Grammar and Language Workbook

Unit 3, Verbs 91

Copyright © by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill

Grammar

Lesson 20

Perfect Tenses: Present and Past

The present perfect tense of a verb is used to describe an action that happened at

an indefinite time in the past. It is also used to describe something that happened

in the past and is still going on. The present perfect tense is formed by combining

the helping verb have or haswith the past participle of the main verb.

Ms. Taylor has recycled glass jars for years.

The past perfect tense of a verb describes an action that happened before another

action or event in the past. The past perfect tense is formed by combining the

helping verb had with the past participle of the main verb.

Until she started collecting cans, Marella had recycled only newspapers.

 Exercise 1 Complete each sentence by changing the verb in parentheses to the tense

indicated.

Darrell’s family [ traveled ]to Washington, D.C., last summer. (past/travel)

1. They [ stayed ]with his aunt in nearby Virginia. (past/stay)


2. Darrell and his father [ had visited ]some attractions on previous trips. (past
   perfect/visit)


3. His stepsister Emily [ had wanted ]to see the Air and Space Museum. (past
   perfect/want)


4. Darrell [ has visited ]the Air and Space Museum twice. (present perfect/visit)


5. Space travel [ fascinates ]Darrell’s father. (present/fascinate)


6. He [ agreed ]to visit the museum with Emily. (past/agree)


7. Darrell and his stepmother [ had decided ]earlier to visit monuments. (past
   perfect/decide)


8. They [ had planned ]to see the Washington Monument first. (past perfect/plan)


9. Both of them [ have wanted ]to ride the elevator to the top. (present perfect/want)


10. Before they even reached the monument, rain [ had started ]to fall. (past
    perfect/start)