perfect tense

The three main perfect tenses are past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect, but the perfect tense also has its own progressive forms.

We form the perfect tenses by using the verb to have as an auxiliary verb and adding the past participle of the main verb. We form the present-perfect tense by using the present tense of have (has or have) and adding the past participle of the main verb.

The perfect tense or aspect (abbreviated PERF or PRF) is a verb form that indicates that an action or circumstance occurred earlier than the time under consideration, often focusing attention on the resulting state rather than on the occurrence itself. An example of a perfect construction is I have made dinner.

Present Perfect is called like that because it combines the present grammatical tense (you have) and the perfect grammatical aspect (done). As to why it’s perfect, the term comes from Latin perfectus, “achieved, finished, completed”.

The present perfect tense says that an action was completed at a time before the present, and the results or consequences of the action are relevant now. The past perfect tense says that an action was completed at a time before another action happened in the past.

The present participle is doing. The past participle is done. The present simple tense do and the past simple tense did can be used as an auxiliary verb. As an auxiliary, do is not used with modal verbs….Do – Easy Learning Grammar.

The present perfect continuous tense (also known as the present perfect progressive tense) shows that something started in the past and is continuing at the present time. The present perfect continuous is formed using the construction has/have been + the present participle (root + -ing).

We use the present perfect continuous to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now. “For five minutes,” “for two weeks,” and “since Tuesday” are all durations which can be used with the present perfect continuous. Examples: They have been talking for the last hour.

The formula for writing in the present continuous is: ‘be’ verb [am, is, are…] + present participle. Examples: He is driving erratically.

8 How long you (wait) for me? ~ I (wait) about half an hour.

Using the present perfect, we can define a period of time before now by considering its duration, with for + a period of time, or by considering its starting point, with since + a point in time. FOR and SINCE can also both be used with the past perfect.

Yes, it would. But considering the OP is giving sentences in the present perfect, “just now” does work for them, but “right now” doesn’t. Also, “just now” is OK (and more natural, as you say) with the simple past, whereas “right now” doesn’t work there either.

4 Answers. Usually, we don’t use “since” in the simple past. However, there are a few specific cases in which we can use it as follows: 1- We can use it as a time adverb such as it’s long/a long time since I met him, it’s two weeks since I joined the bank, etc.

For and Since with Present Perfect Continuous tense We often use for and since with perfect tenses: We use for to talk about a period of time: three hours, two months, one decade. We use since to talk about a point in past time: 9 o’clock, 1st January, Monday.

Here the word “being” is also the verb form 4 but it shows the state. Generally, after the word “been” action word comes to make present perfect continuous tense. Hence it is better to put being after been.

Difference between ‘Have been’ – ‘Had been’ Present perfect ‘have/has been ‘ is used when describing an action completed in the recent past and still assumes importance in the present. We use ‘had been’ when you describe something that happened in the past before something else in the past.

Since is used to present the starting point of an action that continues in the present and takes the usage of the present perfect or present perfect continuous tense verb.