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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

What is Present perfect tense?

The Present Perfect Tense is formed with a present tense form of ‘to have’ plus the past participle of the verb (which can be either irregular or regular in form). This tense indicates either that an action was completed (finished or ‘perfected’) at some point in the past or that the action extends to the present.
 
*The Present Perfect is used:-

(1)To indicate completed activities in the immediate past (with just); as,

He has just gone out
He has just struck ten.

(2)To express past actions whose time is not given and not definite; as,

Have you read Gulliver’s travels?
I have never known him to be angry.
Mr.Hari has been to Japan.

(3)To describe past events when we think more of their effect in the present than of the action itself; as,

Gopi has eaten all the biscuits (i.e., there aren’t any left for you).
I have cut my finger (and it is bleeding now).
I have finished my work (now I am free).

(4)To denote an action beginning at some time in the past and continuing up to the present moment (often with since-and for-phrases); as,

I have known him for a long time
He has been ill since last week.
We have lived here for ten years.
We haven’t seen Padma for several months.

*The following adverbs or adverb phrases can also be used with the present perfect(apart from those mentioned above):never, ever(In questions only),so far, till now, yet(in negatives and questions),already,today,this week, this moment,etc.

Note: The Present Perfect is never used with adverbs of past time. We should not say, for example, ‘He has gone to Kolkata yesterday’. In such cases the simple past should be used (‘He went to Kolkata yesterday’).


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