Plain English

Chapter 22

10. You will soon see the reason.

11. You shall never want for a friend.

12. They shall some day see the truth.

13. We will not fight against our cla.s.s.

14. We will stand together.

PERFECT TIME

+121.+ Past, present and future, being the three divisions of time, one would naturally expect that when we had found how to express these three forms, we would be through, but if you stop to think, you will find that there are other verb phrases of which we have need.

When we wish to speak of action as completed at the present time, we do not say:

I study my lessons every day, _but_, I have studied my lessons every day.

_Not_, You work for him every day, _but_, You have worked for him every day.

_Not_, He sees her frequently, _but_, He has seen her frequently.

Can you not readily see the difference in the meaning expressed in _I work every day_, and _I have worked every day_? In the first sentence you express a general truth, _I work every day_, a truth which has been true in the past, is true in the present, and the implication is that it will continue to be true in the future. But when you say, _I have worked every day_, you are saying nothing as to the future, but you are describing an action which is completed at the present time. This is called the _present complete_ or _present perfect_ time.

+122.+ Perfect means complete, and present perfect describes an action perfected or completed at the present time. So it is possible for us to express a necessary shade of meaning by the present perfect time form.

+123.+ +The present perfect time form describes an action completed at the present time, and is formed by using the present time form of _have_ and the _past_ participle of the verb.+

+Present Perfect Time+

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I have seen. We have seen.

2d. You have seen. You have seen.

3d. He has seen. They have seen.

+124.+ Review in the last lesson how to form the past participle.

Remember that it is one of the princ.i.p.al parts of the verb. In regular verbs the past participle is the same form as the past time form. In irregular verbs the past participle is quite often different from the past time form, as for example: _go_, _went_, _gone_; _do_, _did_, _done_, etc.

Watch closely your irregular verbs and see that you always use the past _participle_ with _have_ or _had_; never use the past _time_ form with _have_ or _had_.

PAST PERFECT

+125.+ When you desire to express an action complete at some definite past time, you do not say:

We finished when they came, _but_, We had finished when they came.

_Not_, They went when we arrived, _but_, They had gone when we arrived.

_Not_, I worked six months when he began, _but_, I had worked six months when he began.

Can you see a difference in the meaning expressed in these sentences: _I worked six months when he began_; and _I had worked six months when he began_? This last sentence describes an action completed or perfected before some definite past time.

+126.+ +Past perfect time denotes an action perfected or completed at some definite past time. It is formed by using _had_ and the past participle of the verb.+

Remember always, with irregular verbs, to use the _past participle_.

Never use the _past time form_ with _had_.

+Past Perfect Time+

_Singular_ _Plural_

1st. I had seen. We had seen.

2d. You had seen. You had seen.

3d. He had seen. They had seen.

Exercise 2

Correct the following sentences in which the past time form is used instead of the past participle. Look up the word in the list of irregular verbs and use the past participle instead of the past time form.

1. I have saw it often.

2. He had shook his fist.

3. She has sang for us.

4. The boat has sank here.

5. He has spoke the truth.

6. They had stole the books.

7. He has swore to the truth.

8. He had took the wrong road.

9. She has tore her dress.

10. He had threw the ball away.

11. The girl had wore the dress.

12. He had wrote the letters.

13. He had drank too much.

14. He had rode the horse.

15. The sun has rose.

16. He has bore his part.

17. They have began already.

18. The wind has blew all night.

19. It had broke when it fell.

20. He has chose the right.

21. You have did your duty.

22. He has ate his breakfast.

23. A heavy rain has fell.

24. They had gave it to me.

25. He has became rich.

26. It has grew rapidly.

27. He has knew it always.

28. He has mistook her for another.

FUTURE PERFECT TIME

+127.+ We find also that we need a verb phrase to express time _before_ some other future time, to describe an action that will be finished, perfected, or completed, before some other future action. Thus,

I shall have gone before you arrive.

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