The present perfect tense combines “has been” or “have been” with a verb in the present participle, indicating something that happened at an unspecified time in the past. It cannot be used with time frames or dates. The past perfect and future perfect tenses also exist.
The first tenses young minds learn are in the definite present, past, and future. Beyond these distinctions, however, are the perfect forms of these verbal constructions: present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. In the perfect past, something “happened” at an unspecified time in the past, and could still happen in the present. In English, this tense always combines “has been” or “have been” with a verb in the present participle, usually ending in “-ing”. Some simple examples illustrate the correct grammar: “I told the man about our lack of communication”, or “They gave you plenty of time to learn the tenses”.
When used to deny something in the past, some changes are made. “Few have ever questioned his authority”, qualitatively changes the standard of construction of the present perfect. The most commonly used negating device in this tense is the addition of the word “not,” as in “I haven’t studied enough to know the tenses by heart.”
Questions in the present perfect are also formed differently. The “has” or “has had” and the verb can be separated in a question by a few words used to qualify the sentence. It can be the subject, for example “Did she go to the store yet?” or “Did you do your homework?” It can also be a word like “there” or even “there never, as in “Were there ever quarrels at work about correct grammar?”
Even the present perfect has some prohibitions. It cannot be used with words that identify a time frame or a date. This would erase the unspecified nature of time. It just wouldn’t sound right: “Last year I had seen that movie four times.” Instead, the past tense would suffice: “I saw that movie four times last year.”
The cornerstone to understanding the use of the present perfect is knowing when the idea of ”unspecified time” will be needed. It will differ from other times in specific ways. Conversely, the perfect tense reflects something that definitely happened in the past but no longer occurs in the present, such as “I was hoping for a win.” The future perfect describes something that will “have” happened sometime in the future. An example of this tense is: “By the time I finally understand the present perfect, I will have studied for hours.”
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