- •Parts of speech
- •The noun General Characteristic
- •The Grammatical Category of Number
- •The Pronunciation
- •The Spelling/Formation
- •Nouns Used only in the Singular
- •Nouns Used only in the Plural
- •Collective nouns
- •The Category of Case
- •The Formation
- •The Pronunciation
- •V. Articles with Nouns in the Possessive Case
- •The adjective General Characteristic
- •Degrees of Comparison
- •Formation
- •Comparative Constructions
- •The adverb General Characteristic
- •Formation
- •II. Degrees of Comparison
- •Some, any, no, none
- •(A) few, (a) little
- •Much, many, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, etc.
- •The verb General Characteristic
- •Present tenses
- •The Present Indefinite (Simple)
- •I. The Formation:
- •II. Spelling of the third person singular forms.
- •III. The Meaning:
- •IV. The Use of the Present Indefinite
- •The Present Indefinite is used to denote future actions
- •The Present Indefinite is used to denote past actions:
- •The Present Continuous (Progressive)
- •I. The Formation.
- •II. Spelling of the –ing forms.
- •III. The Use of Present Continuous.
- •IV. Verbs Not Used in the Continuous Forms.
- •V. The Present Continuous vs. The Present Indefinite.
- •The Present Perfect
- •I. The Formation
- •III. Patterns
- •IV. Time Indication
- •V. The Present Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
- •VI. The Past Indefinite and the Present Perfect as Variants
- •The Present Perfect Continuous
- •I. The Formation
- •II. The Use of the Present Perfect Continuous
- •III. The Present Perfect Continuous vs. The Present Perfect
- •IV. The Present Perfect Continuous and the Present Perfect as Variants
- •Past tenses
- •The Past Indefinite Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Past Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Continuous vs. The Past Indefinite
- •The Past Perfect Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
- •The Past Perfect Continuous
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Perfect Inclusive vs. The Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive
- •Future tenses
- •The Future Indefinite Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. ''Will'' as a modal verb
- •IV. ''Shall'' as a modal verb
- •The Future Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Future Perfect Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •Around the future
- •Reported speech
- •I. Statements
- •II. General Questions
- •III. Special Questions
- •IV. Short Answers
- •V. Commands and Requests
- •VI. Suggestions
- •VII. Advice
- •VIII. Offers
- •IX. Responses
- •Sequence of tenses
- •Modal Verbs in Indirect Speech
- •Question tags
- •I. Formation.
- •II. Agreeing and disagreeing with question tags
- •III. Echo tags
- •The imperative mood
- •I. Formation
- •II. Imperatives with 'let'
V. The Present Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
The Present Perfect is used: |
The Past Indefinite is used: |
to give new information, to announce a recent event;
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to give details about some recent event announced in the previous sentence;
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to speak about someone's life experience;
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to speak about people who are dead;
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to denote actions which have results in the present or connection with the present;
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to denote actions which do not have results in the present or connection with the present;
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when the time of the action is not stated;
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when the time of the action is stated;
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when we report that someone has recently invented, produced, discovered or written something.
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when we talk about something that was invented, etc. in the more distant past.
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with just.
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with just now.
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when the time of the action is indicated by an adverbial modifier of time denoting a period which is not yet over;
Note: this morning = till 1 o'clock this afternoon = till 5 o'clock |
when the period is over or the reference is made to a particular past point of time within that period;
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Note 1: The Past Indefinite is used with ever and never for emotional colouring.
Did you ever hear anything like that?
I never heard such nonsense!
Note 2: The Past Indefinite is used if reference is made to happenings which are definite in the mind of the speaker, i.e. either because the situation has already been mentioned or because the situation is known to the hearer.
Did you sleep well?
Did you enjoy the book?
What did you say?
I didn't understand (hear) your questions.
Did you see the accident?
Note 3: The Past Indefinite is always used with «when» and «where», as for other special questions both forms may be used depending on the meaning to be conveyed, though the Past Indefinite is more common.
When did you buy this book?
Where did you buy this hat? (The place implies the time)
Where have I put the hat? (Where is it now?)
Note 4: A conversation about a past action often begins with a question and answer in the Present Perfect, but normally continues in the simple past, even when no time is given. This is because the action first mentioned has now become definite in the mind of the speakers.
- Where have you been?
- To the cinema.
- What did you see?
Note 4: We use the past simple to correct an incorrect belief or expectation, or to confirm a correct one.
She is just as beautiful as I imagined.
The area is far more rugged and wild than I expected.
Note 5: We normally use the Present Perfect when we are thinking about past events together with their present results. However, we prefer a past tense when we identify the person, thing or circumstances responsible for a present situation (because we are thinking about the past cause, not the present result). Compare:
Look what John’s given me! (thinking about the gift)
Who gave you that? (thinking about the past action of giving)
Why are you crying? – Granny hit me.
I am glad you were born.
How did you get that bruise?
That’s a nice picture. Did you paint it yourself?
Note 6: Mind the difference:
She has gone to Spain. = She is there now or on her way there.
She has been to Spain. = She has come back from Spain.
She has been in Spain for two weeks. = She is still in Spain.