Good evening friends. We've discussed quite a good number of items in EnglishGuru posts. Now let's disecuss a few tense-related topics which you might find useful. For example many think it difficult to differentiate between present continuous and present perfect continous and also present perfect and past tense. There may also be problems in understanding the differce between past and past perfect tenses. Now let's discuss them one by one. Look below:
I have taken my breakfast. ( Present perfect - I have taken breakfast just now)
I took my breakfast. (Past simple - I took breakfast some time in the past, may be 2/3 hours or more)
Again,
I am reading this book. (I am in the act of reading - not finished yet)
but -- I have been reading this book for* two hours.(=> I started reading this book some time (say, two hours) ago and am still reading it.
I have been reading this book since* 12.00 noon.
* for indicates period of time and since indicates point of time.
From the above two sentences, you can easily understand that when some 'action' starts some time in the past and continues when it's being reported, it becomes 'present perfect continous' tense. It means continuous tense becomes perfect continuous when time is mentioned or understood. For example:
We are playing football. (=> we are in the act of playing)
but --We have been playing football for an hour. (time is mentioned)
but -- He looks very tired. In answer to our question he replies (that) he has been working in his garden. (time though not mentioned, we understand that he has been working for long.)
The same thing happens in the case of past simple, past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses. Look below:
We went home. (simple past - only indicates that our 'action' happened in the past.
We had gone home before the rain began. (two actions happened; but the one happened first, is put in the past perfect and the latter, in the simple past tense. Here also time is mentioned or understood )
You could not find me there because I had gone home..(time is understood)
We had played before the rain began. (both actions happened in the past and were complete)
but -- We had been playing when the rain began. (we started our game some time ago and we were still plying when the rain began)
N.B.:- It's to be kept in mind that in the perfect continous tenses, time is always mentioned or understood.
That's all for now guys. Feel free to ask any question. Good night and sweet dreams.
For convenience, go to S.Ali's Monologue -> http://sardarsali-bangladeshtour-blogpost.com