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    Rules For The Perfect Tense

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    Alycia Steylen
    The document summarizes the rules for using different tenses in English, including: 1) The present perfect progressive is used to talk about how long an action has been in progress, using phrases like "since" or "for" to indicate when the action began. 2) The present perfect is used for non-action verbs to express duration or when the time is unspecified. 3) Both the present perfect progressive and present perfect can be used to describe usual or habitual activities that are continuing. 4) The present progressive is used if an activity is happening now without reference to duration, while the present perfect progressive indicates both current activity and duration.

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    Rules For The Perfect Tense

    Uploaded by

    Alycia Steylen
    12 views2 pages
    The document summarizes the rules for using different tenses in English, including: 1) The present perfect progressive is used to talk about how long an action has been in progress, using phrases like "since" or "for" to indicate when the action began. 2) The present perfect is used for non-action verbs to express duration or when the time is unspecified. 3) Both the present perfect progressive and present perfect can be used to describe usual or habitual activities that are continuing. 4) The present progressive is used if an activity is happening now without reference to duration, while the present perfect progressive indicates both current activity and duration.

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    Rules for the Perfect Tense

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    The document summarizes the rules for using different tenses in English, including: 1) The present perfect progressive is used to talk about how long an action has been in progress, using phrases like "since" or "for" to indicate when the action began. 2) The present perfect is used for non-action verbs to express duration or when the time is unspecified. 3) Both the present perfect progressive and present perfect can be used to describe usual or habitual activities that are continuing. 4) The present progressive is used if an activity is happening now without reference to duration, while the present perfect progressive indicates both current activity and duration.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    12 views2 pages

    Rules For The Perfect Tense

    Uploaded by

    Alycia Steylen
    The document summarizes the rules for using different tenses in English, including: 1) The present perfect progressive is used to talk about how long an action has been in progress, using phrases like "since" or "for" to indicate when the action began. 2) The present perfect is used for non-action verbs to express duration or when the time is unspecified. 3) Both the present perfect progressive and present perfect can be used to describe usual or habitual activities that are continuing. 4) The present progressive is used if an activity is happening now without reference to duration, while the present perfect progressive indicates both current activity and duration.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Summary of the Perfect Tense

    Rules to know:
    When to use Present Perfect Progressive have/has + been + -ing
    1. To talk about how long an action has been in progress. The sentence should tell us when the
    action began using since or for.
    a. The students have been sitting in class for 10 minutes. (We know how long the
    action has been happening, so we use the present perfect progressive.)
    b. The students have been sitting in class since 9:00am.

    When to use Present Perfect have/has + past participle verb


    1. If you are using a non-action verb to express the duration of an activity
    a. I have known Gena for 10 years. (We know how long, but know is a non-action verb,
    so we can’t add -ing. That’s why we use the present perfect.)

    2. If the time is unspecified – it is common for these sentences to show how often)
    a. Pete has eaten at that restaurant many times. (We don’t know when, so we use
    present perfect.)

    Situations in which you can use either Present Perfect Progressive or Present Perfect
    1. If the activity is usual or habitual (like a general statement of fact)
    a. I have been living here for six months.
    b. I have lived here for six months.
    i. Because this is a general statement of fact and a situation that is continuing,
    you can use either tense.
    c. I have been reading the newspaper every morning since I was 20 years old.
    d. I have read the newspaper every morning since I was 20 years old.
    i. In these sentences, it’s a usual activity (every morning), and it’s also a
    continuing activity – he will continue reading the newspaper every morning.

    When to use Present Progressive instead of Present Perfect Progressive


    1. If the activity is happening now, but we don’t know how long it has been happening, use the
    present progressive.
    a. She is reading a book right now. (We don’t know how long she has been reading, so
    we just use present progressive.)
    2. If the activity is happening now and the sentence also expresses how long, then you should
    use the present perfect progressive.
    a. They have been driving since two o’ clock. (This sentence gives us more information
    – it tells us it’s happening now and how long it has been happening for.)
    When to use the Simple Past instead of Present Perfect
    1. If the activity happened at a specific time in the past, use simple past.
    a. I went to the store yesterday. (We know when the action happened – yesterday – so
    we use the simple past.
    2. If the activity happened the in the past but we don’t know when, it’s better to use present
    perfect. These sentences usually show how often.
    a. I have gone to the store many times. (We don’t know when they went to the store in
    the past, only that it happened many times – which tells us how often.)

    When to use the Past Perfect had + past participle


    1. When you want to talk about two activity that both began and ended in the past, you’ll need
    past perfect. Past perfect is used to show which action happened first. The action that
    happened first always uses the past perfect. Don’t use past perfect if there is only one
    action in the sentence.
    a. The tennis player jumped for joy. She had won the match. (Since it says had won, we
    know that first she won the match. Then she jumped for joy.
    We use the simple past to show which action happened second.
    The tennis player jumped for joy. She had won the match. (Since jumped is simple
    past, it must be the second action that happened.)

    When to use since and for


    1. Use since when you want to show the specific time that the action began.
    a. I have been in Nova Scotia since January 2018.
    b. They have been driving since two o’clock.
    c. We have been travelling since yesterday.

    2. Use for when you want to show how long the activity has been happening.
    a. I have been in Nova Scotia for two years.
    b. They have been driving for two hours.
    c. We have been travelling for one day.

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