6 Present Perfect:

Since and For

Bill Gates and

Microsoft

Focus on Grammar 3
Part IV, Unit 16
By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells
Copyright © 2006. Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Who
Who Is
Is Bill
Bill Gates?
Gates?
Bill Gates is one of the richest and most
successful business executives in the world.
Millions of people have used his computer
programs for the past three decades.

Bill Gates has always loved working with

computers. In fact, he has programmed
computers since his early teens.

He has been the CEO of Microsoft Corporation

since 1975. Since then, Bill Gates has written
several books and has given billions of dollars to
schools. For the last several years, he and his
wife Melinda have donated a substantial amount
of money to organizations working in global
health.
 Form
Form 11
The present perfect is formed with:

form of
have + past
participle

Bill Gates has been the CEO since 1975.

Many people have used Microsoft’s programs.
 Form
Form 22

Past participles can be regular or irregular.

irregular

The regular form of the past participle is

base form of verb + -d or -ed.

Gates has always loved

working with computers.
 Form
Form 33

Past participles can be regular or irregular.

There are many

irregular past participles.

Gates has been the CEO since 1975.

He and his wife have given lots of money to schools.

 Form
Form 44

Note these common irregular past participles.

participles

write – written
give
– given
be – been
see – seen
read –
read do
 Present
Present Perfect
Perfect
Use the present perfect to talk about something that
began in the past and continues into the present (and
may continue into the future).

Bill Gates has been CEO of Microsoft since

since1975.
1975.
now

past future
has been CEO

1975
 Using
Using Since
Since 11
Use the present perfect with since + point in time
to show when something started.

Bill Gates has written several books since

since 1975.
1975.

now

past future
has written several books

1975
 Using
Using Since
Since 22

Since can also introduce a time clause.

time clause

Gates has programmed computers since

since he
he was
was 13
13 years
years old.
old.
now

past future
has programmed computers

age 13
 Change the sentences to present
Practice 1 perfect. Add the since phrase in
parentheses and delete any past
tense time phrases.

Example: Maria was in the garden yesterday. (since 9 a.m.)

Maria has been in the garden since 9 a.m.

Bill Gates has written many e-mails since 1975.

1. Bill Gates wrote many e-mails yesterday. (since 1975)
They gave
2. They have agiven
lot ofabooks
lot of books to schools
to schools since
last year. 1990.
(since 1990)

3. II saw
havemany
seen friends
many friends since I came
last weekend. (since home.
I came home)

My sister
4. My sister read
has read
manymany articles
articles since last
last night. August.
(since last August)

My friend has worked at a pizza place since 2003.

5. My friend worked at a pizza place a year ago. (since 2003)
 Using
Using For
For
Use for + length of time to show how long
something has lasted.

Millions of people have used Gates’s

software for three
for the last the last three decades.
decades.
now

for three decades

past future
have used Gates’s software
 Since
Since and
and For
For

Note the difference between since and for .

since + point in for + length of

time time

five o’clock ten minutes

yesterday two days
last summer three decades
1996 many years
he was a child a long time
 Complete the sentences
Practice 2 with since or for.

Example:
Bill Gates has been married to Melinda
since
French Gates ___________ 1994.

1. Computers have been used in schools __________

for more
than a decade.
since
2. I have had a computer in my office __________ the mid-
1990s.
for
3. Many students have worked with computers __________
many years.
since
4. My computer hasn’t given me any problems __________
last year.
 References
References

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education and

its licensors. All rights reserved.