Question

When do we use present perfect tense?

• A. To describe a situation that started in the past and continues to the present.
• B. To express habits.
• C. To describe an action that is going on at this moment.
• D. To refer to an unspecified time between 'before now' and 'now'.

Answer 1

The correct option is A To describe a situation that started in the past and continues to the present.

The tense of a sentence denotes a time, whether it is the time now (present), time then (past) or the time to come (future). The verb of a sentence has most to do with the tense. The present perfect tense describes an action that began in the past and has just completed in the present, or in other words, continues to the present, as mentioned in option A, hence it's correct. An example of this would be 'I have finished my work'. Option B explains the simple present tense, referring to habits or general truths, like 'The earth is round', 'I exercise every morning', it does not explain the present perfect tense, hence option B is incorrect. Option C explains the present continuous tense that describes an ongoing action, like 'I am baking a cake right now', it does not explain the perfect tense, which refers to a completed action, hence option C is incorrect. Option D explains the present perfect continuous tense, for example, 'I have been coughing since morning'. It refers to an action that began in the past and is still continuing, as opposed to the present perfect tense, in which an action has continued to the present, but has completed, hence D is incorrect.