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".
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"...mustn't have done..": can it mean reproach for a past action or prohibition of a future action?
Can "You mustn't have done that" have a similar meaning to "You shouldn't have done that" / "You were not supposed to do it (but you did)"?
(not logical probability but obligation)
Since we have the ...
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"I have been reading your letter with pleasure"? [closed]
Is this a correct choice of tense? If yes, what conditions would justify the use of Present Perfect Continuous?
It seems much more natural to say
I have read your letter.
(I have recently ...
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PrP Continuous vs. PrP | Nuance?
I have a question regarding the usage of the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous.
So first, here's the context: I was playing an online game with a couple friends and in this game you ...
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Until you have confirmed + past or present?
Which one of these sentences is correct?
The contract will not be signed until you have checked the manuscript and confirmed that everything is
ok.
The contract will not be signed until you ...
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[pronoun]'ve for possessives [duplicate]
My sister just wrote me, "I've a meeting a noon." The contraction "I've" stuck out. I've always thought the contraction was limited to the perfect tense, and do not recognize it as an indicator of ...
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perfect infinitives with main verbs
My question is about usage of perfect infinitives with main verbs e.g.
I would like to have lived in the 13th century.
She was going to have worked in her mother's business, but decided
...
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What is the difference between has gone and went in this context? [duplicate]
A: Is Mr. Bob at home?
B: Sorry, he isn't at home. He___to Hong Kong for vacation?
A. went
B. has gone
C. is going
Which one is correct answer? and why it is not the other ones?
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Can the Future Perfect be used in a main clause of a conditional sentence that has a stative/non-action verb in the if-clause?
A student asked me this question today about a sentence like:
(1) If Canada's population is 40 million, the Canadian economy will have been more dynamic.
I was asked if it corresponded, in a future ...
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What does "Compound Tense" mean? [closed]
I have problems with learning about "Compound Tenses".
Please help me.
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I only watched or I have only watched [duplicate]
If someone ask me
"Do you like Indian movie?"
Which tenses would fit the answer to the question ?
"yes I do. But I watched only some of them"
"yes I do. But I have wathed only some of them"
"yes I ...
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Tense for second sentence in conditional statements
I run into the following sitatution:
If he had bothered Mike, he would have bothered him back so much that he would have forgotten about bothering anyone in his life again.
Is 'would have' the ...
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Future perfect or simple in this context
In a movie I saw, a young boy told to an old man that he would be gone for a long time when something happens. I'm trying to figure out what the boy actually said and what tense should have been used (...
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Should “If I ever had a philosophy” be in the past perfect?
Excerpted from The Hills of Triumph:
If I ever had a philosophy with which to govern my social life, even long after learning that social is often at the detriment of personal, it would have been ...
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Simple Past and Present Perfect [closed]
could you possibly enlighten me about any differences between 2 sentences below:
(a) I went to Warsaw this year.
(b) I have been to Warsaw this year.
Thank you very much in advance!
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Should “How long were you at work?” have a simple or a compound tense?
I would like to know, if the following sentence can ever be correct in any context?
How long were you at work?
Or it must be:
How long had you been at work?
For example:
How long were you ...
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Dare + have done
Here is an example from an old book. I know it’s old but it can’t be simply discarded, I hope.
"I never dare have spoken — never dare have told you that my love for you was killing me"
So, I ...
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Can we use past perfect progressive in the context where present tense is predominantly used?
As I understand, past perfect is used to express an action that had happened before something else in the past. But in the paragraph I came across, there appeared past perfect progressive in the ...
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Present perfect continuous
Are the answers I chose correct. My choices are in bold.
I have been pumping/I have pumped up three tyres. Would you like to do the forth?
I have been greasing/I have greased my car. That's why my ...
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Simple past sounds better but past perfect seems more accurate
I think it's grammatically more accurate to say,"The market was closed after a virus had been found." However, it sounds "better" to say,"The market was closed after a virus was found." Grammatically, ...
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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 ...
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Can I use the 3rd conditional that way? [closed]
Is the sentence given below grammatically correct?
Had you born two days later and it would have been difficult to celebrate your birthdays.
Is it the only option to use the third conditional to ...
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Why present perfect in “When the night has come”?
In the song “Stand by Me”, we see a sentence like “when the night has come.”
I was taught that in a when clause, we use the past tense, yet the present perfect has been used in the sentence cited ...
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Present and past perfect dilemma
This sentence is giving me trouble:
For several days I (have/had) not had the chance to see her until a
few hours ago.
I think had is correct because the time reference is a few hours ago, which ...
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"Would remain" vs. "would have remained"
What's the difference in meaning between the following two sentences?
He thought that he would remain young.
He thought that he would have remained young.
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Present perfect or simple past [duplicate]
Why is it better to use simple past than present perfect in the first six sentences?
1.Did you win the game of chess?
2.Did you see Ann?
3.Did you call Jane?
4.When did you join the company?
5.Did ...
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could versus be able
Let me start by saying what is written in grammar books on this issue and after that I will put my question. (Take heed that this usage of "could" ONLY refers to the past and ONLY to affirmative ...
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"has"+perfect in reported speech of the future
(1) I will jump out from behind the couch. Then I will tell him: "I have been in the room all along."
(2) I will pronounce him dead. Then I will tell him: "You have been pronounced dead....
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What to use for hypothetically completed future actions
I was talking to a friend where I had to make a hypothetical statement about an activity that was completed in the future. So I came up with the following statements.
If he continued college, he ...
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Past/Present tense in a conditional statement
I'm not an English speaker. Even though I do understand conditional statements that are written by others but when it comes to my turn I still feel confused and don't really know how to organize it.
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Speculative conditional: Why does it use the past tense or past perfect tense?
We use simple past to state a hypothetical present situation that we would like to speculate about (If they were here, I would be happy), past perfect for a hypothetical past (had they been here, I ...
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