| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about prepositions that we use in common present perfect tense sentences. I'm going to talk about four prepositions, and how we commonly use them. Let's get started. |
| Okay. First, I want to practice a few examples with the preposition "to." "To." So, we use "to" -- one of the uses of "to" is to express motion, or to refer to some motion happening. So, we use "to" in present perfect tense expressions when we're talking about traveling or we're talking about movement from one place to another. So, these are a few common verbs that we use "to" with. Of course, for today's lesson, I'm focusing on present perfect tense. But, of course, you can use these verbs in other tenses with this preposition "to." |
| So some very common examples are, "I have been to [place]," or "I have traveled to [place]," "I have driven to [place]." So, for this lesson, these are all the past participle forms of the verbs. But, again, you can use, for example, past tense or a future tense expression, as well. |
| Another key point is when you use the preposition "to," you need to use a specific place name. For example, "I've been to China," or "I've traveled to France," or "I've driven to school." So, we're using a specific place name here. A common error, a common mistake, that I hear among learners is that people will use the word "there" here. Like, "I have been to there," that's incorrect. We need to use a specific place name here. We can't use "there," and a preposition. If you want to say "there," just remove the preposition. "I've been there," "Oh, I've traveled there," "I've driven there." And then, it's perfect. So, again, "to," plus a specific place. Or "there," with no preposition. |
| Another situation where you'll use "to" is when you're talking about movement of like objects as well. So, in this case, digital objects. We can imagine "files" as digital objects. For example, "He has sent the files to the clients." So, here again, with this "to," we're talking about some movement. In the first example, it was movement of people. Like an actual body or bodies moving from place to place. In this example, we're talking about data or we're talking about objects moving from place to place. So, with a verb like maybe "send," in this case, "sent," the past participle form, we use "to" to talk about that. So, the item, or items, in this case, that is moving, and the direction "here." So, we're marking this destination and we're showing the movement, the relationship here with "to." So, we use "to" to express motion to talk about movement. And, we use "to" before the destination, the place where we're going. Or, in this case, the person receiving something. |
| Okay. So, now, let's go to "at." The second part I want to talk about is "at." We use "at" to mark the location of something. The place where an action occurs, the place where something happens. So, there are many different verbs that we can use with "at." And, similar to "to," we follow "at" with a specific location. So, again, we don't say "at there," we can't use that pattern. We need to use "at," plus a specific place name, or like a city name, country name, and so on. |
| So, some examples of verbs you might use are "study," or "see," or "stay." So, these are verbs that aren't relating like to movement. We're not moving from one place to another, and objects aren't moving from one place to another place. Rather, these verbs are talking about actions were like, we, as people, people remain in place, or as objects, the object remains in place. There's not a movement, really. So, when we want to express that, we put the verb -- in this case, past participle form, and then we follow that or we follow the verb phrase with "at," and connect it to the place. So, for example, "I have studied at ABC College." "I have studied at ABC College." So, I cannot use "to" here. "I have studied to ABC College," is incorrect because this verb is not indicating motion in some way. It's "study." So, "study" is the action, and we're talking about the place where the action happened. So, there's not like -- we're not reporting on movement or motion of any kind. |
| Another example. "We haven't seen a basketball game at the city arena." "We haven't seen a basketball game at the city arena." So, again, "at" is marking this specific location where an activity, seeing a basketball game, happens. Or, in this case, has not happened. So, the speaker is saying, "We have not had the experience of watching or seeing a basketball game at this arena." So, we're marking the location with "at." My verb is "see" here. Again, we're not talking about motion or movement. We're talking about staying in one place and doing something in that location. |
