Christmas Present Perfect

Jack: Hello. My name’s Jack.

Rowan: And I’m Rowan.

Jack: Welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Introduction

Rowan: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you learn or revise English.

Jack: Today, we’re talking about Christmas shopping and the language focus is the present perfect.

Rowan: Yes. Before we get to that, we need to look at last week’s football phrase. Last week’s football phrase was quite a good one.

Jack: Lots of people got the right answer so I think it’s quite an easy one. Here’s one last chance to see if you can work out the football phrase. Last week’s football phrase is used as an award and it’s given to the player that performed the best in a game. The phrase was man of the match. In women’s football, the award is player of the match. Congratulations to Marcial from Mexico, Mehmet Sisman from Turkey, CTLN from Romania, Douglas Cartier from Brazil, HSN from Turkey, Emmanuel from France, Thomassi from Hong Kong, the rather enigmatic 258963 from Vietnam, Hayato from Japan and Sabanoleg from Ukraine. You all worked out that the correct answer was the man or player of the match.

Rowan: At the end of the podcast, there will be a new football phrase.

Jack: But now it’s time for this week’s roleplay. This week I’m talking to Rowan about Christmas shopping. While you listen, try to answer this question: Who has already done all their Christmas shopping?

Roleplay

Jack: Have you done all your Christmas shopping yet?

Rowan: I’ve got to go shopping this weekend and I’m really not looking forward to it.

Jack: I think the shops are going to be really busy this weekend.

Rowan: I know. Hopefully, everyone will be wearing masks.

Jack: I’ve already done all my Christmas shopping. Everything is wrapped and hidden away.

Rowan: You’ve done all your shopping? That’s very organised.

Jack: Well, I have to thank my wife for that. I mean, I helped her but she’s the organised one.

Rowan: Hang on ... You’ve done all your wrapping?

Jack: Yes. Everything is wrapped and labelled and hidden away.

Rowan: Haha. Do your kids still believe in Santa?

Jack: Kind of. I don’t think they really believe anymore, but don’t want to give up on the magic of Christmas.

Rowan: I’m not sure I believe in the magic of Christmas ... I really don’t like Christmas shopping. I mean, there’s so much to think about. What does the person like? How much is the right amount to spend? Are the presents appropriate? Are they ethically sourced and not too bad for the environment?

Jack: Hmmm. That’s great. I can see why it’s hard for you. We do all of our shopping online. My wife and I have shopping lists for the kids and just add to them throughout the year if anything comes up.

Rowan: That’s a good idea. I have no idea what to buy for my sister. She’s really hard to buy for.

Jack: Soap or socks?

Rowan: No - I don’t think so. I think she’d take it personally if I got her something that wasn’t ... personal, you know, thoughtful.

Jack: That is hard.

Jack: I’ve bought some really nice earrings for my wife. I’m sure she’s going to love them. Saying that, last year, I bought her a jacket and I don’t think she’s ever worn it.

Rowan: I have an auntie - she’s not really an auntie, she’s a friend of the family, but I’ve always called her auntie. Anyhow, she’s got a reputation for giving really weird Christmas presents.

Jack: I like unusual presents.

Rowan: One year she gave me a tea towel with pictures of cats on it. I was 12 I think.

Jack: Sounds lovely.

Rowan: What have you got for your dad?

Jack: You know he moved to Scotland Last January? I’ve bought him a guide to Scottish whisky. It’s a book and some little bottles.

Rowan: That sounds like a good gift. I’m sure he’ll love it. And what about for your sister?

Jack: We’ve got her some nice candles in these handmade glass holders. They were made by a local artist in Ludlow. They are very pretty and I think they’ll suit my sister’s flat.

Rowan: And what have you bought for ...

Jack: Hold on. Are you making notes?

Language focus

Today’s roleplay was all about Christmas presents so I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about the present perfect. OK, that’s a silly pun, but in the roleplay, Rowan and I did use a lot of examples of the present perfect and it’s a slightly tricky topic in grammar so good examples are gifts for teachers like me.

OK, so the present perfect is a combination of the present and the past. Every sentence in the present perfect has a present meaning and a past meaning. Listen to this example from the roleplay and see if you can work out the present meaning and the past meaning.

I’ve bought some really nice earrings for my wife.

So the past meaning is the main verb - the past participle. I bought some earrings. And the present meaning? I have some earrings to give to my wife. I want to point out that the verb have is an auxiliary and not normally related to possessions, but it’s a neat way to think of the present perfect, at least in some examples:

I have baked a cake.

