Hi Maryam,

I’ve had a few requests for future in the past lately so I will do something for this soon; I’ll try and include something on time expressions too.

Phil

Hi Tim, yes that is a correct understanding/use of the present perfect, and I think you are correct that that is why it has the name ‘present’ perfect, even though it is describing a past activity – because it has an impact on the present.

Hello Phil,

Thank you. I do have one last question about the present perfect tense. I know the present perfect tense is often used to indicate that a past action (i.e. an action which started and ended in the past) has an effect on the present/current time. So an example of the present perfect tense – “I have done my homework” simply means that the action of doing my homework started and ended in the past, but that this past action has a present effect such as “I am hence now free to play games”. This is the right use of the present perfect tense, correct?

Also, is this the very reason why this tense (though used to describe an action which started and ended in the past but which has an effect on the present) is called the “present” perfect tense?

Hi Tim,
Yes you are correct though an example like ‘to complete’ is a little confusing in terms of talking about how something starts and ends; you will technically start and end the completing in each of these times, exactly as you say, though to be clear you may have started the action that is being completed before. If that makes sense! (I.e. If you start/end the completion in the future, the homework itself might have been started in the past but not finished.) Whereas with a verb like ‘to do’ might be a clearer idea – “I will do my homework” = start and end in the future.

Hello,

So the word “happen” as in something happened or will happen, just means something (for example an event or action described with a verb) started and ended or something will start and end.

So for simple future tense, like “I will complete my homework”, this just means my action of completing homework will start and end in the future?

Likewise for simple past tense “I completed my homework” means that the action of completing homework started and ended in the past?

or for present perfect tense “I have completed my homework” also means that the action of completing started and ended in the past?

Did I get the above right?

Hi Tim,

No, for future actions we do not need to specify a time when using the future forms (will/going to) and in some contexts with the present continuous (e.g. if it’s understood we’re talking about the future). The exception is with the present simple for future time, which would not work grammatically without a time.

You’ve asked a few questions on the “happen” idea but I think the final one covers them, to say that yes, “happen” simply means it starts and ends, regardless of tense – so it could start and end in the past or the future depending on the tense of the clause. “It will happen” would mean to start and end in the future, and “It happened” would mean it started and ended in the past. I hope that helps?

Phil

My first question is if I say that an action will happen in the future, must I say when the action will happen or occur? For instance, using simple future tense, I can say “I will complete my homework” – this means that my action of completing the homework will happen in the future, but is it grammatically correct to say “I will complete my homework” without specifying a time such as “next week” as in “I will complete my homework next week”?

My second question is on the meaning of the word “happen”. Dictionaries will state “occur” or “take place” as synonyms, but when i use the word “happen”, for example in the simple future tense such as the above example of me completing my homework, does “happen” mean that the action will start and end in the future? What if I am talking about an action in the past using the simple past tense or present perfect simple tense, such as “I completed my homework” or I have completed my homework”, does this mean that the action of completing homework (for these two sentences in simple past/present perfect) started and ended in the past?

So the word “happen”, when we say an event or an action “happen”, simple means that something starts and ends (i.e. occur), regardless of the tense of the action right?