Witchy says:

Let's be honest! The choice between Past Simple and Present Perfect is a dilemma which may only be compared (for its inner complexity and capacity of troubling a non Anglo Saxon mind) to the greatest dilemma of all times:

Hamlet’s “to be or not to be”!!!

But Witchy is generous and, after years and years of throwing dice in the air before making up her mind about which one of the two tenses to choose, she has decided to share her acquired knowledge with students and, alas!, also some teachers who still insist at throwing dice...

;-)

  
An enjoyable puzzle: drag and drop the rules under the right tenses until you feel a "magnet-like effect".

Uses of Past Simple:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Uses of Present Perfect:
 
Witchy says:

The most difficult thing about Present Perfect is that in many languages an action which started in the past and continues in the present is expressed in the Present tense. In fact Present Perfect is a tense referring to present (even if it looks very much like the Italian "passato prossimo"). Another very difficult thing is to understand the difference between the use of since and for which both require Present Perfect. Look at this chart:
 
for
two years
since
1975
a month
 the end of the class
a few minutes
 August
half an hour
 9 o' clock
ages
 Easter

What is the rule about for and since?

We use for with and since with

Scroll down the page for the solution!
 

Now that you know when to use the Present Perfect , let's learn how to use it!ù

Positive and negative

I
We
You
They

've
haven't		 lived in London
He
She		 's
hasn't

Question:

How long have

I
we
you

known Mary?
How long has she
he

Short answer:

Have you always lived in Rome? Yes, I have
No, I haven't
  Now it's time to test your acquired knowledge with an exciting (?) multiple-choice quiz!
  Solution: we use for with a period of time and since with a point in time.
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