Unit 11: The bucket list
The present perfect with ‘ever’ and ‘never’
Select a unit
- 1 Nice to meet you!
- 2 What to wear
- 3 Like this, like that
- 4 The daily grind
- 5 Christmas every day
- 6 Great achievers
- 7 The Titanic
- 8 Travel
- 9 The big wedding
- 10 Sunny's job hunt
- 11 The bucket list
- 12 Moving and migration
- 13 Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
- 14 New Year, New Project
- 15 From Handel to Hendrix
- 16 What's the weather like?
- 17 The Digital Revolution
- 18 A detective story
- 19 A place to live
- 20 The Cult of Celebrity
- 21 Welcome to your new job
- 22 Beyond the planets
- 23 Great expectations!
- 24 Eco-tourism
- 25 Moving house
- 26 It must be love
- 27 Job hunting success... and failure
- 28 Speeding into the future
- 29 Lost arts
- 30 Tales of survival
Session 2
We use the present perfect in several ways. In this session we explain how to form present perfect sentences so that we can talk about our experiences in the past.
Session 2 score
0 / 32
- 0 / 10Activity 1
- 0 / 10Activity 2
- 0 / 0Activity 3
- 0 / 12Activity 4
- 0 / 0Activity 5
Activity 1
Past participles and present perfect
Looking back
Let's hear from people in London again, talking about their life experiences. Listen carefully to the verbs they use.
Listen to the audio and read the explanation

Joel
Hi, I'm Joel.
Rob
Hi Joel. Right, we're talking about life experiences, and we have a bucket list challenge. We're going to find out what you have done and what you haven't done in your life starting with: Have you ever climbed a mountain?
Joel
No I haven't. I like safer things. I'm scared of dying too much to climb a mountain.
Rob
Have you ever won a gold medal?
Joel
Not a gold medal but first prize. I'm a guitarist and I've, like, won competitions.
Rob
Have you ever learnt to play the piano?
Joel
I play the guitar but I have learned the piano - for about a year - but then I just decided the guitar was the way to go.
Rob
And have you ever been to the Antarctic?
Joel
No it's way too far, way too cold. I don't like it.
Rob
You wouldn't like to go?
Joel
No!
Rob
Have you ever met a famous footballer?
Joel
No I haven't, which is a bit ironic because I'm from Portugal and there's quite a few like Christiano Ronaldo, Figo…
Rob
And finally, have you ever run a marathon?
Joel
No I'm not much of a sports person. I'm a musician that's what I love doing. I don't like to move!
Rob
Brilliant. Great answers. Thank you very much.
Joel
Cheers.
Sadhvi
Hi I'm Sadhvi.
Rob
Hi Sadhvi. We have a bucket list challenge. Six things I'm going to ask you about. Starting with, number one, have you ever climbed a mountain?
Sadhvi
No I don't think I have actually.
Rob
Number two. Have you ever won a gold medal?
Sadhvi
No I haven't, sadly.
Rob
Moving onto number three. Have you ever learnt to play the piano?
Sadhvi
Yes I have learnt to play the piano – when I was much younger.
Rob
Brilliant. Are you good now?
Sadhvi
No I don't play any more sadly.
Rob
Never mind. How about this one – have you ever been to the Antarctic?
Sadhvi
No I haven't - I would love to though.
Rob
Have you ever met a famous footballer?
Sadhvi
I saw Rio Ferdinand at my local curry house not so long ago.
Rob
And number six, have you ever run a marathon?
Sadhvi
No, definitely not.
Rob
Thank you.
Liam
My name is Liam.
Rob
Hi there Liam. Right, I'm going to ask you about a few things on our bucket list to see if you've done them or not. So let's start with number one, have you ever climbed a mountain?
Liam
I have climbed a mountain.
Rob
Which one?
Liam
Snowdon [in Wales] Yeah, I've climbed Snowdon.
Rob
Next thing. Have you ever won a gold medal?
Liam
I've never won a gold medal. I suppose I have won a gold medal but it's kind of a very informal gold medal at a stag do.
Rob
Next one. Have you ever learnt to play the piano?
Liam
I have never learnt to play the piano. I'd like to, I’d like to, it's a big task but I'd like to.
Rob
Have you ever been to the Antarctic?
Liam
I've never been to the Antarctic, no.
Rob
Have you ever met a famous footballer?
Liam
I've seen famous footballers but I don't think I've actually met one. One day maybe yeah, you never know.
Rob
And finally, have you ever run a marathon?
Liam
I've never run a marathon, but maybe I will in the future.
