English For Journalists: Tense About Tenses, Part 2: The Perfects

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Tense about tenses, part 2: the perfects
by Diane Nottle on February 8, 2013 in

Uncategorized 1 Comment
Even the most advanced student of English has trouble
mastering our tenses; so do some native speakers. (In
eastern Pennsylvania, where I come from, people often
use past perfect — I had gone — when they mean simple
present — I went.) Simple present (I go), simple past (I
went), simple future (I will go) really are simple, mostly.
The ones labeled “perfect” are another story.
Perfect, in relation to tenses, refers to time — the past,
time completed or “perfected” (from Latin). Somewhere in
the sentence, an action takes place in the past, even if the
tense is future perfect. In its simplest form, a verb in a
perfect tense consists of a past participle plus an
auxiliary:
Present perfect: I have gone
Past perfect: I had gone
(Let’s stick with those for now; future perfect is not often
used.)
Imagine a timeline, and please pardon my poor digital
drawing skills:
Past perfect Present perfect
——————————–/————————————/
—————————————-
Past A past moment
NOW Future
Simple past indicates that something happened at a
particular moment in the past: I came to New York in
August to enroll in journalism school.
Present perfect means that something has taken
place over a span of time, from a point in the past up to
and including the present: I have come to New York to be
a great journalist. That’s what you wanted when you
came; that’s what you still want, and you’re stil here.
Past perfect is used for an action that took place before
another action in the past; therefore there must be two
verbs in the sentence, a simple past and a past perfect: I
had never thought about going to journalism school until I
heard about CUNY’s program. You heard about CUNY at
a particular moment in the past; before that, you had
never thought about J-school.
Some words can be clues to what tense you need.
Before, until and by the time, for example, usually indicate
a specific point in time, therefore simple past: Before I
came here . . . or Until I came here . . . They suggest
that the verb in the other clause should be past perfect:
Before I came to CUNY, I had not written much in English.
On the other hand, since referring to time (as opposed to
since meaning because) implies a span of time and calls
for present perfect: Since he got his TOEFL scores, he
has worked much harder on his English. He got his
scores at a specific moment in time; has worked refers to
his activities in time span from then to now. But: Since
(because) his TOEFL scores were good, he was admitted
to the program. Simple past in both clauses.
In both present perfect and past perfect, verbs may be
continuous or progressive (referring to actions in
progress) — in other words, the -ing form. I could just as
easily have written Since he got his TOEFL scores, he
has been working much harder on his English. Or: Before
I came to CUNY, I had been writing mostly in French.
As for future perfect, it indicates an action that will have
happened by some future date. Think of the learning
outcomes section of a syllabus: By the end of this course,
students will have learned how to . . . You haven’t
learned it yet, but during the course, you will learn. When
the course is over, you will have learned.
And then there’s conditional perfect: I would have passed
if I had studied. In this case had studied is not past
perfect, but an obviously contrary-to-fact conditional.
Now, a pop quiz: is the following sentence, written by a
student last semester, correct or incorrect?
The word ‘refusenik’ has entered English after the 1970s
movement of Russian Jews protested anti-Semitism and
denied permission to emigrate abroad.
(Pause for thought.)
Wrong. After denotes a point in time, so it should be
entered. Or: . . . has entered English since the 1970s
movement . . .
Still confused? Come to office hours on Friday afternoons,
leave a comment or e-mail
diane.nottle@journalism.cuny.edu.
ABOUT DIANE NOTTLE
Diane Nottle is the ESL coach to the

international students and other non-native
English speakers in CUNY's Graduate
School of Journalism. Her 35-year career
in journalism included 20 years as an
editor at The New York Times specializing
in arts and culture. She holds a certificate
in English language teaching from New
School University and has taught English
at Columbia University, the University of
Lower Silesia in Wroclaw, Poland, and
Hunan University of Science and
Technology in Xiangtan, China. She has
also taught journalism at the University of
British Columbia, Colorado State University
and Emerson College.
View all posts by Diane Nottle →
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A CUNY blog by Diane Nottle

Tense about tenses, part 2: the perfects

by Diane Nottle on February 8, 2013 in

Even the most advanced student of English has trouble

mastering our tenses; so do some native speakers. (In

eastern Pennsylvania, where I come from, people often

use past perfect — I had gone — when they mean simple

present — I went.) Simple present (I go), simple past (I

went), simple future (I will go) really are simple, mostly.

The ones labeled “perfect” are another story.

Perfect, in relation to tenses, refers to time — the past,

time completed or “perfected” (from Latin). Somewhere in

the sentence, an action takes place in the past, even if the

tense is future perfect. In its simplest form, a verb in a

perfect tense consists of a past participle plus an

Present perfect: I have gone

Past perfect: I had gone

Imagine a timeline, and please pardon my poor digital

Past perfect Present perfect

Past A past moment

Simple past indicates that something happened at a

particular moment in the past: I came to New York in

August to enroll in journalism school.

Present perfect means that something has taken

place over a span of time, from a point in the past up to

and including the present: I have come to New York to be

a great journalist. That’s what you wanted when you

Past perfect is used for an action that took place before

another action in the past; therefore there must be two

verbs in the sentence, a simple past and a past perfect: I

had never thought about going to journalism school until I

heard about CUNY’s program. You heard about CUNY at

a particular moment in the past; before that, you had

never thought about J-school.

Some words can be clues to what tense you need.

Before, until and by the time, for example, usually indicate

a specific point in time, therefore simple past: Before I

came here . . . or Until I came here . . . They suggest

that the verb in the other clause should be past perfect:

Before I came to CUNY, I had not written much in English.

On the other hand, since referring to time (as opposed to

since meaning because) implies a span of time and calls

for present perfect: Since he got his TOEFL scores, he

has worked much harder on his English. He got his

scores at a specific moment in time; has worked refers to

his activities in time span from then to now. But: Since

(because) his TOEFL scores were good, he was admitted

to the program. Simple past in both clauses.

In both present perfect and past perfect, verbs may be

continuous or progressive (referring to actions in

progress) — in other words, the -ing form. I could just as

easily have written Since he got his TOEFL scores, he

has been working much harder on his English. Or: Before

I came to CUNY, I had been writing mostly in French.

As for future perfect, it indicates an action that will have

happened by some future date. Think of the learning

outcomes section of a syllabus: By the end of this course,

students will have learned how to . . . You haven’t

the course is over, you will have learned.

And then there’s conditional perfect: I would have passed

if I had studied. In this case had studied is not past

perfect, but an obviously contrary-to-fact conditional.