Independent Learning 2-Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense

Stative Verbs
Some English verbs have stative meanings. They describe states: conditions or situations that
exist. When verbs have stative meanings, they are usually not used in continuous tenses.
Example:
Yum! This food tastes good. I like it very much. 

A verb such as taste has a stative meaning, but also a continuous meaning. It could describe an

action that is progressive.
Example:
The chef is in his kitchen. He is tasting the sauce.
tasting describes the action of the chef putting something in his mouth and actively testing its
flavor.
Past Tenses
Disclaimer: When you are learning this section, you are assumed to have learned about the
regular and irregular verbs in high school. If you have forgotten about the regular and
irregular verbs, please reread your high school textbooks.

Simple Past Tense

The simple past indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a particular time in the
past. If a sentence contains when and has the simple past in both clauses, the action in
the when  clause happens first.

Examples:
"John walked to school yesterday." This sentence shows that walking occurred and finished
yesterday.
"Rita stood under a tree when it began to rain." This sentence shows that raining happened first
and shortly after, Rita stood under a tree.
Past Continuous Tense
It is used to indicates actions that occurred at the same time, but one action began earlier and
was in progress when the other action occurred. 

Examples:
"I was walking down the street when it began to rain." 1st action: I was walking down the street.
2nd action: It began to rain.
"At eight o'clock last night, I was studying." My studying began before 8:00, was in progress at
that time, and probably continued.

Sometimes the past continuous is used in both parts of a sentence when two actions are in
progress simultaneously.
Example:
While I was studying in one room of our apartment, my roommate was having a party in the
other room.
Present Perfect Tense
The present perfect expresses the idea that something happened (or never happened) before now,
at an unspecified time in the past. The exact time it happened is not important. The adverbs ever,
never, already, yet, still, and just are frequently used with the present perfect.

Examples:
They have moved into a new apartment.
Have you ever visited  Mexico?

If there is a specific mention of time, the simple past is used: 

Example:
They moved into a new apartment last month.

The present perfect also expresses the repetition of activity before now. The exact time of each
repetition is not important.

Example:
"We have had four tests so far this semester." Notice that so far is frequently used with the
present perfect.

The present perfect, when used with for or since also expresses a situation that began in the past
and continues to the present.

Examples:
"I have been here since seven o'clock."
"We have been here for two weeks"
In the examples. notice the difference between since and for:
since + a particular time
for +  duration of time