Present Perfect Versus Past Simple

The Present Perfect Tense and the Simple Past Tense
|The present perfect is used when the time period has NOT finished: |[pic]I have seen three movies this week. |
||(This week has not finished yet.) |
|The simple past is used when the time period HAS finished:|I saw three movies last week. |
| |(Last week has finished.) ||The present perfect is often used when giving recent news: |Martin has crashed his car again. |
||(This is new information.) |
|The simple past is used when giving older information: |Martin crashed his car last year. |
||(This is old information.) |
|The present perfect is used when the time is not specific:|I have seen that movie already. |
| |(We don't know when.)|
|The simple past is used when the time is clear: |I saw that movie on Thursday. |
||(We know exactly when.) |
|The present perfect is used with for and since, when the actions have not finished|I have lived in Victoria for five years.|
|yet: |(I still live in Victoria.) |
|The simple past is used with for and since, when...