{"id":4717,"date":"2015-02-23T08:26:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T13:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=4717"},"modified":"2015-02-11T15:31:48","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T20:31:48","slug":"deconstructing-the-grammar-of-the-present-perfect-using-classic-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/deconstructing-the-grammar-of-the-present-perfect-using-classic-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Deconstructing the Grammar of the Present Perfect Using Classic Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_4719\" style=\"width: 425px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/58646546@N00\/3974422487\" aria-label=\"TransparentEnglish U2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4719\" class=\" wp-image-4719\"  alt=\"Image of U2 via John Athayde \/ flickr\" width=\"415\" height=\"311\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4719\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of U2 via John Athayde \/ flickr<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As any student (or teacher) of English can verify, the present perfect tense can be a rather tricky and frustrating topic in English grammar. There are a couple reasons why this is the case. First, semantically, the present perfect tense overlaps significantly with the simple past and simple present tenses, and thus it\u2019s easy to get by without it. Second, the present perfect involves complicated grammar, which further discourages students from using it.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it\u2019s important that students understand how to use the present perfect tense, as it is widely used in both spoken and written English. As such, it is featured in several popular songs. Here are some classic tunes that can serve as a gentle, enjoyable way to learn about the grammatical intricacies of the present perfect tense.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The basics of the present perfect: <em>I\u2019ve Been Everywhere, <\/em>Johnny Cash<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"J-O-H-N-N-Y C-A-S-H - I&#039;ve Been Everywhere - With Lyrics\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ov4epAJRPMw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Even if you\u2019re not a fan of country, Johnny Cash\u2019s songs are great for English language learners, as he generally speaks slowly and clearly. And his 1996 hit \u201cI\u2019ve Been Everywhere\u201d, in which he lists the various places that he\u2019s visited, has plenty of great examples of the present perfect tense. In it, Cash highlights the very common use of the present perfect to talk about <em>past experience, <\/em>and illustrates the grammar of the present perfect as it is typically used in affirmative sentences in spoken English.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Key lyrics<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p><em>I&#8217;ve been<\/em> everywhere, man<\/p>\n<p><em>I&#8217;ve been<\/em> everywhere, man<\/p>\n<p><em>Crossed<\/em> the deserts bare, man<\/p>\n<p><em>I&#8217;ve breathed<\/em> the mountain air, man<\/p>\n<p>Of travel <em>I&#8217;ve had<\/em> my share, man<\/p>\n<p><em>I&#8217;ve been<\/em> everywhere<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Using the present perfect in negative sentences: <em>I Still Haven\u2019t Found What I\u2019m Looking For, <\/em>U2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=O_ISAntOom0\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=O_ISAntOom0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A favorite among English teachers, U2\u2019s \u201cI Still Haven\u2019t Found What I\u2019m Looking For\u201d has ample instances of the present perfect tense in action. It\u2019s a good song for reviewing the use of the present perfect to describe something that is ongoing &#8212; the singer\u2019s search began in the past, and is still happening in the present. It also gives a good example of the present perfect in negative form (i.e., <em>haven\u2019t <\/em>found), as well as its use in conjunction with adverbs of time (i.e., \u201cstill\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Key lyrics<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p><em>I have climbed <\/em>the highest mountains<\/p>\n<p><em>I have run <\/em>through the fields<\/p>\n<p><em>I have run, I have crawled<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I have scaled<\/em> these city walls<\/p>\n<p>Only to be with you<\/p>\n<p>But<em> I still haven&#8217;t found <\/em><\/p>\n<p>What I&#8217;m looking for<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Using the present perfect in questions: <em>Have You Ever Seen The Rain?, <\/em>Creedence Clearwater Revival<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CCR-Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Lyrics\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xDGuyGPJ_JE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Forming questions in English is hard, and this is especially true when making questions with the already-complicated grammar of the present perfect tense. The popular song \u201cHave You Ever Seen The Rain?\u201d by Creedence Clearwater Revival is a relatively painless way to demonstrate how to use the present perfect in questions. In addition to illustrating how questions are formed (i.e., the subject \u201cyou\u201d and the auxiliary \u201chave\u201d switch places), it also demonstrates the use of <em>ever, <\/em>a popular adverb of time that is used when asking questions in the present perfect tense. As an added bonus, it\u2019s also a great way to introduce conversations in which you ask your students (or friends) what they have or haven\u2019t done in their lives.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Key lyrics<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p>I wanna know, <em>have you ever seen<\/em> the rain?<\/p>\n<p>I wanna know, <em>have you ever seen<\/em> the rain<\/p>\n<p>Comin&#8217; down on a sunny day?<\/p>\n<p>These classic songs are a fun, engaging way to introduce the difficult grammar of the present perfect tense, including its use in negative sentences and in questions. For more modern examples of the present perfect tense in songs, consider listening to Rihanna\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SJc8lLP8geg\">Where Have You Been All My Life<\/a> or Michael Buble\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oBpvsSeBh54\">I Just Haven\u2019t Met You Yet<\/a>. And don\u2019t forget to sing along &#8212; in doing so, you\u2019ll get in some valuable speaking practice, too.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/paul_thumbnail.jpg\" aria-label=\"Paul Thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-4718 alignleft\"  alt=\"paul_thumbnail\" width=\"172\" height=\"177\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/paul_thumbnail.jpg\"><\/a>Paul is an English teacher living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He writes on behalf of <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com\"><strong><em>Language Trainers<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>, <\/em><\/strong><em>a language tutoring service offering personalized course packages to individuals and groups. You can check out their free <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com\/level-tests.php\"><em>English level tests<\/em><\/a><em> and other language-learning resources on their website. Feel free to visit their <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LanguageTrainers\"><em>Facebook page<\/em><\/a><em> or contact paul@languagetrainers.com with any questions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"263\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2-350x263.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/02\/TransparentEnglish_u2.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>As any student (or teacher) of English can verify, the present perfect tense can be a rather tricky and frustrating topic in English grammar. There are a couple reasons why this is the case. First, semantically, the present perfect tense overlaps significantly with the simple past and simple present tenses, and thus it\u2019s easy to&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/deconstructing-the-grammar-of-the-present-perfect-using-classic-songs\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,134956,135139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4717","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-english-grammar","category-english-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4721,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717\/revisions\/4721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}