BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Meaning of a Sentence: Perfect Forms of verbs

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:11 pm
Thanked: 1 times

Meaning of a Sentence: Perfect Forms of verbs

by Cinji18 » Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:43 pm
I seem to have trouble telling when to use present perfect forms. I understand that one meaning of the prefect form is that an action started happening in the past and continues into the present, but I still run into situations when I think both the simple and perfect form work in a sentence.

Ex:

The tomatoes are contaminated.
The tomatoes have been contaminated.

If the tomatoes are contaminated, doesn't that mean the tomatoes have been contaminated for some time to be contaminated now?

Another example:

CORRECT:A frightening storm has been lashing South Padre Island, forcing Natalie and Todd to postpone their wedding.

How do I know to use has been lashing, and not lashes/lashed?
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:14 pm
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 4 times
Followed by:3 members
GMAT Score:800

by gmatninja » Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:16 am
You're correct in thinking that the present perfect tense (has lashed, have been, etc.) refers to an action that starts in the past and continues into the present. In many cases, there's no reason why you couldn't use either present perfect or present tense--they just mean slightly different things. If you say "the tomatoes are contaminated," your emphasis is on the tomatoes' current state; if you say "the tomatoes have been contaminated," you are subtly highlighting the fact that the action of contaminating the tomatoes started at some point in the past. Either one could be correct.

"Has been lashing" doesn't make quite as much sense. This is present perfect progressive tense (ouch, sorry for the jargon), which should only be used when you really want to emphasize the fact that the action continues to take place. In this case, it seems that "lashed" (or possibly "has lashed" if the storm is still on the rampage) would make more sense, since the couple (apparently) already canceled the wedding at some point in the past.

Practically speaking on the GMAT, you rarely need to worry about whether present perfect tense would be a better choice than simple present tense. The important thing is to recognize that different verb tenses should be used for two different actions in the same sentence ONLY if the actions occurred at different times. Check out SC #87 in the 12th edition of the official guide for a good example of when to use present perfect and simple present tenses to describe actions that occurred at different times.

I hope this helps!
helping students kick the GMAT in the nuts since 2002... https://www.gmatninja.com/
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1