What's new

Would you check my sentences with the perfect tense?

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
2,720
63
63
Dear native English speakers,
I am trying to make an exercise paper with the perfect tense.

Would you kindly check my English sentences?

1 各文の後ろの[ ]に書いてある動詞を( )に正しい形で書き入れ、和訳しなさい。
① I have ( ) Japanese for three years. [study]
ANSWER: ①(studied) 訳 私は3年前から(3年間)日本語を勉強しています。

② My daughter has ( ) in New York since 2015. [live]
ANSWER: ②(lived) 私の娘は2015年からニューヨークに住んでいます。

③ Has Mike ( ) in Canada for many years? [work] (for many years = 何年も前から、長年)
ANSWER: ③(worked) マイクはカナダで何年も前から働いているんですか。

④ How long have you ( ) Tom ? For more than ten years. [know] (more than ~=~以上)
ANSWER: ④(known) あなたはトムをどのくらい前から(何年前から)知っているんですか。 10年以上前からです。

⑤ My father has ( ) busy since last month. [be](busy = 忙しい last month = 先月)
ANSWER: ⑤(been) (私の)父は先月から(ずっと)忙しいです。

2 ( )指定の語数で、現在完了形を用いて英訳しなさい。
①私は8年前から(=8年間)英語の勉強をしています。(7語)[8も綴りで書くこと][agoは用いない]
①I have studied/learned English for eight years.

②私の父は去年からカナダに住んでいます。(9語)
②My father has lived in Canada since last year.

③あなたはもう何年もここに住んでいるのですか。(7語) はい、そうです。(3語) [many yearsを用いる]
③Have you lived here for many years? Yes, I have.

④あなたの息子さん(son)は、10年以上前からロンドン(London)に住んでおられるんですか。(11語)[agoは用いない]
④Has your son lived in London for more than ten years ?

⑤私の両親は、2010年からシンガポール(Singapore)に住んでいます。(数字は1語と数えて8語)[2010は数字で書けばよい]
⑤My parents have lived in Singapore since 2010.

⑥あなたはどれくらい前から(どれくらいの期間)日本語の勉強をしているんですか。(6語)[How を用いる]
⑥How long have you studied/learned Japanese?

⑦私はあなたのご両親を5年前から知っています。(8語)
⑦I have known your parents for five years.

⑧私の祖父は、何年も前から、カナダに住んでいます。(9語) [many years を用いる]
⑧My grandfather has lived in Canada for many years.

⑨あなたは先月からずっと忙しいんですか。(7語) はいそうです。(3語)
⑨Have you been busy since last month? Yes, I have.

⑩私の祖母は2000年からテニスをしています。(数字は1語と数えて7語)[2000は数字のままでよい]
⑩My grandmother has played tennis since 2000.
 
Hirashin,

All of your examples look correct to me.

By the way, are you aware of the different meanings English present perfect can have?

(1.) ~した事がありますか?
Have you ever…?
(It is VERY common for the students to make when answering this kind of question.)


(2) Time period has not finished
I have French for ten years. vs. I studied Spanish for ten years. (The two meanings are different.)


(3) Using the words "since", "already", and "not yet"
(I tell my students to always use present perfect when using "since", "already", and "not yet". Once my students learn this rule, it is easy rule fo them to use. I also tell they can not use present perfect when say "yesterday", but they can when they say "since yesterday".)


(4)
The rain has stopped. (This is similar to (2) but the meaning is slightly different.)


(5) The second idea
(A mother talking to her child: ) Did you wash your hands? vs. Have you washed your hands? (The two examples have different meanings.)

------------

I noticed that your quiz contains examples of (2) and (3 excluding "already", and "not yet") but not the other examples.
 
Thanks for your help, Buntaro.

I know that the present perfect has other meanings. But most of our students are very slow at learning, so I should not give too much information at a time.

I also know that there is a clear difference in meaning between the simple past and the present perfect. But I heard that some (a lot of?) Americans say "Did you eat lunch?" instead of "Have you eaten lunch?" A British person said Americans don't speak English. This is an example of the differences between British and American English.

By the way, Buntaro, do you teach English to foreign people?

Hirashin
 
①私は8年前から(=8年間)英語の勉強をしています。(7語)[8も綴りで書くこと][agoは用いない]
①I have studied/learned English for eight years.
First, let's split that up a little:
1A: I have studied English for eight years.
1B: I have learned English for eight years.

**And I'm assuming that's the 'correct' pair/contrast that you want, and that you do not mean this choice:
2A: I have studied English for eight years.
2B: I learned English for eight years. ( < and this seems just as awkward as 1B.)


