Unit 12: Moving and migration
Present perfect with 'for' and 'since'
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
In this unit we've already heard from people talking about our emotional move to the BBC World Service's new home. In this session we'll be looking at the grammar you can use to talk about this kind of experience: the present perfect with the words for and since. We'll also hear from someone who has worked at the BBC since 1991!
Session 2 score
0 / 15
- 0 / 7Activity 1
- 0 / 4Activity 2
- 0 / 4Activity 3
- 0 / 0Activity 4
Activity 3
Changing jobs
Different jobs, different experience
So far in this session we have learned about someone who's worked at the BBC for a long time. Now it's time to hear from someone who joined the BBC more recently. Sourena is a broadcast journalist, and he's going to tell us a bit about his experience.
Listen to him speak and see if you can work out the link between Iran, fashion and the BBC. And don't forget to listen out for the present perfect!
Listen to the audio and complete the activity
Sourena, BBC broadcast journalist
Hi. My name is Sourena and I'm from Iran. I'm a broadcast journalist, but before that I worked as a fashion designer for five years in Iran.
When I was in fashion, I had my own label. So, I was responsible for designing, making and selling all my clothes and accessories. It was a stressful but exciting experience. Now, I’ve worked for the BBC since 2012. So, I've worked here for about three years.
Since I joined the BBC, my working life has changed a bit. As a journalist, I present, record, edit, upload things to our website. The most exciting thing I've done as a BBC journalist was when I reported on the Oscars live on camera. It was a brilliant opportunity to use my fashion knowledge as a journalist.
Download
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The link between the three pictures was... Sourena! He's from Iran, and before he joined the BBC he worked as a fashion designer.
Did you hear the things Sourena talked about using the present perfect?
To do
He talked about his experience using the present perfect in different ways. We've already seen some of these, with for and since and time references. But there was one more way that we can use the present perfect that we heard.
Try this activity and see if you get it right!
Sentences about Sourena
4 Questions
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
Listen to the audio for what Sourena did before joining the BBCHelp
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
Try to remember what kind of time references follow the word 'for'Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
What's the name of the famous film and cinema awards event?Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Sentences about Sourena
4 Questions
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
What's the name of the famous film and cinema awards event?Question 1 of 4
Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
What's the name of the famous film and cinema awards event?Question 2 of 4
Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
What's the name of the famous film and cinema awards event?Question 3 of 4
Help
Activity
Match the first half of the sentence with the correct second half to describe true facts about Sourena
Hint
What's the name of the famous film and cinema awards event?Question 4 of 4
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
So Sourena used the present perfect with a reference to an event to describe his experience. He said:
Since I joined the BBC, my working life has changed...
The reference to the event here is in the past simple, but he could also say this:
Since joining the BBC, my working life has changed...
So with since we can use a past simple statement or a gerund and then use the present perfect. Here are two more examples:
Since I moved to the UK, my English has improved a lot.
Since moving to London, I have started to spend more money on rent.
Next
Right, since you started this session, you've heard a lot about the present perfect. It's time to study for a little bit longer. 6 Minute Grammar with Neil and Sophie will help you make sense of what you've learned!
Session Grammar
The present perfect is often used to talk about situations that started in the past and are continuing now.
We talk about how long using the words for and since.
for = throughout (a period of time)
They've been married for six months.
since = from (an exact point in time) until now
They've been married since March.
We can also use present perfect + since + past simple.
I haven't seen Tanya since we graduated.
The present perfect is made with subject + have/has (positive) or haven't/hasn't (negative) + past participle.
Session Vocabulary
broadcast journalist
a journalist who works on news reports that are published electronically, on TV or radiolabel
(here) the brand name of a fashion designeraccessories
(here) small items of clothing or jewellery that can be added to an outfit to make it more complete or attractivestressful
causing stressupload
(here) put documents, including text, audio and video, on to a websitethe Oscars
the American Academy Awards, celebrating achievement in film and cinemabrilliant
(here) very good