Compound Tenses
Compound Tenses :
Completed action is denoted by special verb-phrases made by prefixing to the past participle some form of the auxiliary verb HAVE.
These are called the complete tenses or the compound tenses.
There are three complete or compound tenses –
1. The Perfect or The Present Perfect
2. The Pluperfect or The Past Perfect
3. The Future Perfect
The perfect (or present perfect) tense denotes that the action of the verb is complete at the time of speaking. It is formed by prefixing have (hast, has) to the past participle.
1. I have learned my lesson.
2. He has convinced me.
3. She has written the article. Note. With several verbs of motion the auxiliary BE is sometimes used instead of HAVE such as…..
1. My friends are gone.
2. My friends have gone.
3. Your time is come.
4. Your time has come.
5. They are talked about.
6. They have talked about.
7. He is written.
8. He has written.
The pluperfect (or past perfect) tense denotes that the action was completed at some point in past time. It is formed by prefixing HAD (hadst) to the past participle.
1. Before night fell, I had finished the book.
2. When Blake had spoken, Allen rose to reply.
3. As they have gone to the river, we began our journey.
The future perfect tense denotes that the action will be completed at some point in future time. It is formed by prefixing the future tense of have (shall have, etc.) to the past participle.
1. Before I hear from you again, I shall have landed at Naples.
The future perfect tense is rare except in very formal writing.
The following practical rule will serve every purpose.
The past participle is that verb-form which is used after I have.
Examples : [I have] mended, tried, swept, bought, broken, forgotten, found, sunk, dug.
A verb-phrase made by prefixing HAVING to the past participle is called the perfect participle.
2. Having reached my destination, I stopped.
A verb-phrase made by prefixing TO HAVE to the past participle is called the perfect infinitive. 3. I am sorry to have missed you.
Three forms of the verb are so important that they are called the principal parts. These are…..
(1) The first person singular of the present
(2) The first person singular of the past
(3) The past participle
Present Past…….Past…….Participle
(I) walk…….(I) walked…….walked
(I) think…….(I) thought…….thought
(I) see…….(I) saw…….seen
(I) come…….(I) came…….come
(I) make…….(I) made…….made
(I) write………(I) wrote……..written
Compound Tenses :
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Related Links : Compound Tenses