The Present Perfect Tense Don't confuse the present perfect with the past tense. The present perfect is used with unspecified periods of time in the past or to show the passage of time. Here's an example of a mistake: She has cleaned her bathroom yesterday. This mistake specifies when she did something which you can only do with a past tense. Here's the correction: She cleaned her bathroom yesterday. Sometimes people learning English use the past tense when they should use the present perfect. I lived in Minnesota for 10 years. (ok but it sounds like he is no longer there and lives in another place.) I am living in Minnesota 10 years. I live in Minnesota 10 years. This person wants to say that he moved to Minnesota 10 years ago and is still there. I have lived in Minnesota for 10 years. or... I have lived in Minnesota since 1996. Notice also that for and since are often used in the present perfect.
List of Interactive Quizzes The quizzes with a magenta marble are also listed within the section or digital handout to which they apply. The twenty-one quizzes with a green marble and designated "Practice" have been adapted from the instructor's manual and other ancillary materials accompanying Sentence Sense: A Writer's Guide. The seventeen quizzes with a gold marble were written by the English faculty at an estimable midwestern university and are used here with the permission of that department. The ten quizzes with a red marble were prepared by students in Professor Karyn Hollis's Tutor Training course at Villanova University. Clicking on the NUMBER immediately before the quiz's name will take you to the section of the Guide pertaining to the grammatical issue(s) addressed in that quiz. Clicking on the Guide's logo at the top of a quiz-page will bring you back to this page.
Past Continuous Lesson Plan for ESL Learners Learning the basic structure and usage of the past continuous is usually not that difficult for most students. Unfortunately, this is not the case when it comes to actively integrating the past continuous, either in writing or in speaking. This lesson is aimed at helping students recognize the situations in which the use of the past continuous would be beneficial in writing. Aim: To increase active usage of the past continuous Activity: Gap filling exercise followed by creative writing Level: Intermediate Outline: Quickly review the past continuous structure with the class. Put the following verbs into the past simple Thomas _______ (live) in the small town of Brington. The part about the Microsoft stock is true!! Insert the following past continuous fragments into the above story: As Frank was drawing the graph, ... ... while he was walking to work, it was raining so... Written Exercise Write an outline of an important day in your life. Back to lessons resource page
How to Teach the Past Continuous to ESL Learners The main concept to introduce when teaching the past continuous is the idea that the past continuous expresses an interrupted action. In other words, the past continuous speaks about what was going on when something important happened. The past continuous can be used by itself to express what happened at a precise moment in the past. However, the most common use is together with the past simple - ... when something happened. You might want to consider teaching the past simple together with the past continuous for intermediate level classes, as the past simple will be review for students. Introducing the Past Continuous Start by Speaking about What Was Interrupted Describe an important past event and then fill in the details as a painter would fill in background details by using the past continuous form. I'd like to tell you about the day I met my wife. This example is admittedly exaggerated. When did you leave home this morning - At nine o'clock. Practicing the Past Continuous