Learn how to form and use the present perfect English verb tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Daniel: Hi everyone, Daniel here. |
| Chihiro: Chihiro here. Catching Up with a Friend. |
| Daniel: So, what are we talking about today? |
| Chihiro: In this lesson, you will learn how to catch up with a person you haven't seen in a while. |
| Daniel: This conversation takes place in a diner. |
| Chihiro: The conversation is between two friends, Mike and Joey. |
| Daniel: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mike: Hey. Thanks for waiting, Joey. |
| Joey: No problem, man. |
| Mike: Long time no see, buddy. How've you been? |
| Joey: Not bad. Same job, same apartment, nothing's changed really, man. |
| Mike: Oh. Well, that's good to hear. |
| Joey: Hey, so you got married! Congrats dude! Tell me about Susan, the lucky girl. |
| Mike: Well, what can I say? She's awesome! She's funny, down-to-earth, easygoing. |
| Joey: Wow, she sounds nothing like Michelle. |
| Mike: Exactly! Michelle was too high-maintenance for me. She was so pretentious and superficial! |
| Joey: Yeah, but she was really sexy. |
| Mike: I know. Anyway, uhh, Susan's great. You'll like her. |
| Joey: How did you two meet anyway? |
| Mike: Well, it's a long story. I bumped into her and spilled coffee on her boyfriend. I offered to pay the cleaning |
| bill and we exchanged phone numbers. The rest is history. |
| Joey: What do you mean, “The rest is history, man?" |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Daniel: Sounds like these two have a lot of catching up to do! |
| Chihiro: Yup, looks like they might need to meet up again soon to finish the story! |
| Daniel: Well, you know when people catch up after a while of not seeing one another, it's important to ask about the main things in their lives. |
| Chihiro: True, this usually includes their job, living arrangement, and relationships. And in the dialogue Joey sums this up in just one sentence... |
| Daniel: Which in other words means that nothing much has changed since the last two had met. |
| Chihiro: Mike on the other hand has a story to tell, which is what the conversation mainly turns towards. |
| Daniel: And it sounds like he has a lot more to tell! So Chihiro, you do any catching up at all these days? |
| Chihiro: Actually yes! This weekend I saw a friend I haven't seen for a few months. I must admit though, it always feels kind of funny at first you know, but once you get into the conversation, the time gap definitely lessens! Did you Daniel? |
| Daniel: I did over Christmas Break. I went back to my hometown and saw some people I haven’t seen in a long time. |
| Chihiro: Sounds good. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chihiro: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is… |
| Daniel: apartment [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: building typically divided into separate dwellings that is equipped with housekeeping facilities and usually rented as a residence |
| Daniel: apartment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: apartment [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: congrats [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: short for congratulations, which is an expression of pleasure for someone's success |
| Daniel: congrats [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: congrats [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: lucky [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: having good chance or fortune |
| Daniel: lucky [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: lucky [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: pretentious [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: pretending to be more successful, important, or impressive than reality |
| Daniel: pretentious [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: pretentious [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: superficial [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: concerned with what is on the surface and not being thorough |
| Daniel: superficial [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: superficial [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: to bump [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to hit against something with force |
| Daniel: to bump [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to bump [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: to spill [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to cause something to fall over the edge of a container |
| Daniel: to spill [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to spill [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: to exchange [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to give something and receive something in return |
| Daniel: to exchange [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to exchange [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: awesome [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: something that inspires awe, dread, and wonder |
| Daniel: awesome [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: awesome [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next. |
| Daniel: down-to-earth [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: easy going, easy to talk to |
| Daniel: down-to-earth [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: down-to-earth [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Daniel: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Chihiro: The first phrase we’ll look at is, |
| Daniel: “High-maintenance.” This phrase, which is used as an adjective, is used to describe an emotional person who needs a lot of attention and seeks it by over dramatizing situations. |
| Chihiro: In the dialogue, Michelle was this kind of person, which is what Mike means when he says that she was too high maintenance. Another meaning for this phrase is if a person requires many material things for their outward appearance. In the sentence, |
| Daniel: “The princess was so high maintenance that even the prince couldn't afford her.” |
| Chihiro: Means that the princess required many material things to keep her happy. |
| Daniel: The second phrase we'll look at is, “The rest is history.” This phrase is used when the speaker leaves out the end of a story because it's obvious to the listener what has happened. In the dialogue, Mike assumes that Joey knows what happened, therefore he uses this phrase. |
| Chihiro: Right, but by his reaction we know that Joey does not know. Here's another example, |
| Daniel: “The band's hit record came out in the early nineties, and the rest is history.” |
| Chihiro: Which means that people know how the band is doing today without having to be informed after their first hit record. |
| Daniel: Okay, let's take a look at the grammar point for this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chihiro: We will take a look at the present perfect tense. We use the present perfect tense to talk about past events that have a connection with the present. For example, |
| Daniel: “I have made dinner. Let's eat!” |
| Chihiro: We also often use the present perfect to give news, as in this sentence, |
| Daniel: “The leader has arrived.” |
| Chihiro: In addition, we use the present perfect to talk about how much has been done up to now, like, |
| Daniel: “I've been to that store five times this year.” |
| Chihiro: Or how long something has continued up to now with the verbs “be,” “have,” and “know,” as in |
| Daniel: “We've been here since Tuesday.” |
| Chihiro: We also often use the question form to ask about someone's experience. For example, |
| Daniel: “Have you ever been to Rome?” Okay, now, if you want to make a statement using the present perfect like in those examples, the structure is, subject + “have/has” + past participle. |
| Chihiro: And as Daniel mentioned, the first four examples were all in this form. |
| Daniel: Now, for negative statements, the structure is, subject + “have/has” + “not” + past participle. Give us an example, Chihiro. |
| Chihiro: “She hasn't finished the report.” |
| Daniel: Now, if you want to form a question, then the structure is, “have/has” + subject + past participle. Here's an example from the dialogue. |
| Chihiro: “How've you been?” |
| Daniel: Which in this case, the question has the adverb “how” before it. |
| Chihiro: Note that contractions are commonly used when speaking like the example from the dialogue, so it's a good idea to get used to it by using it yourself. |
| Daniel: Right. Also remember that regular verbs in the past participle have “-ed,” and irregular verbs need to be remembered. |
| Chihiro: Okay listeners, good luck practicing and don't forget that the lesson notes in the PDF will help you. |
Outro |
| Chihiro: That just about does it for today. Okay, see you next time! |
| Daniel: Take care. |
| REPETITION OF DIALOGUE |
| Mike: Hey. Thanks for waiting, Joey. |
| Joey: No problem, man. |
| Mike: Long time no see, buddy. How've you been? |
| Joey: Not bad. Same job, same apartment, nothing's changed really, man. |
| Mike: Oh. Well, that's good to hear. |
| Joey: Hey, so you got married! Congrats dude! Tell me about Susan, the lucky girl. |
| Mike: Well, what can I say? She's awesome! She's funny, down-to-earth, easygoing. |
| Joey: Wow, she sounds nothing like Michelle. |
| Mike: Exactly! Michelle was too high-maintenance for me. She was so pretentious and superficial! |
| Joey: Yeah, but she was really sexy. |
| Mike: I know. Anyway, uhh, Susan's great. You'll like her. |
| Joey: How did you two meet anyway? |
| Mike: Well, it's a long story. I bumped into her and spilled coffee on her boyfriend. I offered to pay the cleaning bill and we exchanged phone numbers. The rest is history. |
| Joey: What do you mean "the rest is history, man?" |
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