The Perfect Progressive Tenses of The Verb (series 1.C6)

       

          

          After discussing simple tenses of the verb, perfect tenses, and continuous tenses. Next are the Perfect Progressive or Perfect Continuous Tenses of the verb.
          Remember when we say, perfect, it means 'complete'(the action has been completed), and progressive means 'unfinished' (the action is not yet finished and continues in the present, and may continue in the future).

Present Perfect Progressive > also known as the perfect present continuous, an action that started in the past and is continuing at the present time. This is formed using

     has/have been + verb with -ing

Examples:
                  She has been reading the novel for two weeks now.
                  You have been playing that game since last year.
                   I have not been seeing Julie lately.
                   Susie has been playing piano since she was a child.

Past Perfect Progressive > also known as the past perfect continuous, an action that started in the past but continued up to another time in the past. This is formed using

      had been + verb with -ing

Examples:
                  I had been telling you to stop smoking since last year.
                  They had been creating unrest in the neighborhood for 3 years.
                  We had not been cleaning our home since last month.
                   Patrick and Liza had been dancing until Patrick died a year ago.       


Future Perfect Progressive > also known as the future perfect continuous, an action that begins sometimes in the past but is expected to continue up until a point in the future. This is formed using

       will have been + verb with -ing

Examples:
                  In January, I will have been teaching at my school for ten years.
                  He will have been waiting for two hours by the time his girlfriend arrives.
                  You will not have been working in the office for 3 months.
                  Even though the TV show will have been airing for another year, it will continue with its new time slot.


** Progressive tenses use action verbs only and not stative verbs. Stative verbs are state of being that does not show qualities of change. It includes emotions, possessions, and thoughts.

English 101: The Perfect Tenses of the Verb (series 1.C4)

     After detailing the Simple Tense of the verb, we now go to perfect tenses. Perfect Tense is another set of verb tenses. Perfect tenses are actions already completed. As the word implies, perfect means  "completely done" or "made complete". So what's the difference between simple and perfect tenses? The perfect tense is used when the time of an action is not specified, while the Simple tense is used when the details of the time or place of action are given. For perfect tenses, we have the Present Perfect Tense, Past Perfect Tense, and Future Perfect Tense.

It is important to know the regular and irregular verbs with their equivalent past participle in constructing a sentence with perfect tense.

Present Perfect Tense > this is an action completed concerning the present. It is used to express an action that has just or already happened, how often the action has happened, or to emphasize a past action's result or consequence.

Forms: he /she /it /singular subject noun = has + past participle of the verb ;
            I /you /we /they /plural subject noun = have + past participle of the verb

Examples:
          1) She has blown her hair already.
          2) It has happened twice.
          3) Pete has discussed a new lesson.
          4) I have just bought a new cellphone.
          5) We have gone here many times.
          6) The basketball players have shown their best in that game.


Past Perfect Tense > this is an action completed concerning the past. It is used to show an action that has happened before another action happened in the past.

Forms: subject(s) = had + past participle of the verb

Examples:
     1) They had won the game when he fell.
     2) He had studied the layout before he arrived at the meeting.
     3) The children were sad since she had left the convent.
     4) The men build this dam because the plants had been dying from drought.

* the italicized words are the actions in the past, while the underlined words are the actions completely done in the past before another action.
* conjunctions such as when, before, and since, because are also used to show action in the past perfect tense.


Future Perfect Tense > this is an action completed concerning the future. It is used to show that an action will have been completed at some time in the future.

Forms: subject(s) = will /shall + have + past participle of the verb

Examples:
     1) You shall have arrived by 5:00 in the morning.
     2) He will have been here for three weeks to finish the work.
     3) Joy and Kate will have known each other this coming week.
     4) Won't they have stayed here tomorrow night?

*won't = will not