English tense




Present perfect


     have/has + past participle

When we use the present perfect there is always a connection with
now. The action in the past has a result now.

Where’s your key?

I don’t know. I’ve lost it. (I haven’t got it now)

He  told  me his name but I’ve forgotten it. (I can’t remember it
now)

Is Sally here? No, she’s gone out. (she is out now)

I can’t find my bag. Have you seen it? (do you know where  it  is
now?)

We  often  use  the present perfect to give new information or to
announce a recent happening:

The road is closed. There’s been an accident.

(from the news) The police have arrested two  men  in  connection
with the robbery.


You can use the present perfect with just, already and yet:

Just = a short time ago

Would you like something to eat? No, thanks. I’ve just had lunch.

Hello. Have you just arrived?

We  use  already  to  say that something happened sooner than ex‐
pected.

Don’t forget to post the letter, will you?

I’ve already posted it.

What time is Mark leaving?










                               ‐2‐


He’s already gone.

Yet = until now, and shows that the speaker  is  expecting  some‐
thing  to  happen.  Use  yet  only in questions and negative sen‐
tences.

Has it stopped raining yet?

I’ve written the letter but I haven’t posted it yet.


Note the difference between gone and been:

Jim is away on holiday. He has gone to Spain. (= he is there  now
or on his way back)

Jane is back home from holiday now. She has been to Italy. (= she
has now come back from Italy)


Past perfect


     Sarah  went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too
but they didn’t see each other. Paul went home at 10.30 and Sarah
arrived at 11 o’clock. So:

When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasn’t there. He  had  gone
home.

Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past:

Sarah arrived at the party.

This is the starting point of the story. Then, if we want to talk
about things that happened before this time, we use the past per‐
fect.

When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul had already gone home.

When  we  got  home last night, we found that somebody had broken
into the flat.

Karen didn’t want to come to the cinema with us because  she  had
already seen the film.

At  first I thought I’d done the right thing, but I soon realised
that I’d made a serious mistake.

(I’d done happened before I thought. I’d made a  serious  mistake
happened before I realised)

The  man  sitting  next  to  me on the plane was very nervous. He
hadn’t flown before. (He had never flown before)









                               ‐3‐


comparing with present perfect:

Who is that woman? I’ve never seen her before.

We aren’t hungry. We’ve just had lunch.

The house is dirty. They haven’t cleaned it for weeks.

I didn’t know who she was. I’d never seen her before.

We weren’t hungry. We’d just had lunch.

The house was dirty. They hadn’t cleaned it for weeks.


Example from The mayor of casterbridge:

One evening of late summer, before  the  nineteenth  century  had
reached one‐third of its span.

When  the  story  was  told,  the  nineteenth century had already
reached one‐third of its span. This summer was  the  time  before
that.

"before ... have ..."

"after ... have ..."

The perfect in present perfect is connected with present.

The perfect in past perfect is connected with past.