Hi, my name is Rebecca and in today's lesson
We're going to talk about a common error made by students when they use two tenses in English
These are the past simple and the present perfect
Now in case you're not sure exactly what those are let's review, and then I'm going to point out
What's the mistake that students often make when they start using these two tenses. All right?
So let's look at the board
So let's think first about time
We can divide time into two categories
Time which is finished and over and time which is unfinished. What do I mean by that?
Time which is finished is easier to understand. It's things like
yesterday last week, last year
and so on right. It's over. It's fairly finished
Unfinished time could be for example today
Today is still going on. It's not over this year is
Still going on. It's unfinished
So what you have to keep in mind is that when we are talking about finished times?
we need to use the past simple and
when we are talking about
unfinished times
We should use present perfect
Let's look at an example. So you understand more specifically, okay?
Let's take this sentence. I worked hard
yesterday
That would be fine to say because yes finish time or I could say I worked hard last week
also finished
I could say I worked hard last month right those are all correct because we're using the past simple and
we're using a finished time with them which would be correct
we can also say if we're talking about
present and present perfect, we could say I have worked hard, right?
I have worked hard. Which is the present simple.
This week I have worked hard this week
Now I'm using an unfinished time because the week is not over so it's unfinished
I have worked hard this semester
Let's say you're in university, right ?
I have worked hard since
January
Since January means from January till now and including now
so it's an unfinished time right so we can use this with present perfect or
I have worked hard since 6:00 a.m.
Since 6 o'clock this morning right and now it's still today, so it's an unfinished time all right
So this is what you need to keep in mind regarding
Time and it's one small way in which you can
Know whether to use past simple or the to use present perfect. The most common error is that?
When students learn the present perfect they sometimes like it a lot and they want to start using it
But then they use it with a time which is finished
so if we look at the example here of Niagara Falls the
correct example would be I visited Niagara Falls on
Saturday let's say today day is Sunday or Monday so at Saturday in the past. It's over. It's finished
So I could say I visited Niagara falls on set for I visited Niagara falls last summer
Right last weekend anything like that
Or if I want to talk about, Niagara falls here
I could say I have visited Niagara falls many times in my life
now presumably
My life is unfinished right now. I'm still alive
So we're talking about an unfinished time, so you could say I have visited Niagara falls many times in my life
So that would also be correct what happens is that sometimes students start to say I have visited, Niagara Falls
last Saturday
or I have visited Niagara falls last summer that would be wrong because you're
mixing present perfect with the finished and that's
The mistake that we want to avoid okay, if you'd like some more practice on this please feel free to visit our website
www.engvid.com
you'll see a quiz there, and that will help you to master this little point that might cause you some problems in English
Okay, all the best with your English bye for now