http://www.viking.coe.uh.

edu/~ychung/
CUIN6320/Class10/branching.ppt

English Simple Perfect Tenses

By Yung-Chen Chung

Present

Past

Past

Perfect

Perfect

Perfect

Tense

Tense

Tense

Quiz on the simple perfect tenses

Present Perfect Tense

have/has (not) + VERB-ed2

An action or emotion started in the past

and has continued into the present.
Example ~ I have read that book.

A moment in
the past

The present
moment

 Actions that are more long-term in nature

are used more in the present perfect tense
than in the present perfect continuous
tense.
Example~
Wendy has made a lot of money since
2002.

 An action is complete.
Example~ I have washed the dishes.
(The job is finished.)

 An action has been done several times.

Example~ Joe has read this book few
times.

Note: The time of an action is not specified.

Example~ The teacher has corrected it.
When specified, simple past is used.
Example~ The teacher corrected it last night.

Past Perfect Tense

had (not) + VERB-ed2

An action happened in the past before

another action in the past.
Example~
Kevin had waited for an hour when he decided to leave.

Time 1

Time 2

The
present
moment

 The past perfect tense is often used with

by + a time.
Example~
By five oclock Dr. Lees lecture had ended.

 If it is not clear which action happened first,

it is necessary to use the past perfect.
Example~
When Dr. Lee had given her lecture, she sat down.
(She stood and gave her lecture; then she sat down.)

Compare the following sentence~

When Dr. Lee gave her lecture, she sat down.
(She was speaking and sitting at the same time.)

Future Perfect Tense

will (not) + have + VERBed2

An action starting in the past, present or

future will be finished at some time in the
future.
Example~ Mark already has his Masters,
and he will have gotten his Ph.D. before hes 30.

The past

The present
moment

A Future time

 The future perfect is often used with

by + a time,
before + a time
in + a time.
Example~
Mary will have gotten her new car in three weeks.

Practice
Choose the best answer

Question 1:
David _________ five books so far.
a.) publishes
b.) is publishing
c.) has published
d.) has been published
Click for the answer key:

(c)

Practice
Choose the best answer

Question 2:
_____ you ever _____ that man?
a.) Are; seeing
b.) Have; seen
c.) Were; seeing
d.) Did; see
Click for the answer key:
(b)

Practice
Choose the best answer

Question 1:
When I woke up this morning, my parents ______ already.
a.) leave
b.) had left
c.) were leaving
d.) left

Click for the answer key:

(b)

Practice
Choose the best answer

Question 2:
John _________ a panda before he moved to Si Chuan, China.
a.) had never seen
b.) has seen
c.) never saw
d.) never sees
Click for the answer key:

(a)

Practice
Choose the best answer

Question1:
She __________ enough Chinese to communicate before
she moves to Beijing.
a.) will learn
b.) learns
c.) is learning
d.) will have learned
Click for the answer key:
(d)

Practice
Choose the best answer

Question 2:
By the time I finish this course, I __________ ten tests.
a.) will take
b.) will have taken
c.) will be taking
d.) have taken
Click for the answer key:
(b)

Quiz
Complete the following sentences using the correct simple perfect tense

1.) By next Saturday you _____ (stay) with us for three weeks.
Click for the
answer key

will have stayed

2.) Mrs. Wang _____ (teach) English for more than 20 years.
Click for the have taught
answer key

3.) It was he who _____ (give) us the piano.

Click for the
answer key

had given

4.) They _____ already _____ (go) when we arrived.

Click for the
answer key

had already gone

5.) We shall _____ (grow) old before we learn it really well.

Click for the
answer key

have grown

Congratulations!
You have successfully completed this quiz!

128.6. English as a Second Language

(ESL), Grade 4.
(30) Second language acquisition/writing.
(A) use basic capitalization and punctuation correctly such
as capitalizing names and first letters in sentences and
using periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
(E) employ increasingly complex grammatical structures in
writing.
(i) demonstrate knowledge of verbs, tenses, and
auxiliaries, wh-words, and pronouns/antecedents;
(iii) demonstrate knowledge of parts of speech;
(F) construct correct sentences, including a variety of
sentence types and styles.