Verbal Ability - Perfect Tense of Verbs

Present Perfect Tense

Present perfect tense is used when an action that started in the later past and completed in the recent past, influences some action in the present. In these cases, the verbs are mentioned in past participle form, and “have” with “I, you, we, they” and “has” with “he, she, it” and related nouns.

For Example

• I have completed my project. (The project completed in the past, but the interest is more in the outcome.)

• Shyam has already mentioned this point once. (“So, no need to repeat it”)

Past Perfect Tense

Past perfect tense is used when two actions happened in the past, and we have to mention one of them as an action happened earlier than the other. This form uses “I, we, you, he, she, it, they” (and related nouns) + “had” + verb (mentioned in past participle form).

For Example

• He had reached home by the time I called him.
• He had called him up before I could remind him.

Future Perfect Tense

Future perfect tense describes an action that will have happened by a given time in the future. This tense is formed by using “will have” with the past participle of the verb.

For Example

• They will have reached their hostels by now.
• The plants will have grown by 5 centimeters by now.