In this paper, I explore the semantic interpretation of the English present perfect by arguing that the perfect is analogous to modals in its interpretation. The perfect produces several different readings, i.e., the resultative and the current relevant reading, to mention a few. Despite this, the meaning of the perfect remains invariable in sentences where it occurs. Instead, the semantic variability of the perfect is due to the nature of the conversational background. This indicates that just as modals are context-dependent, so is the perfect, which inspires a modal-based approach to the semantics of the perfect. By incorporating such an approach into its semantic analysis, we can present a unified account of the different meanings of the perfect.