Search results for 'tag:Present perfect tag:Present progressive' matching tags 'Present perfect' and 'Present progressive'

Re: A myriad of grammar problems :(

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:02:52 GMT

Thanks for confirming what I got right, and what I got wrong, appreciated :).

I'll try the answers so, but just to let you bear in mind, when it comes to tenses, I have to choose between the following options:

Present Perfect
Present Simple
Present Progressive
Past Simple

And...obviously Past, present, future for the Time Reference.

Here's my answers so:

Exercise 2
Look through the following sentences and select the TENSE and the time reference used.

E.g. 1. If I won a lot of money, I'd travel the world.	Past Simple	Future
2. I wish I had more time to finish this exercise.
3. When you have finished, you can go home.
4. 'Major calls for peace summit' (headline).
5. I'm meeting some friends at the pub tonight.
6. We've got the next lesson in the language library.
7. I am to give a speech at the conference next week.

Question 2: Past Simple, Present Time Ref.
Question 3: Present Progressive, Future Time Ref.
Question 4: Present Simple, Present Time Ref.
Question 5: Present Progressive, Future Time Ref.
Question 6: Present Perfect, Present Time Ref.
Question 7: Present Simple, Future Time Ref.

Re: No subject

Kooyeen — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:12:41 GMT

Oh my, I don't even know what to say now, LOL. I always go a little crazy when I hear the words "standard" and "non-standard". Forget about standard and non-standard English. Let's consider "English used in general by Americans, without considering regionalisms" (but it would be interesting to know about the situation in the UK too). Now the question is, can anyone think of some patterns where the subject is left out?

I can think of:
- questions with "you" and present progressive or present perfect: (Are)(You)Getting ready for tonight? (Have)(You)Been here long?
- offers with "you" and "want": (Do)(You)Wanna come along?

Any others? Other subjects, other verbs? I am also thinking of (I)(Have)Never heard of that, but it only seems to work with "never" and when the subject is "I".
You might be wondering why I am asking about this. Well, I realized I tend to leave out some parts, and I realized I have no idea if what I do is actually done by native speakers or not. (I)(Have)No idea where and how I picked this up (See? I would tend to leave out subject and verb, and just say "No idea where I picked it up"). One of the weird things I tend to do is leaving out the subject "I" with the present progressive. Example: "Oh sorry, I was distracted.... (I) was trying to fix my pc."

Remember all this applies to informal contexts and fast or not careful speech.
(Does)(Anyone have)Any advice? Ooops, that's another one. Thanks.

Durational aspect of progressive tenses

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:05:30 GMT

Hi,
I was told that a present or past progressive tense like "is sleeping" or "was sleeping" denotes a temporary action or activity and the present perfect or past perfect progressive is used to indicate duration.

I don't understand why a present progressive is one that denotes a temporary action and I don't particularily see clearly why a present perfect tense is the one that emphasizes (denotes strongly?) the element duration and a present progressive tense is not, if I interpreted what was told correctly.

Both of the two pairs in mixed tenses below seem to denote duration, not temporary actions per se.
eg,

John was sleeping when I walked in.
John had been sleeping when I walked in.

John is sleeping now.
John has been sleeping since morning.

Simple past or past simple

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:55:32 GMT

Hi everybody,

Why do all the Grammar books use the expressions "simple present" and "simple past", although all the other tenses start with the tense-marker and add the aspect-marker then: present progressive, present perfect, present perfect progressive, past progressive, past perfect, past perfect progressive.
Couldn't it be more logical to then say "present simple" and "past simple"?

Yours, D.S. Elfers

Simple past or past simple?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:47:13 GMT

Hi everybody,

I'm a teacher of English at a German Grammar School and after 12 years of experience I'm still wondering about the following puzzle:
Why do all the Grammar books stick to the "confusing" expressions simple past and simple present, although it seems quite more logical to say past simple and present simple? I really prefer these expressions in my classes, because all the other tenses just start with the "tense marker" and go on with the "aspect marker": present progressive, present perfect, past progressive, past perfect.
Can I go on using my preferable expressions?

