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Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy
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Part

Tenses in context
1 Present perfect
2 Past perfect
3 Present continuous
4 Will or be going to?
5 Be + to forms and other tenses with future

reference

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978-0-521-56844-9 - Exploring Grammar in Context: Upper-Intermediate and Advanced
Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy
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Unit

Present perfect

A Introduction
1 These two news stories use different tenses. Text (a) uses present perfect (e.g.
have spoken, have looked ); text (b) uses mostly past simple (e.g. spoke, looked ).
The important verbs are marked in bold.
Why do you think the tenses are different in the two texts?

a)

b)

Unemployed Terry Fitton has applied for an amazing 2,350 jobs

and hes still out of work. Terry, 50, has posted applications at
the rate of nearly four a day for the past two years.

Superstar Paul McCartney last night watched a heart-stopping sea

search for his 15-year-old son James. The ex-Beatle and his wife
Linda stood ashen-faced on a beach after the youngster was swept
out of sight while surfing. But thirty minutes later they were
joyfully hugging James as he stepped unharmed from the waves.

Observations

Text (a) has a time phrase: for the past two years, which sets the time as time
coming up to now. Text (b) has the time phrase last night, which sets the time as
time finished, separated from now. These can be shown as diagrams:
Time coming up to now:
has applied / has posted NOW
Time finished, separated from now:
watched/stood/was/stepped

NOW

2 Organise these phrases into three columns headed used with past simple, used
with present perfect and used with either.
up to now

in the last century

during President Kennedys lifetime

over the last hundred years or so

since three months ago

for three months

recently

three months ago

this is the first time I

throughout the 17th century

since the Vietnam War

within the last three months

after the Second World War

lately
today

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978-0-521-56844-9 - Exploring Grammar in Context: Upper-Intermediate and Advanced
Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy
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B Discovering patterns of use

1 Present perfect in spoken language
In these pieces of real spoken English, the tenses change.

In (a), when Pat comments, the tense changes to present perfect and in (b),
when Mary talks about finding the bottle-opener, she also changes tense.
Why?

a) [Roger is a guest at Pats house. He is just finishing a personal ghost story, which
he has told all in the past simple tense, which is normal for stories.]
Roger: It was definitely there, some figure there, definitely a figure there
Pat:
Well, as long as you havent brought it down here with you. This is a
friendly house, we dont have any ghosts here.

b) [Mary and Peter are in the kitchen. They are trying to open a bottle of wine.]
Mary: What have we done with the bottle-opener? We found one, didnt we?
Peter: Yeah.

Below are some rules for the use of the present perfect and the past simple
when no explicit time phrases are used. Tick which one you think sounds most
useful, based on the ghost story and the woman in the kitchen.

Possible rules:
i) Present perfect is for things that are very recent; past simple is for things that
happened a long time ago.
ii) It doesnt matter which tense you choose when there is no time phrase. Both are
always possible.
iii) Present perfect is used for things the speaker considers important in relation to
now; past simple is used for things the speaker considers as separated in his/her
mind from now.
2 Past simple and present perfect in news stories
If you read English language newspapers, it is useful to observe how the two
tense-forms are used in news stories. Look at this newspaper story.

What tense should the first sentence be in?

Does it change for the same reasons as in the spoken extracts you have just
studied?
Does it make you want to add anything to the rule you chose for the use of the
two tenses?

1 PRESENT PERFECT

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Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy
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OUR ROADS THE

SHAME OF EUROPE
Britains motorways [vote] the second worst in Europe, according to a
new survey. They are plagued by poor facilities, roadworks and bad
signposting, say continental motorists.
Only Portugals motorways were rated worse than ours. The survey,
by rental giant Eurocar, put Germany way out in front, then France miles
ahead of the rest Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Spain, Britain
and Portugal.

Observations

The examples we have looked at so far point to a difference between (a) things that we
want to bring to the foreground and say This is new or important or relevant or
connected in some way in my mind to now and (b) things that we want to
report/narrate or simply to say This is not important any more, or not relevant to now,
or I have chosen to separate it in my mind from now.
Newspaper language is often distinctive. A typical pattern in a news story is for the
opening sentence to be in the present perfect, and the details of the story to be in the
past simple. In the text above, about roads, the verb in brackets was have been voted.

C Grammar in action
1 Deciding to use the present perfect
Look at these examples of spoken language.

Why do you think the speakers chose the particular tense of each verb in
bold?

a) [Clare and Sam are brother and sister.]

Clare: I think Ive broken Mums hair-dryer.
Sam: How?
Clare: Dont know. It doesnt work any more.

b) [A teacher is talking about her class that day.]

Teacher: I had a bit of a row today and I practised my shouting in the classroom
and Liz reckons my lesson went really really well.

c) [Faye has a problem with her camera and Dave is helping her. The film is stuck;
they discuss whether to take it out.]
Faye: I cant take it out half way through and
Dave: Well, have you started it?

PART A: TENSES IN CONTEXT

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2 Switching between present perfect and past simple

In this example, why do you think the speaker changes the tense?
(The important verbs are in bold.) See Observations below for answer.

