Grammar: Making Tenses

We all need a hand occasionally to help us get what we want. Even a genius like Michelangelo needed help to create his famous sculpture, David, which was made from marble for the city of Florence.

The statue doesn't look simple because it is extremely detailed.
Michelangelo was working continuously on the sculpture for two years while the city was waiting for him to finish it.
Millions of people have seen the perfect statue.

Verbs are like blocks of marble: they need help to make them come to life.

Ryan: "You, my students, are all Michelangelo."     Students: "Wow!"

Grammar: The Present Perfect

Sometimes we want to talk about things that happened in the past:

I was born in Lancaster. When I was eighteen, I went to university in Manchester. 

but sometimes we want to talk about things that started in the past and connect to the present:

I live in Manchester. I have lived in Manchester since I started university five years ago.

We use have/has + past participle to make the present perfect tense.

To talk about the length of time, we can use for or since. We use for to talk about the period of time, and since to talk about the start time.

Remember for= how long      since= start

I have lived in Manchester for five years, since I started university.
I have been in Manchester for forty days. It's really good!
I have studied in Manchester since September. It's great!

Let's try and put this into a song!