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Laborious Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Since + present perfect

Hi there teachers, 

Is the present perfect, after since, correctly used in the following example, please? 

- It seems like it's been ages since you have been gone. 

Could you please tell me about the situations/contexts in which it's possible to use a present perfect after since?

Thank you all. 
  

Top answer

This sentence doesn't sound natural at all, and it is not written in present perfect. " Have + been would be used in the present perfect continuous form, but then your verb would have to be in the continuous form as well; not the past participle. It seems like it's been ages since you have gone.

— KJinCali79

  • This sentence doesn't sound natural at all, and it is not written in present perfect.
  • " Have + been would be used in the present perfect continuous form, but then your verb would have to be in the continuous form as well; not the past participle.
  • It seems like it's been ages since you have gone.
  • The Present Pefect Tense is used for: Actions which happened at an indefinite (unknown) time before now Actions in the past which have an effect on the present moment Actions which began in the past and continue in the present The use of "for" or "since" with present perfect can be a bit confusing to learners.
  • But, "for" applies to a period of time and "since" applies to when the action started.
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16 Answers
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This sentence doesn't sound natural at all, and it is not written in present perfect.

Present perfect is Subject + Has/Have + Verb (past participle form) there is no use of "be/been."
Have + been would be used in the present perfect continuous form, but then your verb would have to be in the continuous form as well; not the past participle.

It seems like it's been ages sinc
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Laborious- It seems like it's been ages since you have been gone.
If you want present perfect, you need a different example.

Here are the usual paraphrases that can help you decide whether to put a past or a present perfect after since in these grammatical patterns with "It's been [amount of time] since".

It's been ages
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I would argue that "since you have been gone" is present perfect; specifically, it is the present perfect tense of "be", with "gone" functioning as an adjective. (However, the combination "it's been ages since you have been gone" sounds wrong to me.)
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GPYit is the present perfect tense of "be", with "gone" functioning as an adjective.
Oh. OK. My brain was seeing something weirdly passive there, and I didn't think it through.
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Heartily thanks to all of you for your helpful replies.

I read somewhere that we could use a present perfect tense together with another present perfect (which follows 'since') in a sentence when both the actions (or states) are still continuing or on-going.

For e.g. We have visited him every Sunday since he has been on bed (or in the hospital)
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LaboriousIsn't it never ever possible to use present perfect after since, please?
Of course it's possible. I gave you these sentences earlier. (See below.) They use the present perfect after since. They are fine grammatically.

It's been ages since you have spoken Russian.
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The present perfect is not good in this sentence. You need a specific point in time, which is best described by a simple past tense clause. The present perfect is fine in the main clause.

You have been gone for a long time. I have missed you since the day you left.
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Thank you, Alphecca stars and CJ, for giving this thread your precious time.

Actually, I heard something like "Where'd you go, I miss you so. It seems like forever that you've been gone" in a song. I don't know the name of the singer, but yes, it was a female singer; besides, I don't know for sure if I heard it correctly. And I was wondering if we could say something like "It seems like
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Teachers,
Is the present perfect used only before since and after

Is this correct?
I saw her twice since I've been here.

Is it the same with "now"
Is this correct?
I saw her twice now that I've been here.

I saw her twice now that I am here.

Present perfect use like this?

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Would someone please tell me how to use since and now with the present perfect?
Thanks in advance
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