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Questions tagged [perfect-aspect]

For questions about the perfect, a construction generally formed in English with a form of "have" followed by a past participle. The English perfect may be classified either as a grammatical "aspect" or "tense".

The "perfect" in English is a grammatical construction generally composed of a form of the auxiliary "have" followed by the past participle form of a verb. The English perfect may be classified either as a grammatical "aspect" or "tense"; it does not fit perfectly into either of these categories.

The perfect in English can freely combine with the progressive aspect, the simple past tense, the will-future, or any of the other modal verbs like can or may.

There are special tags for the following combinations involving the perfect:

The use of the present perfect is often more complicated than the use of the perfect in combined tenses, so there is a tag especially for the present perfect:

There is also a special tag for one common difficulty, deciding between the the simple past and the past perfect:

280 questions
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What İs The Grammatical Logic of Continuative Perfect

What is the origin and logic behind the perfect aspect which is used for actions started in the past and ongoing at present time or past states which is still valid at present time. My question isn't about the progressive aspect.I am especially…
Help Me911
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How to treat negation in the perfect

(1) We haven't spoken since the incident. If the negation is regarded as being included in the situation described by the perfect, the perfect haven't spoken can be said to have a continuative/universal reading, because the perfect haven't spoken…
JK2
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The continuative and non-continuative readings of the perfect form (have + past participle)

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 141) has this section: Here, Tr is the time referred to (by the verb or verb group, e.g., have told, have been, told, was), and To is the time of orientation, which equates to the time of…
JK2
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Expressing both completion and duration with perfect tense

Let's say that it's 2 p.m. now, and I ran this morning for 1 hour (normally I run for 30 minutes). I want to express that I'm still tired from running - so is it correct to say, "I have run for 1 hour"? It's not enough just to say "I have run"…
Lucas
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Origin of perfect tense

The past, present and future tenses quite well represent what they are supposed to mean or be. But what's "perfect" about the perfect tense? I am not asking for the usage of the perfect tense. I just need to know why they are called so. Thank you.
Portcall
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has bored - is it correct?

Imagine that you are very experienced person, like Dorian Gray. You are tired of life, there is nothing new for you. And you are saying: "I’ve tried everything, and everything has bored". Is has bored correct?
madeinbarabinsk
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"by now" with present perfect

I'm trying to figure out if it is possible to use the expression "by now" in a present perfect sentence. I.e. "He has been called three times by now" "He has come back home by now" "I have had seven guitars by now" "I have met him by now" Are…
IGO
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A grammar rule (Present perfect)

Is this rule correct? when 'for' and 'since' are used in a sentence(in present perfect tense) to show duration of an action they imply that the action is still in progress. Without the 'for', the last sentence suggests that the person doesn't live…
Monica
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Q: "Did I charter a train and take it to the sea?" vs. A: "I did charter a train and took it to the sea." How to explain to a learner the usage diff.?

"Did I charter a train and take it to the sea?" vs. so this is simple past tense. What do we call the verb that changes the tense, while the others retain their present base form? But now in the answer form (the previous is inquisitive and not…
William Dodds
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The auxiliary verb (using in perfect tenses) in sentences with 2 or more notional verbs

There is an example: Today I have written a letter and done my homework. Or is it necessarily to put the auxiliary verb before done? Somebody has told me that we can ommit the auxiliary verb in such cases when we use perfect continious…
Eugene Chipko
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When to use the perfect aspect versus the simple aspect?

I have been studying on the progressive and simple aspects. I understand their format and their nature. However, I still don't understand how to decide when to use one or the other. For instance: Jeb wrote the first draft of his essay or Jeb has…
Pablo
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Present Perfect vs Present Simple (Murphy)

Murphy 4-th edition, additional exercises page 303, ex 2, question 12: This is a nice restaurant, isn't it? Is this the first time (you are / you've been) here? It seems I have heard the first variant (with "you are") several times and I have…
viatore
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"She is said to have been born in the 3rd century BC"?

Consider the sentence: He is said to be the best golf player alive. From this I can easily infer: People say that he is the best golf player alive. Consider another sentence, then: She is said to have been born in the 3rd century BC. Which is…
user132181
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Use of past perfect

We’re having a discussion here on whether or not to use the past perfect in following sentence: The cargo was visible through the gap and was noted to have (had?) sustained damage. Which is correct and why?
Pascal
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Why perfect aspect was used in this sentence

While reading a book, I came across the sentence: What I would give to have met him. My question is why did the author use have met?
luki8797
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