of the present perfect and the simple past can be understood from the
following examples.
1. A. I have
lost my key. (I can’t find it now.)
B. I lost my key last week. (and found it
yesterday)
2. A. Bill has gone to Goa. (He is in Goa
now.)
B. Bill went to Goa on Monday. (and
has come back today by plane.)
Thus, both the past tense and the present perfect talk about
finished actions. We use the simple past when we cant to talk about actions
completed in the past. However, we use
the present perfect when we want to connect the finished actions with the present
time in meaning.