| One more example, "She has stayed at that hotel." "She has stayed at that hotel." So, my verb is "stay," the past participle form is "stayed." And I'm talking about that hotel. Specifically, "that hotel." So, yes, I'm using "that," that's fine. In a conversation, I might say something -- or the first person in this conversation might say something like, "Oh, hey, does she know that hotel?" or "Has she heard of that hotel?" And the follow-up might be, "Yeah. She has stayed at that hotel." So, a specific hotel here. Again, this is the action, "staying." "Staying" is the action. We mark it with "at." So, we cannot use "to" here. "She has stayed to that hotel," is incorrect because "to" marks motion. "Stay" is not a motion, it is not a movement. We are doing it in place, in this location. So, please be careful when you're choosing between "at" and "to" for these kinds of expressions. Yes, we can use both prepositions before a specific place, but they have different functions. So, "at" marks our location for something, "to" is marking our motion and movement towards a location. |
| Okay. So, let's go on to the second part of this lesson. For the second part, I want to talk about "for" and "since." Very, very commonly used with present perfect tense. First, we use "for" to mark time periods. Time periods. So, a length of time. We use "for" to mark this. For example, "He has worked here for two years." "He has worked here for two years." So, the activity "is working." In this case, "He has worked here," and we're marking this time period, "years," with "for." So, "for" shows us the length of time that something happened. So, this sentence means he's still working here, like this is an ongoing activity. This is still happening, and we want to mention how long the activity has happened. |
| Another example. "She has been sleeping for 10 hours." "She has been sleeping for 10 hours." So, yes, this is an example that's in the present perfect progressive form. That's fine, you can use the same rules with present perfect progressive. Again, we're marking a time period with "for." You'll notice too that these are all in the plural form. So, make sure it's not two-year or for 10-hour, whatever. We need to make sure to pronounce clearly, and right in writing this "S" here to make the plural form. So, this is marking a time period, a length of time. |
| One more example. "We have been dating for six months." "We have been dating for six months." So, that means six months ago, we started dating. And since that time -- I'll talk about "since" in just a moment. For that time period, until this conversation, the dating has continued. So, they have been in a relationship. So, we use "for" to mark this kind of time. So, we cannot use "to," we cannot use "at" here. So, we don't use "to" because we're not showing motion of some kind. "He has worked here to two years," is incorrect. We cannot use "at" because we're not sharing some location of an activity. The focus here is on a period of time. |
| So, let's compare this to "since." Since. We use "since" as a preposition to mark a past point in time, to mark a past point in time. So, this is a key difference with "for." "For" marks a period of time. "Since" mark is a past point only. So, we're not marking like a duration. We're not marking a length of time. "Since" tells us when something started, or maybe the last time something happened, depending on the sentence. So, let's look at some examples. "I've lived here since 2013." I've lived here since 2013. So, "since" mark's our past point in time, 2013. So, that means beginning in 2013, and continuing until this conversation, I've lived here. I've lived here. So, "since" tells us when it started in this case. |
| Here though, let's look at a negative. "We haven't seen you since high school." "We haven't seen you since high school." So, "since" comes before high school here. Now, high school is not like a point in time. Like a year, or a month, or a day. No. But, it marks a point like in life, high school. So, we can understand "high school" is our point in the past, here. And, the action, "We haven't seen you…" So, that means from high school until this conversation, the speakers did not see the listener in this period of time. So, high school is the starting point, the conversation is the ending point. And, they want to express in this period, they did not meet, they did not see each other. |
| One more example, "She hasn't come to work since Monday." She hasn't come to work since Monday. So, here, our specific past point is Monday. "Since" tells us that. And, she hasn't come to work. So, starting at this point in the past, starting at Monday, this person, she has not come to work. So, until this conversation, so no appearance by this person. So, "since" is marking some past point in time, "for" is marking a period of time, a duration of time. So, we can't use these interchangeably. We can't switch them up. Also, we cannot use "to" or "at" in these cases either. No location is being given. Like, yes, high school -- a high school is a location. But, here, we're talking about a period of life that is high school, a time period of life. So, we can't use "at," we can't use "to" here. |
| So, I hope that this is helpful in choosing between "for" and "since." And, I hope this is helpful in choosing between "to" and "at." Of course, we can use other prepositions as well. But, these are some very common ones, and I think good ones for learners to practice. So, I hope that it was helpful for you. |
| Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye. |
Comments
Hide