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I have been busy finding a job for the last three months till last week.

Is the present perfect possible or can I only use the past perfect? I'm considering that although "last week" is not now, ie, the time of speaking, it is still quite recent compared with the three months time period. So the present perfect makes sense. Do I get it right?

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Although present perfect always makes reference to a past time, it is a present tense. If a past time is indicated, then you cannot use present perfect.

In this example, we have a finished past time --one week ago-- so present perfect is ungrammatical.

The sentence is fine with past perfect.

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  • Here is an example from new concept English : Dan Robinson has been worried all week. Last Tuesday he received a letter from the local police. In the letter he was asked to call at the station. Dan wondered why he was wanted by ghe police, but he went to the station yesterday and now he is not worried anymore
    – ForOU
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 13:55
  • If he went to the police station yesterday, he should have stopped worrying yesterday. Why does the author start with the present perfect.
    – ForOU
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 13:57
  • @Robbyzhu A couple things. First, it's grammatically correct because the context of the verb doesn't (yet) include a finished past time. But it's semantically odd because we learn later that that time is finished. So it's either sloppy writing or the focus is on the present effect of the past situation, like though Dan isn't worried anymore, he's still feeling the stress from all that worry.
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 15:29
  • Your example from the book is borderline; I don't think it works particularly well, though I probably wouldn't notice unless I was paying attention. You can get away with present perfect in cases where the action is very recently complete, e.g.: "I've been on my feet all day, and I've just finally gotten a chance to sit down."
    – cruthers
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 22:11
  • @cruthers Right. The effect of having stood on your feet is the present effect.
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 1:35

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