Ive been going to the weightwatchers, but I went the first time and Id lost three
and a half pound, and I went last week and Id lost half a pound, so I went down
to the fish shop and got fish and chips, I was so disgusted.

What do you think they said? Here are some mini-extracts from real
conversations. See if you can guess which answer B gave in the original
tape-recording.

(Remember this may not be a question of right or wrong answers, but what B
might have been likely to say, given the context. The key tells you which one B
did in fact say.)
a) A: I live in Exeter. Dyou know it?
Did B say:
Yes, I was there. Ive stayed there a couple of days.

or: Yes, Ive been there. I stayed there a couple of days.

or: some other combination of the two tenses? If so, write what you think it was.
b) A: Ive been to Barcelona for a few conferences, I dont know if youve ever
been?

Did B say:
Yeah, I went to one, yeah.

or: Yeah, Ive gone to one, yeah.

or: Yeah, Ive been to one, yeah.
c) A: We make our own pasta.
Did B say:
Yeah, we did that, we started off using recipes, and then we soon discovered
it was easier to make it our own way.
or: Yeah, weve done that, weve started off using recipes, and then weve soon
discovered its been easier to make it our own way.
or: Yeah, weve done that, we started off using recipes, and then we soon
discovered it was easier to make it our own way.
Observations

Speakers use present perfect to indicate that a topic is still happening, or is still relevant
within the conversation:
Ive been going to the weightwatchers. (She is still going every week.)
Speakers use past simple to indicate that an event is completed. For example, the
woman who went to weightwatchers changed to the past simple to talk about the
separate past events which depressed her.

1 PRESENT PERFECT

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D Follow-up

If you can buy an English language newspaper or if you can get English language
news on radio or TV, make a note of how news stories are reported. Do the
reports use present perfect at the beginning, followed by past tenses for the
details, as we have seen in this unit, in the written and spoken news?
If you want more practice exercises, do the Further exercises at the end of this
unit.
If you want further details of points relating to this unit, go to the Reference
notes section on pages 1857.
Summary

Past simple is used by speakers to talk about past events which are, or which they
regard as, finalised, or over and done with.
Present perfect is used by speakers to talk about events which are still current, or
which they want to highlight as being incomplete or still relevant.
Do not use time expressions which suit completed events (e.g. two months ago)
with the present perfect tense.
Do not use time expressions which suit current events (e.g. lately) with the simple
past tense.
Some time expressions (e.g. today, this morning) can be used with either tense
depending on the attitude of the speaker:
Ive seen him this morning. (The morning is not finished, and the speaker saw
him at some point in it. Note that you could not say Ive seen him this morning in
the afternoon or evening, and be correct.)
I saw him this morning. (If the morning is not yet finished, then the speaker is
looking back at an earlier part of the morning as if it is completely separate from
the time of speaking, for example, before coming to work.)

Further exercises
1 Match each question on the left with a suitable answer from the right.
Have you ever* been to Moscow?
How long have you been at college?
What did you do in Oxford last year?
How many weeks were you in Paris?
What have you done at college?

I studied there, actually.

Ive studied a lot.
Ive been there three weeks.
Ive studied there, actually.
I was there three weeks.

* Ever is similar in meaning to up to now.

PART A: TENSES IN CONTEXT

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2 Somewhere in these texts, the tense changed from present perfect to past simple.
Where?
Put the verbs in brackets in the tense you think the writer used.
a)

SAM DIES AT 109

The oldest man in Britain [die] aged 109 six weeks after
taking the title. Sam Crabbe, from Cadgwith, Cornwall,
[not give up] smoking until he was 98 and [enjoy] a nightly
tot* of whisky. He [be] taken ill just hours before his death.

b)

A WORLD STAGE FOR BRU BORU

(an Irish music/dance group)
The Bru Boru group [return] from a
most successful engagement at Expo
92 in Seville. They [be] there at the
invitation of the Irish Government. In

addition to performing at the many

Irish events at Expo, they also [give] an
unprecedented performance at the
American Pavilion.

3 Now imagine how you might report a news event you have just heard on the
radio to a friend who hasnt heard it. If you are in class, do this with a partner.
Here are some events to help you. What tenses will you use?
You begin: Have you heard?
a) Woman in Madrid wins five million dollars in lottery. Only buys one ticket.
Loses ticket. Finds it in rubbish bin. Claims prize.
b) President has heart attack. Collapses during a debate in Parliament. Rushed to
hospital.
c) Canadian woman becomes first person to cross the Pacific Ocean solo on a raft.
Only one small sail. Built it herself. Journey six months.
4 Choose between the present perfect and past simple tenses for the verbs in
brackets. If you think both are equally possible, write both forms.
a) Nowadays I take a vitamin C tablet every day. I [do] so ever since a friend [tell]
me it was good for you.
b) I [buy] a computer with a DVD/drive. You must come round and have a go on
it. It [teach] me a lot in the few weeks I [have] it.
c) I [buy] a personal stereo but I [sell] it to my teenage daughter as it [look] silly
on me at my age.
d) The other night I [hear] a noise coming from the garden. I [not hear] anything
since, but it [worry] me at the time. There [be] a few burglaries round here lately.
e) I [notice] I was having trouble reading small print so I [go] to the opticians and
I [have] my eyes tested. She [say] I need reading glasses. I know my eyes [get]
worse. I think its working with computers that [cause] it. I wish I didnt have to
use them so much.
f ) He always manages to look so neat, doesnt he, as if he [just come] from his
tailors.
*A tot is a small amount.

