⏳ Grammar B1-3: Present perfect vs past simple
The decision material of the Fleydo B1 grammar series: present perfect or past simple, the contrast that decides more B1 marks than any other. The opening image is a pair of true sentences about the same art project — I finished it on Tuesday, a dated fact sealed inside last week, and I’ve finished it, news the present can still feel — with a timeline that draws the past simple as a sealed, named box and the present perfect as a line that reaches NOW. Both machines go on the bench side by side: a full comparison table of statements, negatives, questions and short answers, plus the time words each tense loves, and the half-built-perfect slip (has wrote). A four-step checklist — hunt for the time first — is walked through three worked runs, including the conversation swing: Have you ever been on TV? answered with the past simple and a date. The compare-and-verdict pair is the famous one — I’ve lost my keys against I lost my keys — with the recency rule attached: five minutes ago is still named time. A 95-word escape-room dialogue between Jade and Carlos shows the swing breathing in real talk, every tense tappable with its reason. Practice runs to thirty-one multiple-choice items in four sets, all explained, plus twelve time expressions to sort into sealed and open boxes, six real learner errors to repair, and three traps: the perfect with named time, the answer that must drop out of the perfect, and this morning changing tense at noon. Teacher notes give a 45-minute sequence, the box-and-arrow board move, the calendar-pointing rescue and Cambridge B1 Preliminary relevance.
Lesson Plan
- Two true sentences about one project: I finished it on Tuesday, and I’ve finished it
- A timeline: the past simple lives in a sealed, named box; the present perfect reaches NOW
- The rule that runs the lesson: find the time before you touch the verb
Key Vocabulary
Grammar Points
- Named, finished time takes the past simple: I saw that film yesterday · we met in 2022 · she broke it five minutes ago
- Open or unnamed time takes the present perfect: I’ve seen that film · Have you ever…? · I haven’t finished yet
- Open containers count with the perfect: this week, this term, so far, in my life — until the clock seals them
- The conversation swing: the perfect opens a topic, the past simple asks for its details — When did you go?
- After have / has only the third form stands: has written, has gone — never has wrote, has went
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