Grammar Tips & Articles »

perfect tenses

This Grammar.com article is about perfect tenses — enjoy your reading!

24 sec read
5,908 Views
  Ed Good  —  Grammar Tips
Font size:

The perfect tenses are under attack by many misinformed, but otherwise well-educated, writers and speakers. The tense does express qualities of verbs that are otherwise incapable of expression and is therefore worth retaining.

We have three perfect tenses: (1) present perfect (I have finished), (2) past perfect (I had finished), and (3) future perfect (I will have finished). All are formed by using the auxiliary verb have with the past participle of the main verb.

See present-perfect tense, past-perfect tense, and future-perfect tense.

Rate this article:

     

Have a discussion about this article with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this article to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "perfect tenses." Grammar.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 30 Sep. 2023. <https://www.grammar.com/perfect-tenses>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

    Browse Grammar.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

    Free Writing Tool:

    Instant
    Grammar Checker

    Improve your grammar, vocabulary, and writing -- and it's FREE!


    Improve your writing now:

    Download Grammar eBooks

    It’s now more important than ever to develop a powerful writing style. After all, most communication takes place in reports, emails, and instant messages.