what the rules and uses of 'present perfect tense' in english grammar?why is it that most of the people get confused with the usage of this tense?is it true that we should never mention time of the action when we use this tense?
2006-06-10 16:02:46 · 3 answers · asked by sncsrinivasan 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Primary & Secondary Education
The word "perfect" in "present perfect" does not mean flawless, but rather comes from Latin "perficio" (I complete) and indicates that the action of the verb is completed. "Present" means that we are presently in the state of having completed something, e.g.
present perfect = I have written (I am currently in the state of having written something)
past perfect (aka pluperfect) = I had written
future perfect = I will have written
You are correct that you should not give the time of the action when using the present perfect tense, e.g. "I have written this letter yesterday" is wrong. If you give a specific time, it needs to be in the simple past, e.g. "I wrote this letter yesterday".
bunstihl's example is not giving a time of the action, it is giving a number of occurrences which is not the same thing.
2006-06-15 10:00:10 · answer #1 · answered by kslnet 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Here's a link to a page that explains the usage of the "present perfect tense"
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html
2006-06-10 16:30:00 · answer #2 · answered by Sandtone 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Present perfect tense is formed with the helping verbs "have" or "has" plus the past participle of the verb. It is generally used to imply something has already happened and continues to happen now, or has already been completed.
Example: We have read "Dreams" by Langston Hughes.
Note that if we said WHEN we read it, we would change the verb tense to past tense. We read "Dreams" by Langston Hughes last week.
Example: The phone has rung three times tonight.
(Note that this one works with a time.)
2006-06-10 16:26:59 · answer #3 · answered by bunstihl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