I baked a cake and I have a cake.

I have taken a picture on my camera.

I took a picture and I have a picture on my camera.

I have broken the window.

I broke the window and I have ... erm ... a broken window. OK - as I said, the verb have is an auxiliary so the present aspect is not usually something you have, the verb have does not mean possess, but it’s a neat way to explain the meaning.

Listen to another example from the roleplay. In this example, I used an adverb:

I’ve already done all my Christmas shopping.

We use already with the present perfect to emphasise that something has happened sooner than you would expect. It’s often used with verbs like finished and completed.

Listen to these examples:

Have you started your homework?
I’ve already finished it.

Are there any biscuits left?
Sorry. I’ve already eaten them all.

In some grammar books, already is described as a time word that means at some time up to now so the time word includes some sense of the present. Other examples are before, never and ever, yet, recently and lately. The most common are probably ever, never and yet.

The meaning of yet is very similar to already, but we use it in negative sentences and questions. It means something like until now.

Listen to this example from the roleplay:

Jack: Have you done all your Christmas shopping yet?

It is actually a complicated word to describe. What’s the difference between: Have you done all your Christmas shopping and have you done all your Christmas shopping yet? There’s not a lot of difference. If you use the word yet, it emphasises that you expect the act to have happened or to happen soon. Have you seen the new Spiderman film? This just means ever, in your life. Have you seen the new Spiderman film yet? Because it’s in the cinema now and won’t be there for long. You’d better hurry up and watch it.

My colleague Parwiz looked at this roleplay and made some suggestions for the language focus. The last thing he suggested was a focus on pronunciation so I want to talk briefly about weak forms, sentence stress and intonation.

English grammar is not very difficult on paper, but in spoken English, auxiliary verbs are not pronounced very clearly so can be hard for learners to hear. In the present perfect, the auxiliary verb is have and it’s usually contracted and very weak. Listen to these questions:

Have you finished your homework?
Where have you put the car keys?
What have you bought for your mum?
Who’s Sam invited for dinner?

In positive sentences, the contracted forms are just as difficult to hear.

I’ve just finished my homework.
I’ve lost the car keys again.
I’ve bought my mum some perfume.
Sam’s invited her neighbour round for dinner.

The second feature of pronunciation I want to look at is intonation. Listen to this:

You’ve done all your wrapping?

This is a question, but there’s no question form. It’s not a subject question or a QASV and there’s no question tag so what makes it a question. Its intonation? Yes. That rising note at the end of the sentence ... the end of the sentence? Yes, the end of the sentence, that makes it a question. I know that this is common in many languages, but it’s not universal and there are lots of languages where intonation falls to form a question.

The last aspect of pronunciation I want to look at is sentence stress. By placing the stress on different words in a sentence, we can change the meaning. So for example listen to the same sentence with the stress in different places.

You’ve done all your wrapping?

This question is about you. I can’t believe you have done all your wrapping. You are not normally well organised.

You’ve done all your wrapping?

This time the focus is on the verb. You have completed it all.

You’ve done all your wrapping?

This time, it sounds like I don’t believe you. Surely not all of it. There has to be a couple of items left to wrap.

You’ve done all your wrapping?

Not so sure about this one. Who else’s wrapping might you have to do.

By changing the sentence stress, you can change the meaning of the sentence.

Task

Now it’s time for your task. I would like you to tell everyone about celebrations in your country and what you have done to prepare.

So, is Christmas celebrated in your country? If it is, what have you done to get ready? Have you bought presents for people? Have you prepared some special food?

If Christmas isn’t celebrated, will you be celebrating the new year? Have you done anything to prepare for the new year?

And if you don’t celebrate Christmas or the new year, have you got any other celebrations coming up? If so, what have you done to prepare for them?

Football Phrase
Now it’s time for this week’s football phrase. I’ve chosen a tricky one today. This phrase describes a holiday highlight for many in the UK. You see, there are always matches played on the day after Christmas, on the 26th of December and these are called the ****** *** ********. The 26th of December is known as ****** *** in the UK because people used to give special gifts to tradespeople on this day. However, nowadays it’s associated more with shopping and football.

If you know the answer, what the football phrase I described is, leave a comment on the page for this podcast on the Premier Skills English website and if you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.

Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this podcast useful and we hope all of you stay fit and healthy.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.