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Activities: “How to use the present perfect in English?”

By: revel arroway
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These activities are part of our English Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

Activities: “How to use the present perfect in English?”

Peter has had a busy day! Use this description of everything he did to answer the questions below:

A drawing of a smiling white man. He is balding, has blue eyes, and is wearing a blue shirt.

Peter is a busy man. He works for the city as supervisor for Parks and Gardens. Here is a page from his schedule today:

Time
Activity
Notes

8:00am

Check water system in Bryant Park

done, leak fixed

9:00am

Meet with Bob, the tree caretaker

done, Bob will prune tomorrow

10:00am

Contact greenhouse: flowers ready?

not done, the flowers aren’t ready

11:00am

Go to office, make phone calls

done, called another greenhouse

12:00pm

Lunch with Susan

not done, Susan can’t make it

1:00pm

Meet with Mayor

done, plans for July 4th made

2:00pm

Speak at Northbrook Grade School

done, kids loved the talk about bees

3:00pm

Check on municipal apple orchard

done, have to buy fertilizer

4:00pm

Go to office, paperwork

done, called suppliers, did books

5:00pm

Pick up shirts at dry cleaners

done, clean shirt for the party!

6:00pm

Housewife’s Association dinner party

done, was a nice dinner

Peter has several conversations today. Based on the time of the conversation and Peter’s schedule, can you use the present perfect to complete the conversations? The verb you should use is in parenthesis.

Conversation 1: The Mayor calls Peter at 11:00 a.m. with some questions

  • Mayor: Good morning Peter. I was wondering? Did you check on the water leak at Bryant Park today?

  • Peter: Oh yes, I (call) the waterworks and they are going to fix it this morning.

    → It isn’t fixed yet, but they will come to fix it later.

  • Mayor: That’s good. And do we have flowers for the July 4th celebration?

  • Peter: I called the greenhouse, but the flowers (not arrive) yet. I’m going to call another greenhouse right now.

    → Right now, the flowers aren’t available, they should have arrived before now!

  • Mayor: Excellent. We want the park beautiful for the 4th! Are we still meeting at 1:00?

  • Peter: Yes, I (put) it into my schedule for today.

    → Peter may add more plans to his schedule later in the day, but he has written the meeting down.

Conversation 2: Peter’s wife, Susan, calls him at 11:30

  • Susan: Hey honey, how your day (be)?

    → The day isn’t over yet, Susan wants an update.

  • Peter: I (have) a lot of work to do today. I’ve been to Bryant Park, I (speak) with the Mayor, and I’m trying to find some flowers from a new greenhouse. How about you? How your day (go)?

    → Peter tells Susan what he has done up to now.

  • Susan: That’s why I called. My mother (cut) herself just now and I am taking her to the doctor. So, we can’t have lunch today.

    → Susan’s mother, Muriel, just cut her hand and Susan has to change her present plans.

  • Peter: Oh, that’s too bad. I hope it’s not serious!

  • Susan: I think it’s just a scratch, but she (call) me twice, she thinks it’s bad, so best to have the doctor look at it.

    → Muriel called Susan two times and Susan thinks she may call again!

Conversation 3: Peter calls Susan at 4:30

  • Peter: Hi Susan. I just (finish) all of my phone calls and I’ll be home in about 30 minutes.

    → Peter has finished just moments ago and predicts a future action.

  • Susan: Oh, that’s good. We need to get ready for the dinner party this evening.

  • Peter: Yes, I already (tell) the Mayor I’ll be there.

    → The Mayor expects Peter to be at the dinner because of this information.

  • Susan: How did the talk go at the school?

  • Peter: I never (have) so much fun. The kids really liked the talk about bees. I don’t think they ever (think) that bees are more than just bugs that sting.

    → Peter’s past experience wasn’t as fun as this last school talk.

  • Susan: Ha, kids are funny! Oh, did you pick up your shirts at the cleaners?

  • Peter: Yes, I already (pick) them up. I went out on my lunch hour to get them. See you in half an hour.

    → Peter got the shirts before Susan expected him to.

Conversation 4: The dinner party

  • Mayor: Busy day today, right Peter?

  • Peter: Oh, yes, I never (have) such a busy day before.

  • Peter: Well, I (contact) three different greenhouses today, and all of them say the same thing, it’s going to be hard to get flowers.

  • Mayor: Oh, well, tomorrow I’ll make some calls. I (meet) the owner of a new greenhouse in Taylorsville, he may be able to help us out.

    → Thanks to the past meeting, the Mayor feels comfortable contacting the new owner now.

  • Peter: you (drive) out to the municipal apple orchard this week?

  • Mayor: No, I (not see) it yet. Is there a problem?

    → Up to now, the Mayor has no visual information.

  • Peter: The apple trees look a little sad. I (order) some fertilizer to see if that will help.

  • Mayor: That’s good. Those trees (have) problems in the past. I’m sure you can fix it.

    → There were tree problems in the past and they might happen again now or in the future.

  • Peter: Thanks. I (do) some research and all the experts say fertilizer is the answer to the problem.

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