I had a question recently asking about how to use the present perfect without durational adverbs, such as “for” or “since”. There are some examples of this in The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide, but I thought it would be useful to expand on the concept.
Present perfect time with action verbs, such as “I have cooked dinner.”, are easier to define here, as we can fairly simply say the action itself happened in the past but is relevant now.
But how does this work when looking at states, feelings and senses, which do not necessarily have a clear point of completion? For example, “I have felt better.” or “I have been happy.” Let’s have look.
The Present Perfect Without Adverbs
First of all, we’ll cover actions. In general, when we use the present perfect without an adverb or adverbial of time, we are saying the past event is complete but has relevance to the present. The present perfect does not necessarily define exactly when the action was complete (other than in the past), but it does add the information that it has a present connection (though this is often because the action was completed recently).
- I have cooked dinner. = The dinner was cooked in the past and is ready now.
- She has studied hard for her exams. = She has studied hard in the recent past, which has made her ready for the current exams.
The Present Perfect with States, Senses and Feelings
With sentences that include abstract verbs, such as “to be”, “to feel” and “to have”, there is not a clearly defined action and we do not always consider it as something that starts and stops or is complete at specific times. The connection between past and present may therefore be less obvious. The present perfect merely tells us that these verbs were true in the past and this is connected to now. The full meaning will require some interpretation, because not all present perfect states or feelings carry the same implication. However, with regards adverbs, much of the time when we use the present perfect for states, it works the same way as if we added “before” or “before now”.
- I have been happy [before].
Often, a present perfect clause will be used this way to create a contrast to the present; that is, the implication is that as the feeling or state in the past is not the same now.
- I have felt better. = I felt better in the past than I do now.
- I have been happy. = A reflection as I am not happy now.
On the other hand, we also use the present perfect with states to demonstrate experience that can continue to be built upon. This is generally the case when the sentence relates to some kind of experience as opposed to feelings.
- I have been to thirteen countries. = I have visited thirteen countries before now, and may visit more.
- She has seen some wonderful paintings. = She has seen some wonderful paintings up to now and may see more.
Note how this meaning can also be achieved with states with additional information – “I have been happy many times.” may imply a reflection on numerous happy past occasions which may still be added to, rather than in contrast to now.
I hope this helps clarify some of the implications of present perfect state verbs without additional information, though as you can see it requires some interpretation and nuance. Do let me know if you have any questions.
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Hi Phil,
Isn’t it a case where present perfect simple with stative verbs (including states, senses and feelings) will mean the state started in the past continues in the present? Examples include:
I have had a cold for two weeks (state of “having” a cold – started in the past and is still ongoing in the present)
She has been in England for six months (state of “being” or “existing” in Englang – started in the past and is still ongoing in the present)
Mary has loved chocolate since she was a little girl (state of “loving” chocolate since young, and that this state still continues in the present)
Regards,
Shizuka
Hi Shizuka,
Yes, this is definitely also possible, and this gets into the case where we have adverbs that give more context. So when we are dealing with these verbs and have ‘for’, ‘since’ (or other adverbs like ‘always’) then we get that meaning, tying a past state/feeling to an ongoing meaning. Though this is as opposed to the style we were discussing where we don’t have that additional context; without those for/since connections we would generally default to a ‘before’ idea:
I have had a cold. (recently; this could be ongoing but more likely would be used to explain past behaviour, e.g. why I was not at work)
She has been to England. (before)
Mary has loved chocolate. (at some point; this one’s a bit more of a stretch, but would be more clearly different if we said something like “Mary has loved chocolate on the occasions when she tried it.”)
Phil