52 English Grammar Demystifi ed
Perfect Tenses
Every time you write a sentence, you use a verb to express time:
Present time: My best friend visits us from time to time.Past time: She visited four times last year.Future time: She will visit us again next week.These are the simplest expressions of time, but as you read in Chapter 1, ideas are
occasionally more complicated and require a different use of verbs.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
How do you express an action that started in the past but continues into the present
time? In Chapter 1, you learned this simple answer: You add a helping word has or
have to the past tense of the verb. Take the previous example:
My best friend has visited us from time to time.The verb has visited tells us that the visiting started in the past but continues in the
present.
Written Practice 3-1
Using the preceding information, fi nd and correct the past-perfect verb errors in
the following sentences. The fi rst one is done for you.
- Lacey banked at Yardley Trust for four years, but she’s considering a
change of banks.
Lacey has banked...- I banked at Yardley Trust for one year, and I’m planning on staying there.