GYG Day 17. Tuesday Teaser: How long have you…………?

I guess it’s not really a Tuesday ‘teaser’ as such today, but more of a practice work sheet to help you remember what we looked at yesterday.

Let’s kick off with a reminder:

Let’s say you want to talk about the company you work for. You have 2 options to express ‘how long with the company’

“I joined the company in 2015”. You use the simple past because the time when you joined /started was in the past.

However, it is much more natural to say:

“I have worked* for the company for 5 years / since 2015.*” That means, you joined 5 years ago and you still work there now.

The “have … worked*” form is called the present perfect (PP) or as I call it the ‘Past Present’(PP), as my name says, has something to do with the past and the present – something started in the past and continues to today. We can use *for (period of time) or since (specific time).

It is formed by the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ and the past participle form of the main verb. In the above example, it is easy because the main verb is a so-called ‘regular verb’, which means it ends in ’ed’ in the past participle form just like in the simple past tense.

To ‘drive’, on the other hand, is an irregular verb and so the verb changes in the simple past:

“I drove* to work yesterday instead of taking the bus”

*2 nd column in the irregular verb list.

In the PP form:

“I’ve driven* my BMW now for 6 years”.

*2 nd column in the irregular verb list.

So we already covered your job, let’s take a look at “How long you have …….” in some other important parts of your life. Here’s an example with job.

I’ll give you the headlines: Present job. As well as the main verb ‘work’ you should use. Firstly practice asking the question and giving an answer for you.

E.g. Present job: to work

Question: “How long have you worked for the company?”

Answer: “I’ve worked for the company for 5 years / since 2015.”

Now tries these 5:

Present partner: to be together / married

Question: ………………………………………………………………………….