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Chalk ‘n’ Talk 01 – Perfect Tenses

Part 1 – Simple Present Perfect

Notes

1. Remember, in grammatical terms, perfect means completed or finished.

2. Usually, the present perfect tense uses since or for to help in telling us when it
occurred:
a. I have lived here since 1990.
b. I have lived here for 12 years.
Use since when you are telling us the date; use for when telling us how long.

3. A lot of English speakers use the simple past instead of the past perfect.
Compare:
a. Before I came here, I never studied grammar.
b. Before I came here, I had never studied grammar.

4. Usually the future perfect and past perfect are in need of being set up in the
time line with adverbials such as: by the time... before... etc.

5. Notice the verb tenses: By the time I turn sixty, I will have had many years of
enjoyment.

Transcript

In this lesson we’re going to look at the simple perfect verb tenses, and I have
three examples here.

Let’s take a look at them.

Screen

1. Have you seen that movie?

2. I had never eaten pizza before I arrived here.
3. By the time the ski season finishes next April, I
will have probably skied for 50 times.

Number one: “Have you seen that movie?” That’s the present perfect.

Number two: “I had never eaten pizza before I arrived here.” That’s the past
perfect verb tense.

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CT 01 – Ad vanced Grammar – Perfe ct Tenses

And finally, the future perfect, “By the time the ski season finishes next April, I will
have probably skied 50 times.”

Now, looking at these examples, you might question somebody skiing 50 times.
However, at our ski hill nearby a lot of our students can actually get up there and
snowboard nearly fifty times a year. So when you get a season pass, you get a lot
of use out of it.

Anyway, let’s find out where these verb tenses fit in a timeline. Let’s take a look at
this timeline.

So number one, “Have you seen that movie?” The question is asking if you have
seen that movie some time in the past up until now. So the answer could be simple
past: “yes, I saw that movie last night.” or “I haven’t seen that movie.” But if you
answer it, “Yes, I have seen that movie.” then we don’t know exactly when it
happened and, for the conversation and question-answer, perhaps that’s not
important, so you have a choice on that one.

Number two, “I had never eaten pizza before I arrived here.” Notice how this one is
set up with this simple past. And when we say “before … arrived”, that would be
here – some time in the past – I arrived and, before that, I had never eaten pizza –
past perfect. So quite often when the past perfect is used, we have to put a simple
past first and set it up with one of these things before – and there’s that adverbial
“before”.

And number three – the future perfect – same thing as the past as in that we’re
setting it up with a time in the future, and that time is next April. So “by the time
the ski season finishes,” and look at that verb – it’s in the present – next April,
even though it’s a future idea, that’s somewhere out here, right there. So the future
perfect is going to be along this way. So “I will have probably skied” happens along
here, up until the future, which would be the finish of the ski season in April.

So you can see that the past perfect and the future perfect are usually set up nicely
with one of these adverbials “before” and “by the time” and that will help you
understand exactly when these verb tenses are happening [what point in time
these verb tenses refer to].

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CT 01 – Ad vanced Grammar – Perfe ct Tenses

Part 2 - Present Perfect Continuous or Present Perfect Progressive

Notes

1. The present perfect continuous is the same as the present perfect progressive.

2. This verb tense is usually used to indicate the duration of an activity that started
in the past and continues to the present. In these situations, time adverbials
such as for, since, all day, all morning, etc. are used.

3. When there is no adverbial mentioned (see above), there is a meaning of a

general activity, which is in progress recently or lately.

4. With certain verbs such as work, study, live, teach, there is not much
difference in meaning between this verb tense and the present perfect when you
use since or for.

Look at these examples of the present perfect continuous (progressive):

 I have been sleeping in lately. I must try to get up earlier.

 I have been waiting for you for two hours! Where have you been?
 I've been reviewing for tomorrow's exam since early this morning, and I
think I now know the material.
 John's been sleeping. You can see he's yawning.
 Susan’s been running. Her face is all red.
 I've been living here since 1990 but I've only been teaching for 5 years.
 I've lived here since 1990 but I've only taught for five years.

Reference: Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Azar ISBN 0-13-
958661-X

Transcript

The present perfect continuous or the present perfect progressive - depending on

who your grammar teacher is or which grammar book you’re reading.

How do they work? Well, here are some examples of how the present perfect
continuous works.

