Present Perfect Tense Unspecified Time | Present Perfect without Since and For |

Hi, I’m Judy. In this lesson, let’s talk about the present perfect simple. Unspecified time without for or since. Just begin by looking at some cool places to go. Do you like to travel? Have you seen a 2,000 year old Colosseum in Rome, Italy? Have you experienced the bright lights of New York City’s Times Square in the US? Have you ever felt the peacefulness inside of Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, Japan? Italy, the US, Japan, have you ever gone to these places? I have. Where do you think I live now? Actually, I live near Irvine, California. I have lived here for several years. I have lived in Irvine since 2013. Have lived, what verb tense is this? You may have learned that the present perfect tense is formed with a helping verb has or have plus the past participle of the main verb. When there is for or since, it is specified time. The start time is said. You generally know when it began, and the focus is on duration. How long from the past to now? In this example, I started living here in the year 2013, and I still live here now. There is also present perfect without for or since, this is unspecified time. For example, I have lived in Italy. You don’t know when I was there. The start time is unsaid. Maybe the date is not known, or not important. In this case, the focus is often on past experience. I have lived in Italy, means that I lived in Italy some time before now. I want you to focus on what I did, not when I did it. It’s like an accomplishment something I’m proud of. This lesson is about unspecified experiential time. Has and have can be shortened, contracted. For instance, I’ve lived in New York, means I have lived in New York. For the negative, we can add not, which can also be shortened. I haven’t lived in Japan, means that I have not lived in Japan. I actually did visit Japan on vacation, but I didn’t live there. I’ve also been on vacation to Thailand, another southern islands and a clean quiet beaches Which sentence is correct? Judy has visited Thailand in 2014. Or Judy has visited Thailand many times. The answer is the second one. Why? To understand, let’s compare the past simple tense with the present perfect. Remember, the present perfect without for or since is unspecified time. Many times is not a specified time. You know that I went there, in fact, you know that I went there more than once, but it is not clear when I was there. 2014 is a specified time in the past. It is not the year 2014 anymore, so we cannot say, Judy has visited Thailand in 2014. If we want to use a specified time in the past, not including now, we use the past simple. Judy visited Thailand in 2014. In other words, there can also be a difference between finished time and unfinished time. Here’s another example. My favorite Thai drink is the mango lassi. I make this drink for breakfast sometimes. I drink two glasses of lassi this morning. This sentence is in the past simple tense. I have drunk two glasses of lassi this morning. This sentence is in the present perfect tense, unspecified time, which sentence means that it is still breakfast time. In the second sentence, this morning is unfinished time. It is still breakfast time now. If I want to, I can drink more lassi for breakfast this morning. In the first sentence, breakfast time is finished. It is not in the morning anymore. It is now in the afternoon or evening. I can drink more lassi today, but not for breakfast. We’ve talked about many amazingly cool places today. Lets review what we have learned. Do you remember how to form the present perfect tense? Here’s a hint, look at the red words. The present perfect is has or have plus past participle. What do we mean by unspecified time? That’s right. There is no for, or since that tells us the start time. We’ve talked about many cool places. The start time is unsaid. The time is not important, not known, or maybe not finish yet. The focus is on the experience of us talking together. I’ve gotten a lot of stamps in my passport, and I’ve shown you a few of my favorites, but there are still many blank pages. Where shall we go next? Maybe next time we meet you can tell about the wonderful places that you’ve been to. Until then, bon voyage.
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