Present Perfect vs Past Simple - advanced exercises

TIME INDICATORS

PRESENT PERFECT: ever, never, just, already, still, since 1990, in this year, in this month, recently, up to now, to date, today, this morning, this week, this month, for six minutes, for eight weeks.

PAST SIMPLE: yesterday, last Monday, last June, when I was young, a few days ago, in 1990, on Friday, at 3 o'clock, during Christmas, in the summer.

EXERCISE

V: Hi Sue, I haven't seen you for ages!

S: Hi, Victoria, nice to see you again. No, you're right, I haven't been in touch with anyone recently.

V: So what have you been up to?

S: You know I left my job in January so that I could go freelance as a graphic designer?

V: Yes, I remember you talked a lot about that last year.

S: Well, it has been really difficult year so far. I have never done anything like this before and it is much harder than I has imagined. Have you ever been self-employed?

COMMENT: We often hear "I ever imagined", however, in writing we should use the auxiliary verb.

V: No, never, although I have often thought about it. So why has it been so difficult?

S: There is a lot of insecurity. At the beginning I have had two or three good clients. These are the people that I have known for many years. They are still with me. But apart from that nothing really.

V: What about advertising in the specialist magazines?

S: Yes, I have already done that. I put an advert in Design Monthly a couple of weeks ago but there were only a few replies.

COMMENT: We sometimes hear "I've done something a few minutes ago/a few weeks ago/a couple of months ago". However, when a particular time is mentioned we should use the past simple in writing.

But I have a new website and I'm quite optimistic about using it to generate business. I finished it just last week. It's optimized for search engines so that people can find me more easily. I have had quite a few hints already, so things might improve soon.

The concept of unspecified time can be quite confusing for many learners. You can find an in-depth explanation of it here:

https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html