Learning Article : Understanding The Present Perfect Verb Tense In English
Discuss the Article : Understanding The Present Perfect Verb Tense In English
One of the unique features that distinguishes English from many other languages is its perfect verb tenses. And, let me tell you, they are a thing of beauty! That's right, there's no need to fear them, because they are quite logical and come in handy in conversation...
Call me ignorant with typical Anglophone arrogance, but I reckon the English tense system stands out clearly in its intricacy compared to many other languages (much to the annoyance of learners!).
English is rarely/never cited as a beautiful language unlike Italian or French, but for me its beauty lies the precision it allows when expressing order/temporal aspects of events.
I've dabbled in a few languages from a range of different language families: Romance, Sino-Tibetan, Germanic, Austronesian not Slavic though (yet!). For instance, many languages have only one present tense while English has three (I do, I'm doing, I do do), all of which have their respective nuance/subtelties. I particularly appreciate the present progressive (I'm doing ) to really and simply stress the present instant moment!
I do realise that these ideas can be expressed with context in other languages, but there's something special about English because so much is "built" into the tense system!
I really enjoyed your presentation of one of my favourite English tenses!
And the example with the thief made it very concrete!
I like this unusual philosophical explanation of the present perfect tense . Good Job !
It does not seem to be as difficult as it sounds before.
Thank you for your article. But I still have two qurstions.
1.How can I tell if the past even still matters in the present?(You know, in Chinese we don't have much sense of the tense. So it might be difficult for me to understand)
2.Should the Present Perfect Progressive be used to describe an event that has started a while ago but still continues in the present? I am kind of confused...
P.S:I am an English major. And I have to copy with many grammar questions every day. So what I've just quested about is all based on the grammar questions.
Help me please~Thanks again!!!
Thank you for your article, your exercise and notes gave me a good comprehension of English grammar very helpful to teach spanish as second language.
I'm looking forward read more articles from you,
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