Perfect tense and modal verbs
Perfect tenses
The perfect tenses describe an action completed (or continuing) up to a reference point: now (present perfect), an earlier past moment (past perfect), or a future moment (future perfect). Form them with has/ have, had, or will have plus the past participle.
Example:
I have turned off the oven.
This sentence, indicating a past completed action, tells the reader or listener that there is no need to worry that the food will burn.
For regular verbs, form the participle by adding -ed to the base form of the verb. Irregular verbs have their own participles: go → have gone (not have went), run → have run (not have ran), write → have written, see → have seen.
Present perfect tense
The present perfect tense is formed with has or have plus the past participle: use have with I/you/we/they and has with he/she/it/one, as in I have bargained and she has gone.
We use the present perfect to identify an action that began in the past and continues in the present or that has recently become relevant:
I have run five miles a day for three years.
I have been reviewing my notes for my upcoming speech.
The second example uses the present perfect progressive (have been + verb-ing) to emphasize that the action is still ongoing.
The words since, for, over, and during often indicate that the present perfect may be required.
Example:
Erica has been playing violin since she was five years old.
The sentence implies that Erica continues to play the violin today.
The present perfect is also used to refer to events that have occurred recently:
Wide-leg jeans have come back into style lately.
Practice question
Newscasters report that a new storm _____ in the Caribbean and is expected to become a category three hurricane by early next week.
Choose the best answer:
a. Develops
b. Developed
c. Has developed
d. Had developed
e. Have developed
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
c.
Has developed is correct because it indicates that the storm began recently and continues to grow.
a. Develops is incorrect because the simple present states a general or habitual fact; it doesn’t report a particular storm that has recently formed and is still growing.
b. Developed is not the best choice because the present perfect, has developed, connects the storm’s formation to the present moment, when the newscasters are reporting and the storm is still growing.
d. Had developed is incorrect because it places the action before some other past event, but nothing in the sentence gives a past reference point, and the storm is still active now.
e. Have developed is incorrect because it is plural, as in “New storms have developed.”
Past perfect tense
The past perfect tense is used to organize two actions sequentially when they both began and ended in the past. It’s formed with had plus the past participle for every subject, as in I had studied and they had studied.
Context clues that indicate that the past perfect is needed include words that organize time:
- Already
- By the time
- By
- Before
- After
- When
Example:
We had planned to bike to the park for a picnic, but since it rained, we went out for pizza and a movie instead.
This sentence describes a change of plans sequentially: Plan A is ruined, so Plan B is enacted as a substitute.
Practice question
By the time a severe case of shin splints forced Maurice to rest last Saturday, he _____ for his first marathon for six months.
Choose the best answer:
a. Had trained
b. Trains
c. Trained
d. Has trained
e. Has training
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
a.
Had trained is correct. By the time marks the training as something that had been going on before another past event, the shin splints, so it takes the past perfect.
b. Trains is incorrect because it is a present tense verb and cannot be used to describe actions in the past.
c. Trained is incorrect because by the time calls for the past perfect: the training came before another past event. Simple past verbs can follow one another in sequence (he trained, got hurt, and rested), but after by the time the earlier action normally takes the past perfect.
d. Has trained is incorrect because the present perfect cannot be tied to a finished past time such as last Saturday.
e. Has training is incorrect because it turns training into a noun. It is also ungrammatical.
The past perfect also appears in the if clause of a sentence about a past that did not happen. The other clause uses would have, could have, or might have plus the past participle.
Common conditional words
- If
- Could
- Would
- Should
- Might
Example:
If Ishani had not spent so much time on the phone, she might have passed her physics midterm.
Here, Ishani’s past action of talking on the phone a lot is listed as a possible cause of her physics failure. The negative conditional, if … had not, sets up a sentence structure that organizes a negative causal relationship between Ishani’s two actions.
Practice question
If Jayden had not practiced the violin so much, he _____ won that competition.
Choose the best answer:
a. Might have
b. Should have
c. Could have
d. Might not have
e. Cannot have
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
d.
Might not have is correct. It expresses the negative causal relationship between not practicing and not winning. If the sentence were reworded in positive language, it would say something like, “Jayden practiced the violin so much that he won the competition.”
a. Might have is incorrect because it does not make sense: not practicing does not usually lead to winning.
b. Should have is incorrect because it is illogical: not practicing does not merit winning.
c. Could have is incorrect because it says that not practicing would have made winning possible, which reverses the logical cause and effect.
e. Cannot have is incorrect because it states that winning was impossible, which does not fit the result of an if clause.
Future perfect tense
The future perfect describes an action that will be finished by a specific future time.
Example:
By the time I am forty, I will have taught for twelve years.
The speaker of the sentence anticipates being forty years old, which is, at the moment of speaking, a future possibility. In that future, the speaker anticipates being able to look back on over a decade of teaching experience.
To form the future perfect tense, put will have in front of the participle form of the verb.
Practice question
Malcolm _____ completed his homework by seven, so he should have time to help clean up from dinner after that.
Choose the best answer:
a. Will have
b. Will not have
c. Would have
d. Won’t have
e. Would not have
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
a.
Will have is correct. The speaker is anticipating the seven o’clock moment when Malcolm, having completed his assignments, will be free to wash the dinner dishes.
b. Will not have is incorrect because it is illogical. If Malcolm’s homework is not done, how could he have time to help clean up?
c. Would have is incorrect because it expresses a conditional future, one that might or might not happen.
d. Won’t have is incorrect. It is a contraction of will not have, which makes the sentence illogical.
e. Would not have is incorrect because it is a negative conditional and cannot be used to express a completed future action.
Tense shifts with the perfect tenses
The rule against inappropriate tense shifts is in Simple and progressive tenses. The perfect tenses add one point: use the past perfect for the earlier of two past actions only when the order matters (Dana had already slipped twice when she finally fell). When it doesn’t, two simple past verbs are correct (Dana slipped and fell).
Modal verbs
The modal verbs are a unique subset of verbs that express possibility, necessity, permission, ability, or obligation. They never change form for person (she can, not she cans), and they have no infinitive (to can is not English). A few double as past forms: could is the past of can (At five, she could already read), and would is the past of will in reported speech (He said he would call). Common modal verbs include can, could, should, would, might, may, must, shall, ought, and will (along with their negative contractions, like mustn’t and won’t).
Modal verbs are followed by the base form of another verb, with no to (should be, can swim), to express an entire thought. The one exception is ought, which takes to: You ought to rest.
Example:
The world should be at peace.
Practice question
If we are late for the performance, I’m afraid the ushers _____ let us in until the end of the first act.
Choose the best answer:
a. Won’t
b. Mustn’t
c. Oughtn’t
d. Shouldn’t
e. Couldn’t
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
a.
Won’t is correct. It is the contraction of will not, a modal form that follows a conditional clause.
b. Mustn’t is incorrect because it expresses prohibition (it is forbidden), but the sentence predicts what the ushers will do, not what they’re forbidden to do.
c. Oughtn’t is incorrect because ought needs to (oughtn’t to let), and like shouldn’t it gives advice about what the ushers ought to do rather than a prediction of what they will do.
d. Shouldn’t is incorrect because it gives advice about what the ushers ought to do, while I’m afraid introduces a prediction about what they will do.
e. Couldn’t is incorrect because it shifts into the past or conditional, which doesn’t match the present-tense “if we are late.”