In Past tenses^x, Present perfect^x

Dear Teachers,I would like to know how the past progressive tense works, and when it is correct to use it, in contradiction to the simple past tense?Moreover, I would like to get a terse explanation about 'present perfect progressive', I'm not even sure about the tense's name.I'm convined that it...

Lawrence H. Song wrote:1-1. I should have told A that B is C's wife. 1-2. I should have told A that B was C's wife. In the case B and C are still married, which one is right? You can use either sentence.What about B and C are now divorced? To express this meaning clearly, I might say "I...

Thanks. Although it's still weird for me as I don't have the equivalent of present perfect in my language. There's always a result of our actions in the past right? Where's the point in time that things stopped to happen? For present perfect they're still happening and for past tense they've...

Hi, "There was no cockroach to have made her ill." At first I thought "to have made her ill" allows for only the interpretation of "past perfect infinitive" but could it also be taken as "present perfect infinitive", even though the main verb "was" is in the past tense? It's a perfect...

Hi Teleostomi, I'm in over my head here on infinitive tenses, if any there be. I'm going to try to look it up. Perhaps someone else will come by in the meantime. But I have a feeling you may be right about the present perfect. The missing cockroach would have been in the past, while the time...

Thanks avangi and CJ, I was all confused! I should have written like this: "There was no cockroach to have made her ill." At first I thought "to have made her ill" allows for only the interpretation of "past perfect infinitive" but could it also be taken as "present perfect infinitive",...

Encountered is much more formal than met, but both are correct in your sentence. Ran into is not correct in your example, but run into (very informal) would work. (Ran is simple past tense. Have run is an example of the present perfect tense. You've is the contraction for You have.)

Hi MkyolI'd like to point out a few things:- The word 'since' does not work in your sentence as it is written. It seems that you want to use the word 'since' to talk about 'from a point in the past up to now', but that doesn't work well with the verb 'started'. The start of something is usually...

The third one requires some caution. If it is said quite soon after the informing event took place, it's fine as it is. The past tense in the main clause can be thought of as a substitute for a present perfect. But the relative correctness in such a context should not be taken as...

Mountain wrote:Sometimes when I want to ask my friend who he had for the last semester but I'm not certain which to use."Who did you have for *** last semester?" Should it be had instead of have? No But had didn't sound right to me. Good. The word did is the word that establishes the simple past...