1 PRESENT PERFECT

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5 Complete these sentences in any way you like, taking care to choose
appropriately between the present perfect and past simple tenses.
a)
b)
c)
d)

Ever since I was a child I

Lately the weather
During the 1980s, the economy in my country
A: Do you still have your school books from when you were a kid?
B: No, my parents

e) Over the last six months I

f ) This is the first time I
6 What do you think the speaker would be most likely to say in these miniconversations? Choose the most likely tense for the verb in brackets. If you think
past simple and present perfect are both equally possible, write both forms.
a) A: A letter, for me?
B: Yes.

[A opens letter.]
A: Oh! I [win] two tickets for the U2 concert in London next month!

b) A: Wheres that thing you used to have for slicing tomatoes?

B: Oh, that stupid thing. I [throw] it away. It was useless. Ive got a new one
now.

c) A: Isnt she married to a Scandinavian or something?

B: Yes, she [marry] to a Swede, but shes married to a New Zealander now.

d) A: Who [write] A Tale of Two Cities?

B: Charles Dickens, I think.

e) A: Who [eat] my sandwich?

B: Oh, Im sorry. I thought you didnt want it.

f ) A: I see they [dig] another hole in the road. I wonder what the problem is?
B: Where? Oh yes, I see it. No, no idea.

g) A: Who [be] the first to get to the top of Everest, Hillary or Tensing?
B: Dont know.

PART A: TENSES IN CONTEXT

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Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy
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Unit

Past perfect
A Introduction
1 In this extract, a woman describes being invited into the pilots cabin on an
aeroplane she was travelling on:
The pilot said, You can go in the cabin, you see. Well, my mouth dropped open
... you see ... Oh, Id had a joke with one of the girls, you know, the stewardess
girls, and, maybe it was her. Or there was a young man with us who had been in
our hotel, maybe hed said something. Somebody had, anyway. So they took me
right into where the two pilots were. It was absolutely fantastic.

How did the woman react when the pilot told her she could visit the cabin?
The woman says Somebody had, anyway. Can you expand her sentence to
help you explain the story?
Underline the verbs which are in the past simple tense.
Use a different colour to underline the verbs which are in the past perfect
tense.
Which tense is used to try to explain why she was invited to see the pilots
cabin?

2 In the following extract another woman describes an accident in her car, when
she hit a tramp.

Work out which tense the woman used for the verbs which are in brackets.
They are either in the past simple or the past perfect. (Although other tenses
might be possible, we are interested in what the speaker actually used.)
Woman: I wasnt going very fast, you see, I (only just) [turn] the corner ... and
there [be] a bit of a line of traffic, and then ...
Friend: So it was a bit of a miracle he wasnt hurt, wasnt it?
Woman: Apparently, it [be] his party-piece*, because the police told me that he
[do] it very often, this, cos it [get] him a bed for the night, you know, it
got him in hospital. And they were getting a bit fed up. He already
[have] them there that morning apparently, saying someone [put] a
bomb under his bed. But then he picked on me, and it got him a bed
for the night in hospital.
Friend: Good grief!

*The expression party-piece means that the tramp regularly did this in order to gain attention.

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Observations

You have probably learned that the past perfect tense is used in English to describe
events which happened before other events in the past (i.e. that it is primarily to do with
time and sequences of events). This is a fundamental part of learning about the past
perfect. However, in this unit you can learn about how speakers use the past perfect,
and the typical clause patterns it is found in.

B Discovering patterns of use

1 Past perfect and explanations
In the extract where the woman describes her visit to the pilots cabin, we saw
that she used the past perfect tense quite a lot when trying to explain something.
Main events of the story

Possible cause of main events

Tense

The pilot said, You can ...

past simple

my mouth dropped open

past simple
Id had a joke with one of ...
the stewardess girls ...

past perfect

young man ... maybe hed said

something.

past perfect

Somebody had (said something)

past perfect

So, they took me right into

(the cabin)

past simple

Add any rules which you can think of for the uses of the past perfect tense.

i) Past perfect is used to describe events which happened before other events in
the past.
ii) ...
iii) ...
2 Past perfect and clause construction

If you wanted to join the following sentences together, which conjunctions

would you use?
but

a)
b)
c)
d)

10

because

when

as

I wasnt going very fast. I had only just turned the corner.
John came round on Sunday. He only stayed about ten minutes.
John came round on Sunday. I had promised to lend him a video.
I was out celebrating last night. Id had my exam results.

PART A: TENSES IN CONTEXT

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