Page 91 - Just Enough English Grammar Illustrated Book

Past Tense Present Perfect

I ate fish I have eaten
yesterday. fish many times.

ate have eaten

Past Tense Helping Verb Past Participle
Specific time Nonspecific
in the past completed actions
In the sentence I ate fish In the sentence I have eaten
yesterday, the action did fish many times, the present
not take place today, but perfect refers to an action
happened yesterday. The verb begun in the past but
form ate indicates the past connected to the present;
tense of the irregular verb it may have been completed
to eat. It is a completed action or it may still be going on.
that is now over. In addition, the It is formed by using have
word yesterday gives a specific together with the past
time for when it happened. participle, in this case, eaten.

Present perfect verb forms show action or condition
begun in the past; these can be either finished actions
or actions that continue into the present.

In the sentence I have started piano lessons, the verb form
started is the past participle. It is assumed that Andy’s lessons
began in the past and continue into the present.

TOMORROW
Future Tense

The future tense uses “will” or “shall”
and the base form of a verb.

Subject Helping Base Subject Helping Base
Pronoun Verb Form Pronoun Verb Form
1 I will 1 I will
2 you will 2 you will
Future 3 he, she, it will 3 he, she, it will
Tense (or Singular Noun) walk (or Singular Noun) write
1 we will 1 we will
2 you will 2 you will
3 they will 3 they will
(or Plural Noun) (or Plural Noun)
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