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(escucha el audio más de una vez para familiarizarte con los términos que
se introducen y explican)
Imagine that
verbs, nouns, and other parts of language are competing with each other.
One verb form or noun might beat a competing verb form or noun. Much
like in the World Cup, the winners go to the next round and the losers
no longer play.
Keep that comparison in mind as we explore today’s subject: the present
perfect.
What is the present perfect?
Imagine you hear English speakers say the following words:
Do you want to get some dinner?
No thanks, I’ve already eaten dinner.
The second speaker said I’ve already eaten, short for I have already
eaten. This is the present perfect.
It suggests that the action of eating has been completed.
In other words, the speaker ate at some point in the past. But the
speaker is not eating now. Note that the word already suggests that the
event took place before the present point in time.
Betty Azar’s Understanding and Using English Grammar describes the
present perfect in terms of form and meaning. The form is have + past
participle. The meaning, notes Azar, is that “the perfect tenses all
give the idea that one thing happens before another time or event.”
Other grammar experts have explored the present
perfect in a slightly different way.
In Understanding English Grammar, Martha Kolln and Robert Funk note that
the present perfect can suggest a connection with the present.
Here is an example of what they mean:
Joe has lived in Washington DC since 1973.
In this example, the present perfect suggests that Joe began living in
Washington DC in the past and continues to live there in the present.
The word since followed by the year 1973 gives you a clue about the
meaning.
These examples show you general ways in which the present perfect is
used today. But the present perfect had different uses in the past. And
it is also playing a part in a kind of language competition, as we will
see.
History
Xinyue Yao is a language expert. In 2014, she explored the English
present perfect in the Journal of English Linguistics.
Yao wrote that the modern present perfect came from the transitive have
+ past participle structure in Old English. In Old English, the
structure often suggested a kind of possession.
Yao notes, a statement such as I have finished my work in Old English
would be different in modern English. It would mean something closer to
“I possess or have my work in a finished condition.”
But the possessive meaning was lost over time, Yao adds.
In the past, English speakers used a competing be + past participle
structure to suggest completed actions. But that structure declined in
use over time. In other words, the have + past participle structure won
out.
Present of the present perfect
A 2018 paper in ORTESOL noted the difficulties in teaching the present
perfect to English learners - especially learners of American English.
One reason is that the present perfect is used much less often in
American English.
Mina Gavell, the writer of the paper, noted the present perfect is being
replaced “by its main competitor, the simple past” in American English.
She adds that the perfects, and especially the present perfect, “make up
only 5 to 10 percent of spoken American English verb use, and are even
less prevalent in speaking than writing.”
Prevalent is a term that means common or widespread.
Think back to the words you heard at the beginning of this report.
Do you want to get some dinner?
No thanks, I’ve already eaten dinner.
The second speaker used the present perfect. But, a speaker of American
English might also use the simple past, as in:
Do you want to get some dinner?
No thanks, I already ate.
Closing thoughts
Today, we explored how the present perfect has competed – and does
compete – for use.
In American English, the present perfect has been losing out to the
simple past for some time. But, the present perfect is still in the game.
In other kinds of English, such as British English, the present perfect
is more commonly used. And in Australian English, the present perfect
can have a very interesting, unusual meaning. But that is a subject for
a future report.
The next time you are reading a book, watching a film, or listening to
the news, pay careful attention to the present perfect.
Keep notes about the times you hear or read it. Over time, you will
begin to use it with great ease.
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