When teaching the conditions in which present perfect verbs are used, it’s helpful to know that British and American usage is slightly different. In this Grammar and Beyond post, Laura Eickhoff describes the difference and suggests what to tell students about it.
When teaching the present perfect, many teachers point to three main circumstances for its use:
1. Something started in the past and has been going for a period of time.
Cues for this might be length-of-time phrases with for and since:
- I have worked here for 5 years.
- I have worked here for a long time.
- I have worked here since February.
2. Something happened at an indefinite time in the past.
Some cues are words like before, ever/never, and recently:
- I have been to Colorado before.
- I have never been to Colorado.
- I have been to Colorado [at some indefinite time] in the past, e.g. last year.
3. Something happened in the past but has particular relevance to the present.
Cues include already and yet.
- No thanks. I have already eaten.
- I haven’t seen that movie yet.
This last condition is the trickiest. For one thing, “particular relevance to the present” is hard to determine. You just have to know it when you feel it. For another, American English allows more variation than British English in these conditions. It’s not at all unusual for Americans to use the simple past in such cases. For example, Americans commonly say things like ‘I didn’t eat yet‘ whereas (as a well-informed British friend of ours confirms) that’s ‘borderline ungrammatical’ in BE. British usage would much more consistently require: Have you eaten yet? In American English ‘Did you eat yet?’ is so common that it’s often reduced to the barely intelligible phrase ‘Djeet yet?’
So in teaching the present perfect, be aware of this difference in usage. Be ready to explain the American simple past as what it is—not a breach of the rules, but an alternative.
See the downloadable activity for some practice with the present perfect.