Generally, if I received sentence 1B on a student paper, I would change that sentence in one way or another. Which brings up two questions: why would I change it--what are the underlying reasons that I don't like it, and next, what would I offer as alternatives (to 1B). Quickly, one alternative would be to change 1B into 1A--cross out 'learned', and add 'studied'.

The why: 1B seems a little awkward to me. Perhaps a more 'natural' way of saying it would be:
1C: I have been learning English for eight years.
This seems like a more natural sentence--something that you'd likely come across in normal usage.

But the meaning is different. In 1C, the meaning is that you've been learning English, and that you still are--that this action continues into the present. Whereas with 1B, that is uncertain, or is not the case--you are no longer studying English. IMO, a better way to express this--that you spent eight years learning it but that you are (perhaps) no longer learning it now, is:
1D: I have spent eight years learning English.
1E: I was a student of English for eight years.

I googled around a little, and found quite a bit on 'learn' vs. 'study'. Best/simplest idea is that studying is an action (so the "A" versions are correct), while learn is not something that you do--it is the result of an action, the act of studying..
3A: I studied English for eight years.
3B: I learned English for eight years. (same as 2B)

I'm not sure that any of this helps, or that it really explains why I'm uncomfortable with 1B/2B. There is probably some other obvious usage point concerning 'learn' in these examples that I'm not picking up on at the moment--maybe it's that time phrase, 'for eight years'.

Finally, note that 'learn' can be followed (correctly) by a "that + S" construction:
4: (After studying for eight years,) I (have) learned that English is impossible to master completely.
5: I (have) learned that at work, you just have to keep quiet during certain meetings.

But these, 4 and 5, are saying that you learned a specific piece of information, and here 'learn' seems synonymous with 'realize', rather than being the result of a process like language learning

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
JohnnyG, thank you very much for your detailed explanations about study/learn etc...

The why: 1B seems a little awkward to me. Perhaps a more 'natural' way of saying it would be:
1C: I have been learning English for eight years.
This seems like a more natural sentence--something that you'd likely come across in normal usage.

How about this?
I have been studying English for eight years.
If it's all right to use, is there a difference in meaning between the two?

Can you say these?
6A) I study English at high school.
6B) I learn English at high school.

According to your explanation, I guess 6B is awkward.

Hirashin
 
@hirashin First, my apologies, since I was editing my post while you were reading it!

How about this?
I have been studying English for eight years.
If it's all right to use, is there a difference in meaning between the two?

I think you're comparing that to: I have been learning English for eight years.

Generally, those two seem equivalent.

6A is fine, and I think 6B is much more acceptable (and common) than the examples above with 'learn'.

**

There's something going on here, that is not snapping into focus for me--so my attempts at explanation are probably all over the place. Sorry about that!
 
But most of our students are very slow at learning, so I should not give too much information at a time.

Present perfect has five meanings. You should teach the meanings in five different lessons. I agree that trying to teaching the five different meanings in one lesson would be a mistake.

But I heard that some (a lot of?) Americans say "Did you eat lunch?" instead of "Have you eaten lunch?"

You heard wrong. Both sentences are correct. The two meanings are different. Both sentences are used in American English.

A British person said Americans don't speak English.

That was not a nice thing to say.

By the way, Buntaro, do you teach English to foreign people?

I have taught English to students in Japan and China. Most recently I have been teaching students in China. (For teachers who live overseas, it is easy to find a job teaching college-age students in China. It is very difficult to find a job teaching college-age students in Japan.) Amazingly, Chinese and Japanese languages are a lot more different than I expected.

Can you say these?
6A) I study English at high school.
6B) I learn English at high school.

"Studying" and "learning" are different.

"Studying English" means doing the activities; going to class, doing activities in class, doing homework, practicing with classmates, etc.

"Learning English" means improving a person's English ability.

Unfortunately, my students are studying English but they are not learning English! (True story.)

Yes, (6B) sounds awkward. By the way, I say, "I study English in high school" not "I study English at high school" but I think this may be a difference between American English and British English. There are hundreds of differences between American English and British English and I spend a lot of time teaching these differences to my students.

Hirashin, do you teach British English in your classes? American English? Both? Neither? Or are you only concerned with helping your students pass Japanese university entrance exams?
 
Last edited:
Like buntaro says, the meanings of "learnt" and "study" are simply different. In some cases they could be interchangeable, like in these cases of "have been learning/studying" where if you are still in the process of study it makes little difference, but if you say "I have studied" it means you have simply stopped studying now, but if you said "I have learnt Japanese" it would imply that you were now a native-speaker like, fluent Japanese speaker.
 
Hirashin,

Michael has a good one. "I have learned Japanese" means my Japanese is very good, but "I have studied Japanese" does not mean my Japanese is very good.

Also, "learned" is American English whereas "learnt" is British English. (You can add this to your growing list of British/American English differences!)
 
Back
Top Bottom