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THE PERFECT ASPECT - Coggle Diagram
THE PERFECT ASPECT
Completed actions
Perfect tenses can describe completed actions before a certain time in the past. present or future
We can use perfect tenses to give news and describe recent activities before a certain time
Linguists
have invented
a new language with only 200 words.
At long last the war
had ended
; we couldn 't believe it.
It
had been raining
all night.
We
’ve just been
running.
Perfect simple verbs focus on the effects of completing an activity
We
’ve done all
our work
so we can go out
When she
’d finished
putting the decorations up,
the room looked awesome.
I can't meet you at 7.00.
I
won’t have got through
immigration.
Use the perfect simple to say how much / how manyl how often by a certain time
The professor
has written
over fifty books about the English language.
We
’ve already seen
the him twice.
You
need to have read
all the books on the list by June.
l
'd called him
three times but failed to get through.
Perfect continuous verbs focus on the effects of doing an activity
Something
had been worrying her
at work
so she spoke to her boss.
Your eyes are red
. Have you been crying?
He
will have been driving
all night,
so he'll need to go to bed.
Compare the perfect simple and perfect continuous
I
've made dinner
! You don ’t need to do anything. (focus on completion)
l
've been making
dinner! l'm all hot and sweaty. (focus on doing the activity)
Unfinished activities and states
Perfect verb forms can also describe continuing activities or states at a certain time
I
haven’t been sleeping
well recently. i might go to see the doctor.
He
will have been working on
the projmt for long enough to take over by then.
I
've always enjoyed
spending time with my family.
They
’ve been sad
since their old teacher left.
We often want to say the duration of the activity
Louise
has been doing
Spanish since January and she loves it.
I
've never
really
understood
the grammar so I still make a lot of mistakes.
She
will have been driving for a couple of years
by then.
For certain activities we often use both perfect simple verbs and perfect continuous verbs with little difference in meaning
How long have
you worked
I
been working
in the languages department?
This June I
will have lived / been living
here for five years.
Tip
We can use the past perfect with stress on bad to express dissatisfaction
We
had hoped
Sheila would be out of hospital by now. = Sheila is still in hospital and we are disappointed.