English Grammar Drills - Mark Lester 2009
Perfect tenses
9 Verb Tenses
Part 2 Verb Phrases
The perfect tenses all consist of some form of the helping verb have followed by a verb in the past participle form. The present perfect uses the present tense (has or have). The past perfect uses the past-tense form had. The future perfect uses the future-tense form will have.
What’s so perfect about the perfect tenses? Nothing. The term perfect comes from a Latin phrase per factus, which means “completely done.” The key idea of the perfect tenses is that they allow us to talk about actions or events that span a period of time up to some final limiting time or other limiting event. The action or event is finished (“perfected”) at or before that limiting time or event.
The present perfect is used for past-time actions or events whose action or consequences continue up to the present moment of time. The past perfect is for past-time actions or events that were finished before some more recent time or event. The future perfect is for future time actions or events that will be finished before some later time or event.
Present perfect
The present perfect is formed by the present tense of have (has or have) followed by a verb in the past participle form. Here are some examples:
I have known him all my life.
We have always shopped at Ralph’s.
He has just returned.
That faucet has been leaking for weeks.
Thanks, but I have already had dinner.
To understand the meaning of the present perfect, we must contrast it with the meaning of the simple past tense. Compare the following examples:
Past tense: I lived in Tampa for five years. (I don’t live there anymore.)
Present perfect: I have lived in Tampa for five years. (I still live there today.)
The use of the past tense in the first example signals that the speaker no longer lives in Tampa. The action was completed at some point in the past that no longer touches the present. The use of the present perfect in the second example tells us just the opposite—that the speaker is still living in Tampa today.
In general, the past tense emphasizes that the actions or events described through the use of the past tense are over with; they do not directly impact the present. The present perfect is just the opposite: it emphasizes the ongoing connection between the past and the present. In the second example sentence above, the speaker has lived in Tampa continuously for the last five years, right up to the present moment. Here are some more examples of the present perfect for events that have spanned an unbroken period of time up to the present moment:
She has studied English since she came to the university.
They have shown that same cartoon for the last three weeks.
As long as I can remember, I have always hated broccoli.
The company has never missed paying a dividend in its history.
A less obvious use of the present perfect is for single events, even unique ones, that continue to directly impact the present. For example, compare the use of the past tense and the present perfect in the following sentence:
The accident was a one-time only event in the past. The accident is over and done with, so it was reported in the past tense. However, the consequences of the accident are not tied to that past moment of time; they have continued on to the present. Therefore, the present perfect is appropriate to describe the ongoing nature of the consequences.
Exercise 9.3
Select either the past tense or the present perfect form in the following sentences.
The children behaved/have behaved well since they stopped watching so much TV.
1. Mr. Brown left/has left last week for a business trip.
2. Sam lost/has lost his car keys and can’t get home.
3. The choir sang/has sung that song a hundred times.
4. The garage had/has had my car for a week now, and it still isn’t fixed.
5. We moved/have moved there ten years ago.
6. We lived/have lived there ever since.
7. We lost/have lost the power about noon.
8. Let’s go to the arrival section—the plane landed/has landed a few minutes ago.
9. I went/have gone to Duke University a few years ago.
10. The city permitted/has permitted parking on that street for years.
11. After the interview, the personnel director showed/has shown me the cafeteria.
12. I complained/have complained about that problem a dozen times.
13. Last winter, my grandmother fell/has fallen and broke her hip.
14. Since the train strike began, I drove/have driven to work every day.
15. I drove/have driven my wife’s car to work this morning.
Past perfect
The past perfect consists of had followed by a verb in the past participle form. The past perfect is used to emphasize that a past-time action or event was completed prior to some more recent (but still past) action or event. Here are some examples:
In all the examples that we have looked at so far, the verb in the past perfect form has preceded the verb in the past-tense form. This sequence seems perfectly logical since the past perfect event has to occur before the second past-tense event occurs.
Logical it may be, but that is not the way English works. In fact, the two events can be presented in either order. Here is an example of the same sentence in both orders:
The fact that we cannot count on the past perfect event being presented before the more recent past time event makes using the past perfect a great deal more difficult.
Exercise 9.4
In the following sentences, the verbs in italics are all in the base form. The verbs are used to describe two past-time events, one of which precedes the other. Change the verb whose action takes place first into the past perfect form. Change the verb whose action takes place later into the past-tense form. Remember that the two events can occur in either order in the sentence.
The audience took their seats before the curtain go up.
The audience had taken their seats before the curtain went up.
1. Apparently, the driver suffer a heart attack before the automobile accident happen.
2. After the play receive a bad review, the playwright decide to make some revisions.
3. I make plans before they call with their invitation.
4. Watson write up each case after Sherlock Holmes solve the crime.
5. Before we go two miles, my bicycle get a flat tire.
6. After the snow stop, we immediately shovel off the driveway.
7. As soon as the rain let up, we dash out of the building.
8. After the plane experience a sudden drop in cabin pressure, the pilot request an unscheduled landing.
9. Apparently, Shakespeare write his first play before he ever go to London.
10. After I read the report, I begin to understand what the problems were.
11. I continue doing that for some time until I finally get some new instructions.
12. We vacation in Hawaii every summer for years until we have children.
13. I wait until the office close that night at five.
14. We be able to start the game after the ground crew remove the cover from the field.
15. Before we settle on my current job, they offer me several other assignments.
Future perfect
The future perfect (FP) consists of will have (the future tense of have) followed by a verb in the past participle form. The action or event described by the future perfect tense must be completed prior to some other future time or event. The future time can be expressed as an adverb of time. For example:
The future time can also be expressed in another clause, which can be in the present tense (PT) or present perfect (Pres P). For example:
Exercise 9.5
Replace one of the italicized base-form verbs with the future perfect. Replace the other italicized base-form verb with either the present or present perfect, as appropriate.
The train leave the by the time we get to the station.
The train will have left the station by the time we have gotten there.
1. The cement harden before we get it all poured.
2. Hopefully, the snow plows clear the roads before we leave the freeway.
3. We starve to death before the waiter bring us our order.
4. Jane walk back home before the bus arrive.
5. The audience forget the details by the time the speaker finish.
6. They lock the gates after they clear the parking lot.
7. The crowd wonder what cause the delay in getting started.
8. He fill his gas tank as soon as he locate the nearest filling station.
9. The whole group complete the test by the time the class finish.
10. The landlord furnish the apartment by the time we move in.