Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Nino Kirvalidze
49
We have lived in Amsterdam for five years. 
She has owned the house since her father died.
Unlike the simple past, the present perfect does not normally co-occur with time adver-
bials that indicate a specific point or period of time in the past: 
I saw her a week ago
(past 
simple).
Some adverbials and prepositional phrases, such as 
just, recently, lately, for ages, for a long 
time, till/up to now
and 
so far
, as well as phrases and clauses introduced by 
since
co-occur with 
the present perfect and not/or very seldom with the simple past. For instance: 
The train has just arrived on Platform 4. 
I haven’t seen him since Monday /since we left school. 
The use of the present perfect for recent events implies that the result of the event still 
applies: 
He’s broken his arm
(‘His arm is now broken.’); 
I’ve emptied the basket
(‘The basket is 
now empty’). 
NOTE: There are cases when the choice of this or that form of the verb depends on the 
target situation. Compare, for example, the sentences with different referential situations: 
She has given an interview only once in her life.
(present perfect) 
She gave an interview only once in her life
. (simple past) 
The first sentence implies, that
She has given an interview only once in her life
but she may yet 
give another interview, whereas the second sentence gets quite a different interpretation 
because of the simple past of the main verb which indicates that the situation is not valid for 
the present moment. 
She gave an interview only once in her life
implies that she can give no 
more interviews, since she is dead.
The past perfect refers to a time earlier than another past time: 
By 5 o’clock he had done 
most of this work
. Past perfect verbs tend to occur in both in dependent and main clauses. In 
this case, the event denoted by the verb in the past perfect was completed by the time of the 
event described in the simple past tense. For instance, 
They had moved into the house before 
the baby was born
, where the event described in the main clause by the verb in the past perfect 
precedes the event given in the past simple in the subordinate clause. But in the sentence - 
After the letter had been sent he returned home
- the event referred in the subordinate clause 

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
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