In this post, we are going to see examples for the present perfect tense.
Present Perfect tense is used in the following ways:
(1) to talk about something that happened in the past and is finished, but which affects the situation now
(Example)
1 - Someone has broken the window (RESULT NOW: it is still broken, and needs to be mended (repaired))
2 - Jane's hurt her hand, so she can't write. (RESULT NOW: Jane can't write)
(2) to say that something started to happen in the past, and has continued to happen up to now. We can see the clear difference between the simple past and this tense.
(Example)
1 - 1 - I have lived in Chicago for many years. (= I still live there now)
1 - 2 - I lived in Chicago for many years. (= "now" I live somewhere else)
2 - 1 - Jim has worked for us since 1992. (= "he" still works for us now)
2 - 2 - Jim worked for us from 1992 to 1996. (= "he" does not work for us anymore)
3 - I have lived here (in Iran) for 10 years.
(3) to talk about something that happened at some time before now, but it is not important to say when it happened. (It is often used in news reports.)
(Example)
1 - She has had several jobs abroad.
2 - There have been problems with this system in the past.
3 - 1 - Have you ever visited Scotland?
3 - 2 - I've never been to Scotland.
(NOTE) If you give the date, year, or time something happened, you must use the simple past, not the present perfect. For example:
1 - I spoke to him yesterday. (NOT: I have been spoken to him yesterday.)
2 - They arrived in the US last week. (NOT: They have arrived in the US last week.)
