English Verb Tenses Present and Present Continuous: Examples and Exercises
The perfect tense is a verb form that describes actions that are already finished when we are speaking about them.
There are six forms of the perfect tense:
- present perfect
- past perfect
- future perfect
- present perfect continuous (progressive)
- past perfect continuous (progressive)
- future perfect continuous (progressive)
Perfect Aspect
The present perfect is the simplest and first form of the perfect aspect, the perfect verb tense and verb construction. In English we use either has, have or had before the verb in the past tense form, also known as the past participle.
In the perfect tense we have the past, present and future forms. Here are examples:
- past – had worked – I had worked at home
- present – have worked – I have worked at home
- future – will have worked – I will have worked at home
Past participle (partial definition); the form of a verb, typically ending in –ed in English, which is used in forming the perfect tense
Present Perfect
We use the present perfect simple to link an action that is in the past or being completed, to the present time. For example:
- I have started my presentation – action / verb is started
- I have not started my presentation – action / verb has not started
- Have you started your presentation? – action / verb started is unknown
It is different from the past simple as the time is related to now rather than in the past. for example:
- I have written my introduction – implies it is part of a process that is still ongoing
- I wrote my introduction (past simple) – implies it is in the past
An examples of use when someone has finished washing the dishes they might say “I have washed the dishes”. Here we see the use of ‘have’ + wash+ed (past participle).
Another example when the present perfect is used, is when we talk about an ongoing action that started in the past.
- This year, I will have taught at universities for over 20 years.
- I have worked at schools and universities since 1999.
The use of ‘for’ and ‘since’ help clarify the time period or the start of the time period.
Past Perfect
In the example of past perfect the action of washing the dishes has finished in the past. It is possible to use the past simple tense of “I washed the dishes (yesterday)” if you wish to just state the action was in the past.
In this example we wish to say the dishes were washed before another action, the walking of the dog, therefore we want to say the action of washing the dishes was completed before the dog walking. The correct sentence would be “I had washed the dishes before I walked the dog”.
The past participle form of wash – washed, remains the same, but we have altered the use of ‘have’ to ‘had’ to refer to the action being in the past.
Future Perfect
In the example of future perfect the action of washing the dishes will be finished in the future.
But we wish to say the dishes will be washed before the dog walking, therefore we want to say the action of washing the dishes will be completed before walking the dog. The correct sentence would be “I will have washed the dishes before I walked the dog”.
The past participle form of wash – washed, remains the same, but ‘have’ changes to ‘will have’ to denote the use of a future action.
Perfect Continuous (present progressive)
The perfect continuous is a verb form that describes actions
- that are continuing
- that are finished (at a given time if not now)
The verb form uses the verb ending -ing after ‘have been’, seen in the following examples:
- I have been working at home
- I have been walking all day
- I have been eating my dinner
- I have been teaching for 10 minutes
- I have been watching you
The use of ‘have been’ changes to ‘had been’ for the past perfect continuous form, and ‘will have been’ for the future perfect continuous, seen in the following examples:
Past:
- I had been working at home
- I had been walking all day
- I had been eating my dinner
- I had been teaching for 10 minutes
- I had been watching you
Future:
- I will have been working at home
- I will have been walking all day
- I will have been eating my dinner
- I will have been teaching for 10 minutes
- I wil have been watching you
Perfect Continuous Examples
In the perfect continuous tense we have the past, present and future forms. Here are examples:
- past – had been working – I had been working at home
- present – have worked – I have been working at home
- future – will have been working – I will have been working at home
Present Perfect Continuous
An example of present perfect continuous in a conversation is as follows:
- Ann: What have you been doing, John?
- John: I have been washing the dishes.
Past Perfect Continuous
An example of past perfect continuous in a conversation could be as follows:
- Ann: What have you been doing, John, I thought you were going to just walk the dog?
- John: I had been washing the dishes before I walked the dog, that’s why it took longer.
Future Perfect Continuous
Here is an example of using the future perfect continuous in a conversation:
- Ann: Will you be able to wait for me until 9 o’clock?
- John: I will have been waiting over an hour by 9 o’clock, can you come earlier?
Perfect Tense Exercises
The exercises will appear here in the near future.