Rob
Thank you for speaking to us.
Nicky
Hi I'm Nicky.
Rob
Hello Nicky. Right, we've got our bucket list challenge here. First question for you, have you ever climbed a mountain?
Nicky
I've never climbed a mountain.
Rob
And you wouldn't ever climb a mountain?
Nicky
No, absolutely not!
Rob
Have you ever won a gold medal?
Nicky
No, never. Maybe at school but not recently, I've not taken part in the Olympics!
Rob
Have you ever learnt to play the piano?
Nicky
I played the keyboard at school. I wasn't very good so no, I can't play the piano.
Rob
Next question. Have you been to the Antarctic?
Nicky
I've not been to the Antarctic although I would like to go.
Rob
Have you ever met a famous footballer?
Nicky
I've never met a footballer.
Rob
Would you like to?
Nicky
I wouldn't mind!
Rob
Finally, have you ever run a marathon?
Nicky
I've never run a marathon but I would like to run a marathon, in my five-year plan, but I need to run 5K first and then I'll move on. But I would like to.
Rob
Good luck with that and thank you for talking to us.
Nicky
Thank you!
Explanation
Did you understand what they said? We heard people talking about things they have - and haven't - done in their lives. They don’t say when these things happened, because they are interested in the experience, not the time or date.
For example:
Sara and Carl have travelled all over the world.
I have read that book.
We sometimes say how many times the experience has happened.
For example:
I've met her three times, I think.
Form
Positive
The present perfect is made with subject + have/has + past participle.
I've taught English in Italy and in Russia.
Johnny Depp has starred in lots of brilliant films.
Negative
The negative present perfect is made with subject + have/has not + past participle.
I haven't seen the first Bond film.
Questions
Present perfect yes / no questions are made from have/has + subject + past participle?
Present perfect question word questions are made from question word + have/has + subject + past participle?
Ever and never
We often use the present perfect with the words ever or never. Ever mean at any time in someone’s life. We usually use ever in questions.
'Has he ever worked in China?' 'No, he hasn't.'
Never means not at any time in someone's life.
I've never seen the first Bond film.
Sometimes we ask questions with never. Often we do this to express surprise.
Have you never eaten a banana?
Past participles
The past participle is the third form of the verb. For example, with the verb to see, the three forms are: see, saw, seen.
We use the past participle in present perfect sentences with ever and never.
Have you ever eaten sushi?
I've never seen the first Bond film.
Regular and irregular verbs
Many verbs are regular. The past participle ends with -ed
look - looked - looked
climb - climbed - climbed
want - wanted - wanted
Some verbs are irregular. Here are some of them:
become - became - become
eat - ate - eaten
forget - forgot - forgotten
give - gave - given
go - went - gone / been
have - had - had
know - knew - known
meet - met - met
read - read - read
ride - rode - ridden
run - ran - run
say - said - said
see - saw - seen
sell - sold - sold
sing - sang - sung
win - won - won
write - wrote - written
Some verbs have two possible forms for the past participle. Here are two examples:
learn - learnt/learned - learnt/learned
dream - dreamt/dreamed - dreamt/dreamed
To do
Try this activity to test your knowledge of regular and irregular past participles. All of them appear in this unit. There are 10 questions - how many will you get right?
Past participles
10 Questions
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 1 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 2 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 3 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 4 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 5 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 6 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 7 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 8 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 9 of 10
Help
Activity
Look at the verbs and choose the correct past participle
Hint
For regular verbs, the past participle is made by adding –ed to the root verb. For irregular verbs, have a look at the grammar box.Question 10 of 10
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Next
We've learnt about talking in the present perfect but next we find out how to ask questions in the same tense. Off we go then!
Session Grammar
Regular and irregular verbs
Many verbs are regular. The past participle ends with -edlook - looked - looked
climb - climbed - climbed
want - wanted - wantedSome verbs are irregular. Here are some of them:
become - became - become
eat - ate - eaten
forget - forgot - forgotten
give - gave - given
go - went - gone / been
have - had - had
know - knew - known
meet - met - met
read - read - read
ride - rode - ridden
run - ran - run
say - said - said
see - saw - seen
sell - sold - sold
sing - sang - sung
win - won - won
write - wrote - written
Session Vocabulary
the Antarctic
The very cold region that is the most southern part of the worldbucket list
a list of the things you want to do before you reach a certain age, or before you dieclimb
to go up somethingmarathon
a race where people run over a distance of 42 kilometresmedal
a small flat piece of metal that you can win in a competition, or for doing something very brave