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Tenses Question

by piyushdabomb » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:39 am
Hey Everyone -

I'm still learning the fundamentals of tenses and wow - what an interesting way to understand and present time!

Can someone tell me If my explanations for the following sentences based on their past tense structure are correct? If I'm wrong, help me correct it.

Past Simple: I packed my bags
(E)xplanation: i packed my bags at some point before now. I don't know if I'm packing them now and I don't know if I packed them continuously/progressively.

Past Continuous: I was packing my bags
E: I packed my bags at some point before now. I don't know if am packing my bags now, but I do know that I was packing them continuously (i.e without any breaks such as sitting on my laptop during that period).

Past Perfect: I had packed my bags
E: I packed my bags at some point in the past before now. I know I not packing them now, but I don't know if I packed them continuously.

Past Perfect Continuous: I had been packing my bags
E: I packed my bags at some point in the past before now. I know am not packing them now and I know I packed them continuously.
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by theCodeToGMAT » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:16 am
Past Simple: I packed my bags
--> I packed my bags in past.. not packing them now.


Past Continuous: I was packing my bags
--> i was doing some event just untill few moments ago


Past Perfect: I had packed my bags
--> Just down put "had" because you want to make perfect tense. Mostly, prefect tense is used in conjugation with another event.
For example: when i called him, he had slept.
The earlier event takes the "had" structure.. and the later event takes the past tense structure.



Past Perfect Continuous: I had been packing my bags
--> use this form of tenses, when the earlier past event was not over and the later past event happened.
For Example: Ram had been waiting for two hours when I arrived.
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by piyushdabomb » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:02 am
That makes sense.

I have a question about present perfect tenses:

If I say: "I have eaten," does it mean the following?

1. The event started in the past.
2. The event is still happening.
3. The event may not be continuous (i.e. present progressive) unless I wrote "I have been eating."


What I'm confused about is whether present perfect tenses indicate that the event is "still" occurring.

Let me know.
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by theCodeToGMAT » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:33 am
piyushdabomb wrote:That makes sense.

I have a question about present perfect tenses:

If I say: "I have eaten," does it mean the following?

1. The event started in the past.
2. The event is still happening.
3. The event may not be continuous (i.e. present progressive) unless I wrote "I have been eating."


What I'm confused about is whether present perfect tenses indicate that the event is "still" occurring.

Let me know.
This means that action started in the past and has continued till this moment in the present.
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by piyushdabomb » Mon Sep 23, 2013 1:44 pm
So does that mean I'm still eating then if I say "I have eaten"?
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by theCodeToGMAT » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:56 pm
piyushdabomb wrote:So does that mean I'm still eating then if I say "I have eaten"?
"This means that action started in the past and has continued till this moment in the present."

We use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now, but is not continuing in present/future.
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by piyushdabomb » Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:42 am
Hi CodetoGmat,

I understand what the definition means and I'm sorry, but I am unable to interpret your statement based on the example I've provided.

So what does "till this moment" mean exactly? Can you please explain it in the context of answering it based on my following questions?

When I say "I have eaten," does that mean that I was eating and as of now, I'm not eating? Does it mean that I was eating till a split second ago? I'm guessing that I'm not eating anymore since your second statement in your most recent post mentions that.

If it means that I'm not eating, then that makes a bigger more confusing thought, because I always thought that in the present means "now." If I'm not eating, that sounds like it should be in the "past," not the present. If the action was in the past, why would we say that this in present perfect tense?
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by theCodeToGMAT » Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:17 am
Perfect tenses are very confusing as they can define various events which may have occurred & ended in past or occurred in past and continued in present.

I shall advise you to go through this link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/ ... t-use.html

Basically:

USE 1 Unspecified Time Before Now ----> Event happened at an unspecified period in past.. IT IS NOT ONGOING as of now.
Example: I think I have met him once before.

USE 2 Duration From the Past Until Now ---> Event Started in past and has occurred until now in present... we don't know about it future certainty.
Example: She has been in England for six months.


The sentence "I have eaten" will mean that you are not eating now but you ate moments ago.
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