Words for work, and the present perfect
You can talk about your working life with exact words, and choose between the present perfect and the past simple.
I've worked at the bank for three years. I worked at the bank for three years. Both sentences are correct, and they say different things. In the first, you still work there. In the second, you have left.
You need that difference in Speaking Part 1, when you talk about your job, and in essays about how work has changed. First come the words for jobs and workplaces, then the grammar that tells those two sentences apart.
Warm-up
Still true, or over?
Read what Ahmed says about his job, then choose what it tells you.
Read thisI've been a pharmacist since 2019.
What do we know about Ahmed?
Words for work
Jobs and people
The company or person that pays for the work, and the person who does it. The employer pays for each employee's training.
Someone you work with. My colleagues and I share an office on the third floor.
Ask for a job formally, with a form or a CV. She has applied for four jobs this month.
Be given a higher position. He was promoted to team leader after two years.
Working for yourself, with no employer. Many electricians are self-employed.
Leave your job because you choose to. She resigned to start her own business.
Hours, pay and conditions
The pay for a year's work, usually paid every month. The salary rises a little each year.
Working all the usual hours of the week, or only some of them. He works part-time while his children are small.
A set period of work, such as an early, late or night shift. Factory staff take turns on the night shift.
Hours worked beyond your usual ones, often paid at a higher rate. Delivery drivers do a lot of overtime in December.
Travel between home and work every day. I commute for an hour each way.
How your time is shared between your job and the rest of your life. Shorter hours have improved my work-life balance.
Grammar: the present perfect
The present perfect is have or has with the past participle: I have worked, she has left, we have never met. It joins something in the past to now. The past simple, I worked or she left, puts an action in a time that is over.
When in your life it happened does not matter. I've worked in three countries. Have you ever managed a team?
For + a length of time, since + a starting point. She has worked here for six years. I've known him since 2020.
Common in essays. Working from home has become normal in many offices. Fewer people have applied this year.
Use it once you say, or mean, a time that is over: yesterday, in 2019, two years ago. I joined the company in 2021.
Mistakes to watch for
- I have joined the company two years ago. Ago names a finished time, so use the past simple: I joined the company two years ago.
- I work here since 2021. A situation that started in the past and is still true needs the present perfect: I have worked here since 2021.
- I have worked here since three years. Since needs a starting point. With a length of time, use for: for three years.
- Last month our team has hired two people. Last month is over, so: Last month our team hired two people.
Watch me do one
Say I work at a hotel, and the examiner asks: How long have you worked there?
The question is in the present perfect, because the job is still going on. So my answer starts the same way: I've worked there for about four years. Four years is a length of time, so I use for.
Next I want to say how I started. I joined as a trainee straight after university. That was one moment, and it is over, so the past simple: I joined as a trainee straight after university.
Then a change from that moment up to now: Since then, I've been promoted twice. Since then points back to when I joined, and both promotions came between then and now.
Two things I avoid. I work there for four years is wrong, because the present simple cannot carry a length of time up to now. I have joined in 2022 is wrong too: a finished year takes the past simple.
My whole answer: I've worked there for about four years. I joined as a trainee straight after university, and since then I've been promoted twice.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Six questions, easiest first. Five are about the grammar and one is about the words.
For or since?
Choose the word that fits. Look at what comes after the gap.
Kofi has been a flight attendant ______ eight years.
Since I joined
Write the verb in brackets in the right form.
Our office (move) twice since I joined the company.
Write no more than 2 words.
A finished time
Choose the verb form that fits the sentence.
Last year our company ______ forty new staff.
Find the tense mistake
This is one Part 1 answer, sentence by sentence. One sentence has a tense mistake. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
Words and meanings
Match each word to its meaning.
Still going, or over?
Fill both gaps with the verb in brackets. For each one, decide whether it is still going on or over.
I (work) at the hotel since March. Before that, I (spend) two years in a call centre.
Write no more than 3 words in each gap.
Use it
Record: your working life
Answer as you would in Part 1, in three or four sentences. Use the present perfect at least once and the past simple at least once.
How long have you had your current job, or been on your current course? What has changed since you started?
Record your answer (60s maximum)
0:00 / 1:00
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Before you go
Use the present perfect for something that started in the past and is still true: I've worked here since 2021.
Put for before a length of time and since before a starting point.
Once you name a finished time, such as ago, last year or in 2019, switch to the past simple.
Use the exact work word: you apply for a job, are promoted, and resign when you choose to leave.
Next: Next, you read a passage about job sharing, two people splitting one full-time job, and decide whether statements about it are true, false or not given.