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iLearners ELT
Liberal Exchange
Volume 2: How to become a superpower
Grammar Vault Package
• Present perfect simple tense
• Present perfect continuous tense
Name:________________________
Class:_______ Date: ___________
We use the present perfect simple tense to
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talk about achievements
China has sent its own rockets into space.
talk about change over a period of time
China has opened up to the world over the past 30 years.
talk about multiple actions repeated at different times
China has developed many large cities in the last decade.
talk about experiences
The world has never seen such a fast-growing superpower.
The present perfect simple tense is formed using has/have with the past participle of the verb:
I have visited China many times.
Eileen says that she has improved her Putonghua to communicate better in China.
Hong Kong has been an important part of Chinaʼs modernisation.
Chinese athletes have shown that they are among the best in the world.
We can use the present perfect simple tense in positive statements, like those above, and also
• in negative statements
I have not visited China. / I havenʼt visited China.
He has never been to Beijing.
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in questions
Have you visited China before?
Has he been to Beijing yet?
in short answers to questions in the present perfect simple
Yes, I have. (visited China)
No, he has not / hasnʼt. (been to Beijing)
All the examples above refer to things that happened at an unspecified time in the past. The present
perfect simple tense is not used when you want to specify the specific date or time that an action
took place. The past simple tense is used in such situations.
Past simple: China celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of communist rule in 2009.
Present perfect simple: China has celebrated sixty years of communist rule.
Definite time expressions require the past simple tense, whereas indefinite or unfinished time
expressions use the present perfect simple.
Definite:
Yesterday I saw many historical artefacts during my tour of the Great Wall.
Indefinite:
In her life, sheʼs lived in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou.
Unfinished: We have seen a great improvement in Chinaʼs policies so far.
© iLearners Publishing Limited, 2009
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about actions in progress from the past up to
the present time (often with for or since).
China has been growing in popularity as a tourist destination since the Olympics.
Putonghua has been gaining importance in Hong Kong for many years now.
The action may be recently finished or continuing.
Until now, China has been waiting for an opportunity to impress the world.
(The waiting is finished)
China has been waiting for an opportunity to impress the world but doesnʼt know how.
(The waiting is continuing)
We sometimes use the present perfect continuous tense to emphasise an action repeated many
times, or the length of time of an action.
The Chinese government has repeatedly been calling for foreign governments to stop
welcoming the Dalai Lama but to no avail.
China has been hoping that the world would forget the ʻmelamine scandalʼ for over a year
now but the world has a long memory.
The present perfect continuous tense is formed by using have been or has been with the present
participle (the –ing form) of the main verb
The Chinese government has been focusing on economic stability recently.
We have been watching for signs that China is willing to improve its human rights record.
We can use the present perfect simple tense in positive statements, like those above, and also
• in negative statements
China has not been focusing enough effort on cleaning up pollution.
China hasnʼt been focusing enough effort on cleaning up pollution.
China has never been welcoming of the Dalai Lama.
China hasnʼt ever been welcoming of the Dalai Lama.
• in questions
Have you been studying in China for long?
Has China been doing enough to improve food safety?
Understanding the different forms of verbs is an important part of forming complex tenses. Here is a
table of some regular and irregular verbs and the different forms they take.
infinitive
past participle
present participle
watch
watched
watching
look
looked
looking
eat
eaten
eating
sing
sung
singing
think
thought
thinking
write
written
writing
do
done
doing
find
found
finding
say
said
saying
© iLearners Publishing Limited, 2009
Underline the correct tense forms in the following report on China.
China (1) learned / has learned / has been learning to play a more significant role in the world
economy since joining the World Trade Organisation. The country (2) long feared / has long
feared / has long been fearing being left behind, as the rest of Asia boomed, but then it seemed to
open up overnight.
Today, China (3) became / has become / has been becoming a truly cosmopolitan nation, where
local and foreign companies collaborate to do business. There was a time when Chinese companies
never (4) bought / have bought / have been buying shares in foreign companies. Nowadays, their
investment (5) became / has become / has been becoming much sought after.
Chinaʼs huge population (6) made / has made / has been making it the single largest market in
China. The whole world (7) showed / has shown / has been showing interest to expand their
market into China. As a wise man once (8) said / has said / has been saying, ʻIf every citizen of
China gives you just one cent, youʼd be a millionaire overnight.ʼ
Of course, some investors (9) worried / have worried / have been worrying about the risk of
losing money in China, due to cheats and plagiarism but it (10) has not stopped / have not
stopped / have not been stopping the continuous flow of foreign cash into China.
Clearly, China (11) hid / has hid / has been hiding in the shadows for too long and the last ten
years (12) showed / have shown / have been showing that it is more than ready to be a world
economic superpower.
© iLearners Publishing Limited, 2009