Special Structures in the Present Perfect

The present perfect tense is used after the following expressions:

This/that/it is the first/second/third, etc.......

This/that/it is the only...........

This/that/it is the best/finest/worst/most interesting, etc........

Examples:

This is the first time I’ve really relaxed for months.

That’s the tenth beer you’ve drunk this evening.

This is the only party I’ve really enjoyed in my life.

It is one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read.

When we talk about the past, we use a past perfect tense.

It was the third time he had been in love that year.

But with the expression for the first time a present tense is possible.

This is the first time I’ve been here. I’m here for the first time.

THE PAST PERFECT TENSE (SIMPLE, CONTINUOUS)

Form

The past perfect simple is formed with hadand the past participle:

I had worked I hadn’t worked had I worked?

The past perfect continuous is formed with had been+ the present participle:

I had been working I hadn’t been working had you been working?

Use

A. The past perfect is used when we are already talking about the past and want
to go back to an earlier past time, to talk about things that had already
happened at the time we are talking about:

I explained that I had forgotten my keys.

I could see from his face that he had received bad news.

The past perfect is only used when there is this idea of a ‘second’ or earlier
past. We do not use it to talk about things that happened some time ago.

B. The past perfect is common in ‘reported speech’ after past verbs like said,
told, asked, explained, thought, wondered etc. It refers to things that had
already happened when the conversation or thoughts took place:

I told them that I had done enough work for one day.

She wondered who had left the door open..

C. The past perfect continuous is used to talk about longer actions or situations,
which had been going on continuously up to the past moment that we are
thinking about.

When she arrived I had been waiting for three hours.

I realized that I’d been overworking, so I decided to take a couple
of days’ holiday.

The past perfect continuous has the same relation to the past perfect simple as
the present perfect continuous to the present perfect simple.

He had tried five times to get her on the phone.

He had been trying to get her on the phone.

D. The past perfect is used when we talk about two things that happened at
different times in the past and the speaker looks back on an earlier action
from a certain point in the past. But if we merely give the events in the order
in which they occurred no past perfect tense is necessary.

She saw empty cups and realized that three people had been in the room.

She heard voices and realized that three people were in the next room.

3. Past and Past Perfect Tenses in Time Clauses.

A. Clauses with when, as soon as, the moment, immediately

The past simple is used here if there is the idea that the first action led to the
second and that the second followed the first very closely:

When she saw the mouse she screamed.

Immediately I opened the box, I got a real shock.

The past perfect is used when we wish to emphasize that the first action was
completed before the second started.

When I’d written all my letters, I did some gardening.

As soon as she had sung her song she sat down.

B. Clauses with after

afteris normally followed by a perfect tense:

After the will had been read there were angry exclamations.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1119