8
votes
How is the present perfect “connected” with the present?
I usually put it in the form "the speaker is choosing to present the past event as relevant to the present".
But either way, the particular relevance (or connection) can vary. Some examples are:
a ...
- 76.6k
5
votes
Omitting the auxiliary 'have' before the past participle
I don't see anything wrong with (1) or (2).
To start out with, I'm not sure that it's correct to analyze this construction as involving an omitted having (or any omitted auxiliary). I'm also not sure ...
- 80.3k
5
votes
Can past perfect continuous tense be substituted for past continuous without any change in meaning?
The point you are missing is that if the order of events is clear without the past perfect continuous, you do not need to use it and can use the past continuous instead. I don't know whether Swan says ...
- 87.7k
4
votes
When is it necessary to use "have had"?
"I had a lot of homework this week." - past simple of have meaning the homework for this week is finished.
"I have a lot of homework this week." - present simple of have meaning the homework for this ...
- 131
4
votes
In the past year
Because the present perfect refers to past time with present relevance, it is not usually used with a specific time reference that does not include the present (such as last year), but it is usually ...
- 76.6k
4
votes
"She has" vs. "she had" been trying to give up smoking for years
First point is correct when she is still at it, i.e., still trying to quit that habit.
Second point is correct when she has quit smoking and now her trying part is in the past.
Both are used ...
- 338
4
votes
Is "He should have gone running away" grammatical?
It really seems to me that "running away" is describing the way in which he ran. We can add some clarifying punctuation:
He should have gone, running away, instead of helping the lion.
(Most ...
- 252
4
votes
Accepted
What tense should I use for describing an ongoing action which has started a long time ago?
I'd use the Present Continuous tense in the first clause, this tells your readers that you are presently occupied. For the second clause, the Simple Past seems the most appropriate, the action—...
- 90.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Which one is correct? "I am suffering from fever since yesterday" or "I am suffering from fever from yesterday"?
The idiomatic way to say this would be to use present perfect instead of present continuous, but with since as the preposition:
I have been suffering from [a] fever since yesterday.
- 151k
4
votes
*Why* is "I've been to <place>" grammatically valid only in perfect constructions?
The reason is that there's two meanings of the verb go in English. There's the go and come back meaning (I go to school every day), and there's the leave/go to meaning (She just upped and went or She ...
- 45.1k
3
votes
"hadn't have killed" vs "hadn't killed"
In his book The Syntactic Phenomena of English, McCawley argues that in a position requiring a non-finite form, a past tense is shifted to perfect "have", and that multiple "have"s are shifted to just ...
- 17.2k
3
votes
Can "would rather" be followed with a past perfect?
Yes: you would use the past perfect to express a wish the past had been different, since the simple past would express a wish for the present or the future. So,
I would rather you had not told ...
- 80.3k
3
votes
Would that be correct ? I finished eating at 7:30 AM. = I have eaten at 7:30 AM
Without further context, "I have eaten at 7:30 AM" indicates that at some time in the past, at least once, you have eaten at that time.
A statement closer in meaning to your first, and similar in ...
- 10.2k
3
votes
I have been person X?
It helps to know that Stephen Fry is well known as a comedian. This is his little joke. When he uses the present perfect to say
You have been watching QI
he means that the quiz program that you ...
- 44.6k
3
votes
Should there be the Past Perfect? “He advised me to do as he said but I didn't pay any…”
You need to sort out the chronological order of events.
He told me something (e.g. he imparted some words of wisdom).
What happened after?
He advised me to follow his indications.
...
- 90.3k
3
votes
"He is said to have known people" vs "He is said to know people"?
In this kind of passive voice structures, we have two timeframes: the time of the reporting verb and the time of the reported state or action. The time of the reporting verb will be reflected by the ...
- 3,190
3
votes
Superlative, present perfect vs past perfect
It depends on what you want to say. It can be that it's still the worst thing you've ever eaten or it was worse than anything you had tried before the point in time you're talking about.
3
votes
What tense is "would have been"?
In English, tense of a finite clause is always marked on the first verb of the finite clause, and is either 'present' or 'past'. (A non-finite clause doesn't have any tense.)
In your example, the ...
- 6,481
3
votes
Why does "we have been over this" mean something different from "we are over this"?
Yes, it is quite a common phrase. In this context 'been over' means 'addressed' or 'discussed'. So you could instead say, "We've addressed/discussed this a thousand times."
- 93
3
votes
Accepted
Why does "we have been over this" mean something different from "we are over this"?
'Go over' is a multi word verb (MWV); these are usually classed as separate lexemes from the simplex verb, and often have dissimilar meanings. Consider
He looked up the road. [simplex verb + ...
- 80.5k
2
votes
Why “hadn’t gone” and not “didn’t go”?
Most grammar books try to explain the English tenses as if they were mathematical formulas - there's correct and there's not.
The problem is that the English tenses (and the English grammar, in ...
- 866
2
votes
When is it necessary to use "have had"?
If you were asked whether you have ever had an accident while driving, you might answer that you had a couple of accidents when you were younger. It is of course the past tense. If you reported this ...
- 511
2
votes
Usage of 'future perfect' versus 'future simple'
Both ways of speaking are grammatical, but they different in their use.
I will finish all my money by the end of the week.
Use of will often indicates a promise or decision. In this case, it could ...
- 131
2
votes
'could have + past participle' to talk about possible events in the future
The construction you're suggesting might be reasonable in certain contexts. The HP sentence would seem natural in the context of a discussion about a specific time in the future (the ides of March) or ...
- 3,376
2
votes
Nested Flashback - Past perfect tense w/in present tense or Past tense w/in past tense or Past perfect tense w/in past tense
First of all, see my answer to a similar question on Writers.SE, it covers many different flashback-present time combos. But it does not cover the second flashback, which is very simple. The second ...
- 312
2
votes
Accepted
Which one is correct? (Present Perfect Continuous vs Present Perfect)
Both are correct. They mean different things.
My sister and her boyfriend have not been going out together for a long time.
They stopped dating each other a long time ago (to be going out = to be ...
- 17.9k
2
votes
Accepted
"I would have given you everything I have."
It isn't strictly the past, it is the conditional perfect.
It would have been equally grammatical to have said I would have given you everything I had - which you may find more acceptable.
But as @...
- 64.5k
2
votes
Why are there many internet grammar lesson examples using past perfect with "before" but not with "after"?
You do not have to use past perfect with before. In fact, before takes the place of past perfect.
I ate before I swam. Perfectly fine sentence that conveys the meaning. The order of events is ...
- 7,152
2
votes
Accepted
Do I need Past perfect tense when the order of verbs is from first to last?
Sometimes you do; sometimes you don't.
Sometimes, you want to clearly portray something as preexisting, so you do use pluperfect:
I had met her dozens of times, but this time was the first time I
...
- 10.4k
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