Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Forms of the present perfect and past perfect

form

structure

examples

present perfect

present tense forms of have + -ed

I/you/we/they 

have worked hard.

simple

participle

He/she/it/one 

has worked hard.

We 

haven’t worked hard.

Has he worked hard?

past perfect

past tense forms of have + -ed

I/you/we/they 

had worked hard.

simple

participle

He/she/it 

had worked hard.

present perfect

present tense forms of have +

I/you/we/they 

have been working hard.

progressive

been

+ lexical verb in -ing form

He/she/it/one 

has been working hard.

We 

haven’t been working hard.

Has he been working hard?

past perfect

past tense forms of have + been

I/you/he/she/it/we/they 

had been 

progressive

+ lexical verb in -ing form

work

ing hard.

We 

hadn’t been working hard.

Had he been working hard?

Modal would and semi-modal used to are also used for past time reference 

(

Û

402 Used to and would

).

---

THE PAST SIMPLE 

347

Definite time reference

347a

References to definite past time clearly separated from the moment of speaking

are normally made using the past simple. The most common type of reference to

the past is through definite time adjuncts and definite time adverbial clauses:

Did you watch that film 

yesterday

? 

He 

went

at the end of November

. 

My grandfather 

died

about four weeks ago

.

When I was a lad

, 

I lived on a farm.

She 

came through for a coffee 

after she’d finished cooking

.

✪

With such definite past references, the present perfect is not normally used:

My grandfather 

died

about four weeks ago

.

(My grandfather has died about four weeks ago.)

When I was a lad

, 

I lived on a farm.

(When I was a lad, I have lived on a farm.)

Definite time adjuncts

347b

Common definite time adjuncts that indicate a clear break between the past and

present time include: 

a year/two weeks/five minutes/

etc. ago

last night/week/month/year, 

etc.

at two o’clock/half past three, 

etc.

on Monday/Wednesday, 

etc.

earlier today/this month, 

etc.

the other day/week 

in the spring/summer, 

etc.

yesterday

(

Û

examples at 347a above

)

Û

359a on past simple with temporal subordinators (e.g. when) in complex

sentences

The past simple without explicit time markers

347c

Often there is no explicit time marker, but definite past time may be implied either

by the situation of speaking or writing, or by assumptions of shared and general

knowledge. In such cases, the past simple may be used:

Charles Dickens 

wrote ‘Great Expectations’ in instalments. 

(we know that Dickens lived and died a long time ago, separated from the present)

Do you know Fiona? Because I 

went to school with her. 

(the speaker’s schooldays were long ago, in a time separated from the moment

of speaking)

Û

539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Past time | 609

---

Did you receive my fax? 

(the speaker is looking back to the point of time when he sent the fax as

separated in his mind from the present; compare ‘Have you received my fax?’,

where the speaker is considering the event in terms of the present moment)

Events and states

347d

The past simple may be used for single events or habitual events or states in the past.

● Single events:

He 

suffered a head wound, for which he went to hospital and received ten

stitches.

And then she 

went out and she phoned my brother.

● Habitual events:

[hung out in means ‘spent time in’]

He 

visited the opera regularly and mostly hung out in local cafés.

We 

did a lot of acting at school.

● States:

She 

looked a bit upset.

Where 

were you? I’ve been worried sick.

Where more than one event is reported, a time sequence is normally assumed.

This can be shown by changing the word order in the sentence: