1. Present Perfect: Since and For6
Present Perfect: Since and For
Bill Gates and Microsoft
Focus on Grammar 3
Part IV, Unit 16
By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Who Is Bill Gates?
Bill Gates is one of the richest and most successful business executives in the world. Millions of people have used his computer programs for the past three decades.
Bill Gates has always loved working with computers. In fact, he has programmed computers since his early teens.
He has been the CEO of Microsoft Corporation since Since then, Bill Gates has written several books and has given billions of dollars to schools. For the last several years, he and his wife Melinda have donated a substanial amount of money to organizations working in global health.

3. + Form 1 form of have past participle
The present perfect is formed with:
form of have +
past participle
Bill Gates has been the CEO since 1975.
Many people have used Microsoft’s programs.

4. Form 2 Past participles can be regular or irregular.
The regular form of the past participle is
base form of verb + -d or -ed.
Gates has always loved working with computers.

5. irregular past participles.
Form 3
Past participles can be regular or irregular.
There are many
irregular past participles.
Gates has been the CEO since 1975.
He and his wife have given lots of money to schools.

6. Form 4
Note these common irregular past participles.
write – written give – given be – been see – seen read – read do – done

7. Present Perfect
Use the present perfect to talk about something that began in the past and continues into the present (and may continue into the future).
Bill Gates has been CEO of Microsoft since 1975.
since 1975.
now
past
future
has been CEO
1975

8. has written several books
Using Since 1
Use the present perfect with since + point in time to show when something started.
Bill Gates has written several books since 1975.
since 1975.
now
past
future
has written several books
1975

9. Using Since 2 Since can also introduce a time clause. time clause
Gates has programmed computers since he was 13 years old.
since he was 13 years old.
now
past
future
has programmed computers
age 13

10. Practice 1 Maria was in the garden yesterday. (since 9 a.m.)
Change the sentences to present perfect. Add the since phrase in parentheses and delete any past tense time phrases.
Practice 1
Example:
Maria was in the garden yesterday. (since 9 a.m.)
Maria has been in the garden since 9 a.m.
1. Bill Gates wrote many s yesterday. (since 1975)
Bill Gates has written many s since 1975.
They have given a lot of books to schools since 1990.
2. They gave a lot of books to schools last year. (since 1990)
I have seen many friends since I came home.
3. I saw many friends last weekend. (since I came home)
My sister has read many articles since last August.
4. My sister read many articles last night. (since last August)
5. My friend worked at a pizza place a year ago. (since 2003)
My friend has worked at a pizza place since 2003.

11. Using For
Use for + length of time to show how long something has lasted.
Millions of people have used Gates’s software for the last three decades.
for the last three decades.
now
for three decades
past
future
have used Gates’s software

12. Since and For five o’clock ten minutes yesterday two days last summer
Note the difference between since and for .
since + point in time
for + length of time
five o’clock
yesterday
last summer
1996
he was a child
ten minutes
two days
three decades
many years
a long time

13. Practice 2
Complete the sentences with since or for.
Example:
Bill Gates has been married to Melinda French Gates ___________ 1994.
since
1. Computers have been used in schools __________ more than a decade.
for
2. I have had a computer in my office __________ the mid-1990s.
since
3. Many students have worked with computers __________ many years.
for
4. My computer hasn’t given me any problems __________ last year.
since

14. References
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