Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[mirage]

hi, i need your help, please.
i am learning english as a second language and i find the perfect tense(past, present and prograssive) very difficult because i do not have it in my mother language. so , may someone help me and explaine for me, please?

[obelix]

Perfect tenses are used to discuss an action which occurs at one time but is seen in relation to another time.

I ran out of gas is a simple statement about a past event. I have run out of gas is a statement about a past event but it is connected to the present.

I have waited for you This is the present perfect and shows that the action occurred in the past and was completed in the present.

John has visited Paris many times. The action occurred frequently in the past and has therefore become part of John's present experience.

I had waited for you for over an hour - the past perfect relates to an action further in the past that is completed in relation to a later time.

I had been out shopping all day when I suddenly felt hungry.
The past perfect shows that in the past , one event occurred before the other.

He should have finished the job by Sunday. The conditional perfect suggests that something occurred at a later time to affect the completion of the job.

By Sunday he will have finished the job. The future perfect indicates that the job will be completed by a definite time in the future.

Progressive tenses are used to draw our attention to the continuity of an action rather than its completion.

There are some verbs that by their own meaning imply a continuity and so do not need a progressive form. (I live in Toronto already says it. I am living in Toronto, the progressive form, says it twice.
On the other hand, compare he worked at General Motors with the progressive form, he was working at General Motors which stresses the continuity of the action.

The progressive is often helped out by adverbials which express continuity.
He is always working in his garden.

He must have been painting his boat for a week now
I' ve been cleaning the chimney. The combination of perfect and progressive shows a man thoroughly involved in a past process of some duration with immediate relevance to the sooty present.

[Tinadu]

Thank you,obelix
The information you offered is very useful.
I always confuse these tenses.

Tina

[mirage]

hi
thank you too much for your information .it is really useful and helps.