Screen

1. It has been snowing but it has stopped now.

2. Have you been swimming? Your eyes look bloodshot.
[bloodshot = when your eyes are irritated and red]
3. Joanna has been running since she was 8 years old.
4. I’ve been living here for 10 years.

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CT 01 – Ad vanced Grammar – Perfe ct Tenses

Let’s take a look at number one: “It has been snowing but it has stopped now.” So
there’s your present perfect continuous, “It has been snowing”. This is an action
that has just stopped or recently finished, so quite often the present perfect
continuous is used there. Notice that I have said, “but it has stopped now”.

If it was still snowing, you might want to do it this way: “It has been snowing for
four hours” or “It has been snowing since 10.00 this morning.” That means that
the snow continues to fall. So when you want to do it that way, with the idea of it
continuing, put a “for” or “since” after this, and of course you don’t bother with that
part [but it has stopped now].

Number two is a little bit of the same thing. An example here, “Have you been
swimming? Your eyes look bloodshot.” That means your eyes turn red because
you’re swimming maybe without goggles. “Have you been swimming” the question
means not now, but something that has just recently stopped or completed. So
there’s a question with the present perfect continuous.

Number three is an action that is repeated over time – quite often these hobbies or
these sports are done this way. “Joanna has been running since she was 8 years
old.” In other words she is pretty fit [healthy] now. So, “Joanna has been running
since…” – and there’s your “since” or “for” you would put in there – as I have in
number four. “I’ve been living here for 10 years.”

Now the verbs like in number four: live, work and study, quite often the present
perfect continuous is used interchangeably with the present perfect. But probably,
most people would use the present perfect continuous to answer the question,
“How long have you been doing something?” And the main ones that come to mind
for us [Brian’s students] are: “How long have you been living in this town?”; “How
long have you been studying English?”; “How long have you been working at that
job?”. So the present perfect continuous is quite often used for those ones.

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CT 01 – Ad vanced Grammar – Perfe ct Tenses

Study Tip – How to Do a Verb Story

Here’s a fun way you can practice your verb tenses.

In this case I’m using the verb “wake up.” And I’m going to use the same verb
throughout to keep it simple, but after you get used to this sought of thing and
you’re doing your drill orally, you can change the verbs to anything you want,
obviously.

Alright, let’s take a look at these examples: “These days I wake up early.” So I
have my adverbial that tells me when it’s going to be happening. And in this case it
becomes the simple present, so I can start with that.

“These Days I wake up early,” then I go to the simple past: “Yesterday I woke up
at 5.30” (which is early). You can fill what ever you want in there [to complete the
sentence].

The day before yesterday, I woke up at 4.30.” Another simple past [tense].

Since last Monday then (now we go [to the] present perfect) “I have woken up four
times”, or three times – whatever your count is.

Then we go to the past perfect here, “Before this week however, I had never woken
up so early.”

And then we go to the future, “Tomorrow I will wake up at 3.30 am or “Tomorrow I

am going to wake up at 5.30 am”

And then finally, we go to the future perfect, “By the end of this week, I will have
woken up early five times.” So that goes on to the future.

So you can see how practicing these verb tenses in this drill, although it gets a little
repetitious [repetitive], but you can also put it into to the passive, you can do
active voice verbs and you can just drill yourselves on these and it should get a
little easier to use the different verb tenses.

Example ‘verb stories’:

Did I fly to Vancouver last weekend? Yes, I flew to Vancouver last weekend. In fact,
I flew there the weekend before as well, but the weekend before that, I didn’t fly
there. So, I have flown there only two times this month. Before this year, I had
never flown to Vancouver. By the end of the year, I will have flown there about 10
times, which is way too expensive!

Did I steal that eraser? Yes, I stole that eraser. And, I stole an eraser yesterday
too. The day before, I actually stole two erasers. So far this week, I have stolen
four erasers. And look at me now: I am stealing my classmates eraser. Before this
week, however, I had never stolen anything! By the end of the week, I will have
probably stolen 10 erasers.

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CT 01 – Ad vanced Grammar – Perfe ct Tenses

You can see each example begins with a question and an answer in the affirmative.
Then you can cycle through the simple past, the present perfect, the past perfect,
and finally the future perfect. Notice, however, the addition of different kinds of
connectors such as probably, And, so, however, etc.

Other verbs that can be used for practice:

write leave ride shrink sing take teach

tear lay lie hide bring fall grow

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