Search results for 'tag:Tenses tag:Past perfect' matching tags 'Tenses' and 'Past perfect'

Re: HISTORY OF ENGLISH HELP!!!

Cool Breeze — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:55:13 GMT

hazeleyedgirl

What do the following words have in common?
What has happened to them in Modern English?
wilt, hast, thine, art

You all fail! Any fool can tell that the words are old. Of course they are old in an exam based on Old English!

What do the following words have in common? - They are all grammatically restricted to the second person singular; in modern English: you will, you have, yours, [you] are.

What has happened to them in Modern English?

There was no future tense in Old English even though the predecessor of will was sometimes used to indicate future action. Its meaning was "to want, to desire" and will has mostly lost this meaning. It is still present in some contexts, for example when will is used with if: You may come if you will (= if you want to).

So, the meaning of wilt/will has changed and the inflected form is no longer used.

As there was no perfect tense in Old English, hast/have has acquired a new use. In addition to the Old English use, which remains in Modern English, it is now used as a present perfect auxiliary. The perfect tense was developing in Old English and sentences corresponding to modern I have written it were sometimes uttered but the speaker understood the have as a present tense verb and the past perfect written indicated the state in which "it" was. In other words, written was adjectival in character.

Have has acquired lots of new uses since the early days, for example "to have something done": I had my hair cut yesterday.

Thine is related to thou and thee, and all three may occur in archaic texts end religious contexts even today. I think most Americans know the songs A Closer Walk With Thee and How Great Thou Art.

simple past or the past perfect tense

eagerness — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:52:10 GMT

In the sentence below, please tell me if I should have used a simple past as opposed to using the past perfect tense.

You wouldn't be on his side if you knew what he had done to me?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Re: make/get/have

A Cornish Pasty — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:24:45 GMT

1. No. But you could say "High inflation will make unemployment get worse".

2. Yes, but "Make sure you make" isn't very natural. "Have" and "get" are the preferred options.

3. You can't use "made", but you can say "He had got all the answers wrong", or "He'd got all the answers wrong", which turns the sentence's tense into the past perfect.

Re: had/before

Newguest — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:17:06 GMT

Clive
Hi,

There's the sentence: It was hard, but I had thought it would be even harder.

If I put "before" do I still should use the past perfect tense, i.e.: It was hard, but I thought before that it would be even harder

To me, the word 'before' does not seem to fit well here. I find myself thinking 'before what?' Your sentence makes me do a little too much work in my head.

I'd prefer the more explicit It was hard, but I thought before I did it that it would be even harder.

However, this word sounds OK to me. It was hard, but I thought earlier that it would be even harder.

Best wishes, Clive

OK, but my original sentence with "had" is also correct?

However if I add "earlier" or "before I did it" then "had" is superfluous?

thanks

Re: had/before

Clive — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:11:27 GMT

Hi,

There's the sentence: It was hard, but I had thought it would be even harder.

If I put "before" do I still should use the past perfect tense, i.e.: It was hard, but I thought before that it would be even harder

To me, the word 'before' does not seem to fit well here. I find myself thinking 'before what?' Your sentence makes me do a little too much work in my head.

I'd prefer the more explicit It was hard, but I thought before I did it that it would be even harder.

However, this word sounds OK to me. It was hard, but I thought earlier that it would be even harder.

Best wishes, Clive

had/before

Newguest — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:47:59 GMT

There's the sentence: It was hard, but I had thought it would be even harder.

If I put "before" do I still should use the past perfect tense, i.e.: It was hard, but I thought before that it would be even harder

thanks

Re: Present Perfect Vs Past Perfect

CalifJim — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:58:19 GMT

nands_krish
As far as I know in both tenses are used when an action begins in the past but continues into the present / holds relevance in the present.

No.

Present perfect only is "used when an action begins in the past but continues into the present / holds relevance in the present".

Past perfect is used when an action began in the past but continued to another point in the past / held relevance at that point in the past.

Past perfect is the backshift of the past. It is also the backshift of the present perfect.

John said, "I saw that movie last week".

John said that he had seen that movie last week.

John said, "I've seen that movie several times".

John said that he had seen that movie several times.

Re: Present Perfect Vs Past Perfect

Clive — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:16:25 GMT

Hi,

Could someone help me understand the difference between Present Perfect and Past Perfect ? As far as I know in both tenses are used when an action begins in the past but continues into the present / holds relevance in the present.

You'll find a lot of discussion on the Forum about these Perfect tenses, if you use 'Search'. However, here are a couple of simple comments for you to begin by considering.

As you know, use Present Perfect when an action has some relevance to the present.
eg I have passed my driver's test, so I'd like to borrow your car.

Use Past Perfect when an action has some relevance to a later point in the past.
eg He had an accident last Thursday. He had passed his driver's test.

eg Tom came home at 7pm. Mary cooked dinner. She cooked it after 7pm.
eg Tom came home at 7pm. Mary had cooked dinner. She cooked it before 7pm.

Best wishes, Clive

Present Perfect Vs Past Perfect

nands_krish — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:58:04 GMT

Hi,

Could someone help me understand the difference between Present Perfect and Past Perfect ? As far as I know in both tenses are used when an action begins in the past but continues into the present / holds relevance in the present.

Thanks...
N

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