- •Parts of speech
- •The noun General Characteristic
- •The Grammatical Category of Number
- •The Pronunciation
- •The Spelling/Formation
- •Nouns Used only in the Singular
- •Nouns Used only in the Plural
- •Collective nouns
- •The Category of Case
- •The Formation
- •The Pronunciation
- •V. Articles with Nouns in the Possessive Case
- •The adjective General Characteristic
- •Degrees of Comparison
- •Formation
- •Comparative Constructions
- •The adverb General Characteristic
- •Formation
- •II. Degrees of Comparison
- •Some, any, no, none
- •(A) few, (a) little
- •Much, many, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, etc.
- •The verb General Characteristic
- •Present tenses
- •The Present Indefinite (Simple)
- •I. The Formation:
- •II. Spelling of the third person singular forms.
- •III. The Meaning:
- •IV. The Use of the Present Indefinite
- •The Present Indefinite is used to denote future actions
- •The Present Indefinite is used to denote past actions:
- •The Present Continuous (Progressive)
- •I. The Formation.
- •II. Spelling of the –ing forms.
- •III. The Use of Present Continuous.
- •IV. Verbs Not Used in the Continuous Forms.
- •V. The Present Continuous vs. The Present Indefinite.
- •The Present Perfect
- •I. The Formation
- •III. Patterns
- •IV. Time Indication
- •V. The Present Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
- •VI. The Past Indefinite and the Present Perfect as Variants
- •The Present Perfect Continuous
- •I. The Formation
- •II. The Use of the Present Perfect Continuous
- •III. The Present Perfect Continuous vs. The Present Perfect
- •IV. The Present Perfect Continuous and the Present Perfect as Variants
- •Past tenses
- •The Past Indefinite Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Past Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Continuous vs. The Past Indefinite
- •The Past Perfect Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
- •The Past Perfect Continuous
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Perfect Inclusive vs. The Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive
- •Future tenses
- •The Future Indefinite Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. ''Will'' as a modal verb
- •IV. ''Shall'' as a modal verb
- •The Future Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Future Perfect Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •Around the future
- •Reported speech
- •I. Statements
- •II. General Questions
- •III. Special Questions
- •IV. Short Answers
- •V. Commands and Requests
- •VI. Suggestions
- •VII. Advice
- •VIII. Offers
- •IX. Responses
- •Sequence of tenses
- •Modal Verbs in Indirect Speech
- •Question tags
- •I. Formation.
- •II. Agreeing and disagreeing with question tags
- •III. Echo tags
- •The imperative mood
- •I. Formation
- •II. Imperatives with 'let'
VI. The Past Indefinite and the Present Perfect as Variants
Past Indefinite and Present Perfect are used with little or no difference in the following cases:
The Past Indefinite |
The Present Perfect |
1) in adverbial clauses of time which are introduced by ''since'', the principal clause is represented by such structures as ''it's many years/a long time/ ages, etc.'' |
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2) in attributive clauses whose antecedent is a noun modified by a superlative and whose predicate denotes an action, continuing up to the moment of speaking (''ever'' is often used in such cases) |
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3) with the verb ''to come'' when it is followed by an infinitive of purpose and when the sentence represents direct speech. |
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The Present Perfect Continuous
I. The Formation
The Present Perfect Continuous is formed by means of the Present Perfect Tense of the auxiliary verb 'to be' and Participle I of the notional verb.
He has been working.
Has he been working?
He has not been working.
II. The Use of the Present Perfect Continuous
1) The Present Perfect Inclusive denotes an action which began in the past and continued into the present and is still going on.
I have been writing since I came.
What have you been doing since I have been away?
2) Present Perfect Continuous Exclusive denotes an action which was in progress quite recently but it is no longer going on at the moment of speaking though its effects tell on the present situation in some way.
I am sorry. I am late. Have you been waiting long?
Your eyes are red. Have you been weeping?
3) The Present Perfect Continuous is sometimes used to denote repeated actions.
I have been meeting her at the library.
People have been phoning me all day.
4) The Present Perfect Continuous is used with emotional colouring.
Oh, my dear, I have been loving you since I saw you.
5) Sometimes it may denote a future action in adverbial clauses of time.
I will know the city well after I have been staying here for a month.
III. The Present Perfect Continuous vs. The Present Perfect
The Present Perfect Continuous is used: |
The Present Perfect is used: |
when it does not matter whether something has been finished or not. We are interested in the activity
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when the important thing is that something has been finished. We are interested in the result of the activity
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mostly for shorter, temporary actions and situations
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to talk about longer-lasting or permanent situations
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for an activity which is still happening (How long?)
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for a completed action (How much/ how many/ how many times?)
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