Perfect tense (Guest:Manikandan)

Question

Dear sir/madam, Can you teach (or) explain to me the perfect tense? regards, ks.manikandan

Woodward · Accepted Answer

Hi Manikandan,

The Perfect Tense is a very large topic, though I'll try to explain some of the basic rules to you about the Present Perfect. (I did the Past Perfect in a recent post)

The Perfect tense consists of HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
and it is used in the following cases:

1. An action that happened at an unspecified time. (we don't say when the action happened)
- I HAVE BEEN to Italy.
(I don't say exactly when I went. Perhaps it was last month or 5 years ago.)
If we specify the time, we use the present tense
- I WENT to Italy LAST WEEK.

2. An action that has recently happened:
- The baby HAS just GONE to sleep.
(Note that we have JUST in there which means recently, a short time ago)

3. An action that started in the past and continues up to the present. It is often used with "for" or "since" in these cases.
- SHE HAS LIVED in Malta all her life.
- THEY HAVE KNOWN each other SINCE 2001.
- HE HAS BEEN the President FOR 2 years now.

4. An action that happened repeatedly before now:
- I have won many competitions.
- He HAS FAILED his exam three times (because he didn't study or know about this Forum)

This is only the Perfect Tense in affirmative sentences.....I haven't even started with questions and the other tenses....that is for another time.

I hope this helped a little.

Perfect tense (Guest:Manikandan)

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Woodward