samedi 30 août 2014

Top Tips Grammar: The perfect tenses

Main points

*You use the present perfect (I have walked) to relate the past to the present.
*You use the past perfect (I had walked) to talk about a situation that occurred before a particular time in the past.

 

a) You use the present perfect tense when you are concerned with the present effects of something which happened at an indefinite time in the past.

- I’m afraid I’ve forgotten my book.
- Have you heard from Jill recently?

Sometimes, the present effects are important because they are very recent.

- Karen has just passed her exams.

You also use the present perfect when you are thinking of a time which started in the past and is still continuing.

- Have you really lived here for ten years?
- He has worked here since 1987.

You also use the present perfect in time clauses, when you are talking about something which will be done at some time in the future.

- Tell me when you have finished.
- I’ll write to you as soon as I have heard from Jenny.

 

b) When you want to emphasize the fast that a recent event continued to happen for some time, you use the present perfect continuous.

- She’s been crying.
- I’ve been working hard all day.

 

c) You use the past perfect tense when you are looking back from a point in past time, and you are concerned with the effects of something which happened at an earlier time in the past.

- I apologized because I had forgotten my book.
- He felt much happier once he had found a new job.
- They would have come if we had invited them.

You also use the past perfect when you are thinking of a time which had started earlier in the past but was still continuing.

- I was about twenty. I had been studying French for a couple of years.
- He hated games and had always managed to avoid children’s parties.

 

d) You use the future perfect tense when you are looking back from a point in the future and you are talking about something which will have happened at a time between now and the future point.

- In another two years, you will have left school.
- Take these tablets, and in twenty-four hours the pain will have gone.

You also use the future perfect when you are looking back from the preset and guessing that an action will be finished.

- I’m sure they will have arrived home by now.
- It’s too late to ring Dan. He will have left the house by now.

 

e) You can also use other modals with ‘have, when you are looking back from a point in time at something which you think may have happened at an earlier time.

- I might have finished work by then.
- He should have arrived in Paris by the time we phone.

 

 

 

 

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
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See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs Common Slangs
Common misspellings Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors Frequently confused words
Common Slangs Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés Common Prepositions

 

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