Since I discovered present perfect

Posted by Pak Guru on January 17th, 2018 | 3 responses | grammar, present perfect, sejak, tenses, time expressions

Since 2010, I am IT Specialist at Purwodadi Botanical Gardens.

Here we need to think about (1) meaning and (2) form.

1. Meaning

The word since means from a time in the past up to and including now.

2. Form

If you mean up to and including now then you need one of these:

• since + point in time in the past + present perfect tense
• for + period of time in the past + present perfect tense

How do I know I mean up to and including now?!

1. You mean up to and including now if you use the word since followed by a time expression describing a past point in time.

Since 2010 I have been an IT specialist at Purwodadi Botanical Gardens.

2. You mean up to and including now if you use the word ‘for’ followed by a time expression describing a period of time that began in the past and includes now.

For 8 years I have been an IT specialist at Purwodadi Botanical Gardens.

3. You mean up to and including now if you don’t use a signal (since, for) and you don’t use a time expression, but you do imply past time up to and including now.

I have repaired many computers.

In example (3) you are using present perfect to assure us that NOW (in the present) you are an experienced computer repair person, and we can trust you! We don’t need to know exactly when you did the repairs, or exactly how many computers you repaired – we just want to make sure that you are experienced!

3 responses to “Since I discovered present perfect”

1. Heri says:

   January 25, 2018 at 3:22 pm

   thank you Steve ^_^

   Reply
2. Ferdinand He says:

   January 18, 2018 at 1:28 am

   Thank you Pak Guru Steve.

   Since 2017 I have been following your page.

   For almost a year your page has been useful for me.

   Reply
   • pakguru says:

     January 18, 2018 at 1:30 am

     You’re always welcome, star student!

     Reply