Lesson: English Grammar - 13

Verbs: The Basics

Sorry to drag you through this, but it is important that you know what the different tenses are. You know the basics: the present tense describes something happening now, the future tense marks what will happen, the simple past describes something that did happen. Nevertheless, you'll need to distinguish among a few others.

The Present Perfect: I have played the piano for many years. You can always identify the present perfect by the presence of the word "has" or "have" in front of another past-tense verb (here "played"). The present perfect describes an action that began in the past but continues into the present. Accordingly, the person in the sentence above started playing the piano somewhere in the past, and still plays it now.

The Past Perfect (or Pluperfect): Miguel had talked with his father for two hours. The past perfect always carries the hallmark "had + verb in past tense" form. It describes an action that started in the past and ended in the past. Accordingly, Miguel had a conversation that already ended.

The Present Progressive: I am preparing for a standardized test. You can spot the present progressive by its standard form: a form of the verb "to be" + a verb with an -ing ending. It should be used only when the speaker wants to emphasize that the action is happening at this very minute. Otherwise, the simple present (I prepare for a standardized test) is more appropriate.

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