8th July, 2023
These present perfect conversational practice exercises contain sets of conversational questions, along with multiple potential responses and a follow-up question for each. The questions aim to help ESL (English as a Second Language) students improve their understanding and usage of specific aspects of grammar in English. In my experience, these kinds of exercise are really useful teaching one-on-one online, but they also work really well as pair work activities in the classroom.
Present perfect yes/no questions (this is the format usually used for introducing students to the present perfect)
Present perfect expanded (this is a little more advanced)
If you like these activities, be sure to check out my Substack post:
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This is a present perfect exercise and worksheet for English language learners. Students answer the questions with their own ideas and using appropriate tenses. For the last two items, they write both questions and answers.
Present perfect questionnaire (PDF)
This is a listening/speaking present perfect exercise for English language learners to practice using “already” or “yet”. Students use the cues in the pictures to write complete sentences in the the present perfect tense. Then students can listen and compare their answers to the audio.
Present perfect: already or yet ? (PDF)
(see the YouTube version of this exercise)
Sentence | Starting Point | Action |
---|---|---|
I have lived in New York since 2018. | 2018 | Living in New York |
They have been married since last June. | Last June | Being married |
She has studied Spanish since she was a child. | Her childhood | Studying Spanish |
We have owned a cat for three years. | Three years ago | Owning a cat |
He has worked at the company for five months. | Five months ago | Working at the company |
You have been standing for over an hour. | Over an hour ago | Standing |
I have known him for a long time. | A long time ago | Knowing him |
This is a listening/speaking activity to help English language practice using “since” or “for”. Students use the time cues in the pictures to write complete sentences in the the present perfect tense. Or use it as a listening exercise. Students listen to the audio and write appropriate sentences for the pictures.
Present perfect: since or for ? (PDF)
ESL Listening Activities Guide
Comparative adjective exercises
Teaching Gerunds and Infinitives
10 Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things
6 Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)
8 Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)
5 Useful Passive Voice Practice worksheets
7 Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)
Great Exercises for the Conditionals (PDF)
Future Tense Exercises including future perfect
Sentence | Starting Point | Action |
---|---|---|
I have been reading this book for two hours. | Two hours ago | Reading a book |
They have been studying Spanish since January. | January | Studying Spanish |
You have been working here since 2020. | 2020 | Working here |
We have been painting the house all weekend. | This weekend | Painting the house |
He has been training for the marathon for three months. | Three months ago | Training for the marathon |
She has been playing the guitar since she was 10 years old. | When she was 10 | Playing the guitar |
It has been raining since yesterday. | Yesterday | Raining |
They have been running a restaurant for 15 years. | 15 years ago | Running a restaurant |
I have been living in this city since I graduated from college. | Graduation date | Living in this city |
You have been talking on the phone for the last 30 minutes. | 30 minutes ago | Talking on the phone |
This is a practical worksheet focusing on the present perfect continuous tense, ideal for both one-on-one, pair work and online teaching settings. The questions are a catalyst for short exchanges involving various scenarios. It offers learners the opportunity to enhance their conversational skills. The responses help engage the students and the follow-up questions allow for the exchanges to be expanded into conversations.
Understanding stative verbs is crucial for anyone studying the present perfect continuous, as it aids in differentiating between states and ongoing actions or events. Stative verbs, which usually depict unchanging situations or states rather than actions, aren’t commonly used in continuous tenses, leading to frequent errors in English usage. This exercise aims to strengthen students’ understanding and application of stative verbs, reducing common grammatical mistakes and enhancing your overall fluency in English.
Sentence | Stative (Present Perfect) | Active (Present Perfect Continuous) |
---|---|---|
I have lived here for five years. | ✔️ | |
They have been playing football all afternoon. | ✔️ | |
She has known him since childhood. | ✔️ | |
We have been studying for the test. | ✔️ | |
You have seemed a bit off lately. | ✔️ | |
I have been working on this project all night. | ✔️ | |
He has owned that car for a decade. | ✔️ | |
You have been running every morning. | ✔️ |
In this table, the stative verbs in the present perfect form describe a state or condition that has existed up to the present, while the active verbs in the present perfect continuous form describe actions that started in the past and are still ongoing or have just finished.
Download stative vs active PDF
This is a present perfect exercise for English language learners to practice using the present perfect to talk about common experiences.
Present perfect: everyday experiences questionnaire (PDF)
This is a present perfect exercise for English language learners to practice using the present perfect to talk about events that have just happened (a past event affecting the immediate present). Students use the picture cues to write appropriate sentences.
Present perfect:what has just happened? 1 (PDF)
Present perfect:what has just happened? 2 (PDF)
This is amazing work – and saves me so much time! Thank you for sharing!
Cool. Really to happy get some feedback like this.
AMAZING STUFF, THANKS SO MUCH!!
Thanks a million! I just didn’t know what to do with my private student tomorrow and you saved my day ( oops , class hahaha)
Very cool activities!
Excellent worksheets. Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much for this! Great exercises!
Thanks for the comments! Really gives me a lift!
Excellent exercises. My students really like working on them in pairs.
Thank you so much 🙂