U P P T 36. U P P T: Since For For Ten Years Have/has
U P P T 36. U P P T: Since For For Ten Years Have/has
U P P T 36. U P P T: Since For For Ten Years Have/has
To describe an action or event that started in the The police have tried to solve this murder have/has + past participle
past and continues to the present. The words since for ten years
or for are often used in the sentence. For regular verbs, the past participle
The police have tried to solve this murder form is formed by adding –d or –ed to
since 1997. the simple form of the verb.
X now For irregular verbs, you need to
memorize the past participle form.
For is used when referring to a period of time.
Since is used when referring to a particular time. For a list of irregular verbs and their past
participle forms, see:
Tip: if you are not sure whether to use the present http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
perfect or the simple past, ask yourself if the action handouts/esl/eslirrverb.html
is still going on. If it is, use the present perfect.
To talk about something that happened at a time in The community members have already
the past that is either unknown or unimportant. In submitted a proposal to improve the library.
such cases, time adverbs such as ever, never,
already, yet, and still are often used. Have you ever wondered how different life
? would be a hundred years from now?
x now
To talk about an activity that happened repeatedly Americans have celebrated Independence
and is likely to continue or happen again. Day for over two hundred years.
x x x now The inspectors have visited the hospital
many times.
To talk about something that happened very The economy has just begun to recover.
recently (right before the present moment.) In such
cases, the adverb just is often used. The war has just ended but there is still
x now great suffering in the country.
Created in 2007 at the Center for English Language Support, John Jay College, on a U.S. Department of Education Page 1 of 1
(Title V Collaborative) Grant awarded to John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Queensborough Community College.