Yours, D.S. Elfers

Re: Names of different tenses

CalifJim — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:23:08 GMT

Here are some Present - Past pairs:

Simple present - Simple past [He takes. He took.]

Present progressive - Past progressive [He is taking. He was taking.]

Present perfect - Past perfect [He has taken. He had taken.]

Present perfect progressive - Past perfect progressive [He has been taking. He had been taking.]

(Simple) Future (of the Present) (will) - ( Simple) Future of the Past (would) [He will take. He would take.]

Future (of the Present) progressive - Future (of the Past) progressive [He will be taking. He would be taking.]

Future (of the Present) perfect - Future (of the Past) perfect [He will have taken. He would have taken.]

Future (of the Present) perfect progressive - Future (of the Past) perfect progressive [He will have been taking. He would have been taking.]

(Future of the Past -- (with would)-- is also called "Conditional".)

(Progressive is also called Continuous.)

Caution: Not all discussions of tense use the same names for the tenses.

Re: How to remember tenses?

Goodman — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:25:45 GMT

Huygen,

By reading your post, something tells me that your English level should be beyond the question you just asked, and able to categorize the tenses already.

There are 3 basic tenses: Simple past â present â future

There are past progressive- present progressive- future progressive.

Then there past perfect- present perfect âfuture perfect which is not commonly used.

I am curious, may be I am missing something. Why do you have to memorize the tenses?

We should be able use it according to the sense of time.

You are walking â you are doing something at this minute. So itâs present progressive

I walk 2 miles everyday after work. Simple present, used to reflect a routine.

They were watching TV when you called last night.- Simple past progressive.

The perfect tenses are more complex and you may have to do some reading and studying on your own.

Here is something which may be helpful: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

Function of tenses

gordo604 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:50:06 GMT

Hello,

I need help with checking whether these verb tenses are present perfect, present simple, present progressive, past simple.

I put my answers in (brackets)

2. I wish I had more time to finish this exercise. (present simple)
3. When you have finished, you can go home. (present progressive)
4. 'Major calls for peace summit' (a headline). (present progressive)
5. I'm meeting some friends at the pub tonight. (present progressive)
6. We've got the next lesson in the language library. (present perfect)
7. I am to give a speech at the conference next week. (present simple) Thanks so much.

Re: I've been "wanting" to visit Paris all my life.

Avangi — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:52:43 GMT

Hi Viceidol,

Thus far we have examples of three tenses: simple present, present progressive, and present perfect progressive. As Philip says, the present progressive seems awkward with "I am wanting." I don't know if it's considered incorrect.

The other two seem fine, correct, and natural. I want to go to Europe. (simple present) I've been wanting to go to Europe. (present perfect progressive)

I expect I might use "I am wanting" (I'm wanting) in certain cases similar to "I'm thinking." I'm thinking I might run out of gas. I'm thinking I shouldn't be spending so much time on my homework.

When I switch from a standard (stick) shift to an automatic transmission, I'm wanting to push in the clutch when I come to a full stop. I'm wanting to ask her for a divorce, but I keep thinking about the children. Somehow, these seem natural to me.

I am wanting has the same feel as I keep wanting.

Best wishes, - A.

Edit. Hi Yankee, I got interrupted while I was writing this, and didn't see your post.

Re: What is the difference? Present Progressive VS Present Perfect Progressive.

Juno Kim — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:27:01 GMT

She is eating dinner for one hour. / She has been eating dinner for one hour.

He is watching TV all day. / He has been watching TV all day.

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Actually, these two cases are the point that I eagar to know.

So, let me give you another example, if you don't mind. :-)

How is your vacation going so far? / How has your vacation been going so far?

You may say that we can't use the expression 'so far' with present progressive tense.

However, people are using that kind of tense forms now. (You can see them in the Google site right now.)

Thank you in advance. ;-)