The bucket list - present perfect

Present perfect with 'already' & 'yet'

Hi there! Welcome to another lesson from New English Academy. I’m your guide, Giles Parker. Today we’ll be focusing on how to use the present perfect with already and yet. This lesson is aimed at intermediate level learners but don’t worry if you aren’t at that level. There is something for everyone here. The comprehension text talks about a modern phenomenon, a ‘bucket list’ which seems to be increasingly fashionable these days. First I’m going to talk about how to use and make present perfect with already and yet, then we’ll listen to (or read, if you like) the comprehension text. As always, you can get more online activities, games and tests that focus on this lesson and others at our website, New English Academy.com.

You probably know what the present perfect tense does – that is, it talks about past actions that are still true or important now, and they might still be important in the future too. You know that present perfect is different from simple past because simple past talks about completed or finished actions that are not important or relevant now and that we usually know a particular time when the simple past happened but with present perfect time is not so important.

But did you know that we can give lots more information and detail about the past with present perfect if we use little adverbs such as already, yet, since or for? We’ll look at since and for in another lesson. For today, let’s just concentrate on already and yet.

We use present perfect with already to show something that has happened before now but we’re not interested in when. e.g.

· I’ve already seen that movie.

Did you notice how we make clauses with present perfect and already? First, make sure you have the correct form of have to go with the subject. Then, use the correct past participle of the verb. Lastly, just put already between have and the past participle. And…did you notice the contraction? Drop the ha in have and put in an apostrophe to make your English much more natural. I know English doesn’t really help us because there are so many different rules for participles. In my humble opinion, the only way to learn them is to just hit the books – read or listen to as much English as you can and learn the participles. Good grammar books have appendices with common and irregular participles so you can always study that way too.

OK, now, how about negative statements in the present perfect? Easy! This is when we use yet! This means something that hasn’t happened before now, e.g.

· I haven’t seen that movie yet.

This kind of means that even though it hasn’t happened before now, there is still a good chance it might happen later, in the future.

Yet usually goes at the end of a negative statement, but it can also go between haven’t and the past participle, e.g.

· I haven’t yet seen that movie.

When we want to make Yes/No questions in the present perfect we also mostly use yet. Just turn have and the subject around and put yet at the end. For example;

· Have you seen that movie yet?

But if you want to show you are surprised that something has happened before now, like it was unexpected, then you can use already; e.g.

· Have you seen that movie already? It only came out yesterday!

With Wh-questions things get a bit interesting. You use already for Wh-questions that include an affirmative statement, and yet for questions that include a negative. For example;

· Which movies have you already seen?

· Which movies haven’t you seen yet?

And now as usual, the warnings. Try not to use past time expressions like last week, yesterday, last month with already; e.g.

· I’ve already seen that movie last month.

While some native speakers of English might use it, it isn’t normal or ‘correct’ grammar. They should be saying

· I saw it last month.

That’s one of the differences between present perfect and simple past. Simple past show a particular time.

Also, some speakers of English often don’t bother to use the present perfect at all, even though they want to show the same meaning. Instead they use the simple past with already or yet to mean the same thing; e.g.

· Did you eat yet?

· Yeah, I ate already.

This could be a kind of dialect, or the language changing to become less complicated. You’ll hear and read it sometimes, so please don’t be surprised.

So, to summarize, present perfect with already or yet talks about things that have happened before now. When isn’t so important, and there is an implication that they could still continue to happen. Use already for affirmative statements and Wh-questions and yet for negative statements and Wh-questions and for Yes/No questions.

Now, on to the comprehension text. This is about recent social phenomenon called the Bucket List. As you listen or read, try to check for the present perfect phrases that use already and yet. If you want to practice your comprehension and grammar more, don’t forget to check out the online activities at NewEnglishAcademy.com Enjoy!

The Bucket List

Every culture has themes that strike a chord and make some people feel good, or strike a nerve and make them feel uncomfortable. In the aging, baby-boomer society of the US and Europe it has become popular to talk about your ‘bucket list’. This is a list of important things you haven’t done yet but want to do before you die, or kick the bucket. This theme is partially or totally reflected in at least four popular recent movies and cartoons: Joe vs. The Volcano, Up, The Simpsons episode One Fish, Two Fish and of course The Bucket List.  Â

These are feel-good movies about life and mortality. They say we are going to die, so maybe we should take control of our lives and do some of the wonderful, exciting things we haven’t done yet. In The Bucket List, the two main characters decide to travel around the world together. They haven’t been sky-diving yet, so off they go. One of them hasn’t driven a Shelby Mustang yet so this they do. They haven’t enjoyed the beauty of the Taj Mahal in India yet or ridden motorcycles on the Great Wall of China. They haven’t been on a lion safari in Africa yet or visited the Great Pyramid in Egypt. These are all things they have wanted to do and we watch as they do them.

But there are other, less-expensive things to do on the bucket lists of these old men. One of them wants to laugh until he cries, which he ends up doing. The other wants to kiss the most beautiful girl in the world which he decides is his granddaughter. He hasn’t witnessed anything majestic but that gets crossed off his list when his ashes are placed on Mt Everest.

In the Simpsons, terminally-ill Homer decides he must suddenly be a better father to his children, which he hasn’t done yet, by teaching his 8 year old son about the 3 stages of life - I didn’t do it; Cover for me; and Yes, Boss! He actually listens to his daughter play the saxophone which he has never done before. But, thankfully, all this sincerity gets blown in the end where we see that the healed Homer has learned nothing from his experience.

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I googled ‘bucket list’ just to see what came up on the internet.  I have a feeling the bucket list theme is popular with adventure holiday tour companies. Most of the bucket lists I looked at were about doing things, not about being or becoming things. In our bucket lists maybe we could also include normal, everyday things we have already done or become that we still feel proud of. Would you put ‘raise a lovely family’ on your bucket list and then cross it off as something you have already done? How about ‘Be true to myself’, or ‘Look after the world around me’? These are incredible things that we do all our lives but I think they should still be on our bucket lists, just so that we can think about crossing them off when we kick the bucket. And the best thing is, you don’t have to pay a ton of money to achieve them.