In this article, you are going to learn everything about the present perfect continuous tense, past perfect tense, and future tense. Stay with us!
Let’s quickly pull back the present continuous tense and the past continuous tense from our previous article for reference on the present perfect continuous tense we’re about to discuss below.
E.g.,
– I am learning English grammar now [Present Continuous]
– I was learning English grammar a year ago [Past Continuous]
Now, you can equally have a Present Perfect Continuous Tense,
E.g.,
– I have been learning English grammar for two years.
[It means ‘up to now’ and so is Present Continuous.]
As you can see, this tense is made by using the present participle (e.g. learning) together with have (has) been.
E.g.,
– Mr. Thomas has been teaching here for twenty years.
– Have you seen Sam? We’ve been looking for him all afternoon.
– I’ve been working on this model engine for six weeks. It’s nearly finished now.
– It’s been raining for two days and it seems it will never stop.
– Jerry is a hard worker. He’s been cleaning the house all morning.
– ‘Is Joan at home now?’ ‘No, she’s been staying with her aunt in Accra for the last two months’
Now with the above examples on the Present Perfect Continuous Tense, I hope you’d understand it better.
Things you should note:
We’ve = We have
It’s = It has
He’s = He has
Likewise; “It’s” can also mean “It is”.
“He’s” can also mean “He Is”
“She’s” can also mean “She Is”.
The present perfect continuous tense is used to express an action that began in the past and is still continuing.
Past Perfect Tense
To explain this part of the tense better, take a moment to look at these two sentences;
Jack learned English.
He came to England.
From the above sentences, both actions took place in the past, so we use the Simple Past Tense, “learned and came.”
But suppose we want to show that one of these actions took place before the other one. Suppose we want to say that before he came to England, Jack learned English. Then we use the Past Perfect Tense for the action that took place first, and we use the Simple Past Tense for the other action.
Thus, we say;
Jack had learned English before he came to England.
The Past Perfect Tense is formed like the Present Perfect Tense except that instead of using the Present form, have (has), we use the past form, had.
Let us take a few more examples. Suppose we are going to a football match, but we are rather late. We arrive at the football field to find the teams are already playing. Then we would say;
“When we reached the field, the game had started.”
The explanation is that;
One action (the start of the game) took place before the other action (our arrival on the football field). The first and earlier action is in the Past Perfect Tense (had started), and the later action (reached) is in the Simple Past Tense.
Here are some more examples on past perfect tense;
– Before the fire engines arrived, the fire had destroyed the house.
– When I had finished my homework I turned on the radio.
– Margaret had already got home before it began to rain.
– Paul bought a new dictionary yesterday because he had lost his old one.
– Before the children came to the Party, Joan and Tina had arranged the room, Richard had baked cakes, and Lewis had bought a small present for every guest.
In summary, we can say that the past tense is used to show that one action took place before another action in the past.
Before we proceed, quickly take this exercise on past perfect tense.
Exercise On Past Perfect Tense
A). Rewrite the following pairs of sentences so that one sentence is in the Past Perfect Tense. Add any words that are necessary.
1) (a) John studied French. (b) He went to Paris
2) (a) We arrived at the cinema. (b) The film started
3) (a) Neman ate all the food. (b) Paul arrived home
4) (a) The army commander studied all the maps of the district. (b) He made the attack.
5) (a) The farmer finished clearing the farmland. (b) He planted some wheat.
The Future Tense
Here is how this goes; in the Future Tense, we use shall with the first person and will with all the other persons;
E.g.,
– I shall be twelve years old next year
– You will be twelve years old next year.
– He will be twelve years old next year.
– We shall be twelve years old next year.
– They will be twelve years old next year.
Note: The negative is formed by adding not (both shall and will are peculiars).
For instance;
– I shall be twelve years old next year (Positive)
– I shall not take the money from you (negative)
Also, Will Not is often shortened to Won’t; while Shall Not is often shortened to Shan’t.
E.g.,
– I shall not (shan’t) be twelve until next year.
– You will not (won’t) be twelve until next year.
– He will not (won’t) be twelve until next year.
– We shall not (shan’t) be twelve until next year.
– They will not (won’t) be twelve until next year.
The interrogative is formed by inversion. (that is the question form of the shall or will)
E.g.,
Shall I?
Will you?
Will he?
Shall we?
Will they?
- Below are some more examples of the use of shall and will, shan’t and won’t.
– Shall we go for a walk?
– The sky is black; I think it will rain.
– Yes, I think we shall have a thunderstorm.
– No, we shan’t have rain, the sky is getting clearer.
– I hope it won’t rain; if it does we shall have to stay in.
– Shall I take an umbrella?
– Oh no, you won’t need an umbrella.
– Will you come with us on our walk?
– No, I shall stay at home and write some letters. Even if it rains you won’t get very wet.
– You’re wrong there. I think that if it rains we shall get wet through and through.
The Future Tense is used for actions that are going to take place
In the Future Tense, “I” and “We” take “Shall” after them. While “He”, “She”, “They”, and “It” and all nouns take “Will” after them.
Let’s return again for a while to Will and Shall. Here, you will remember that ‘I will‘ expresses willingness, promise, intention, or determination, and you will see that when we are talking about people, some feeling like this is always likely to be present.
So I will and we will are used much more often than I shall and we shall.
In fact, it is quite likely that ‘shall‘ will cease to be used
The exception to what we’ve said above is in questions, where ‘shall I?’, and ‘shall we?’ will continue in usage. This is because ‘shall I?’, and ‘shall we?’ in questions are not used for simple future only.
E.g.,
1)- Shall I see you tomorrow?
You can also see it in polite suggestions and requests;
E.g.,
2)- Shall we have a game of netball?
3)- Shall I open the window?
In 2) and 3) above, simple future, modern usage accepts will as well as shall
E.g.,
– Will I see you tomorrow?
– How will I recognize your brother?
Then what about shall/shan’t for the other persons?
Well, shall/shan’t are not used often, so they are not of great importance, but you will see them in your reading, so you may as well know them.
Below are some examples of the use of form B:
He shall do the work whether he wants to or not.
(Determination.)
You shall have the money I owe you as soon as I get it.
(Promise).
You have damaged my bicycle. You shan’t have it again.
(Determination).
Those people want to buy my house, but they shan’t have it. I won’t sell it.
(Determination).
All of the above forms show determination or promise on the speaker’s part.
Perhaps a table with the two forms side by side will show them best.
A B
Simple Future Promise, Determination, Willingness, Intention, Command
I shall I will
You will you shall
He will he shall
We shall we will
You will you shall
They will they shall
As you can see, the forms of the verbs in Colum B are the exact opposite of those in Column A.
Thou wilt, thou shalt can still be found in some versions of the Bible, e.g. ‘Thou shalt not kill’; ‘Thou shalt not steal’ are two of the Ten Commandments. But these have become obsolete and are not used in Modern English. We would rather say, ‘You must not kill’; ‘You must not steal’.
Therefore, for future use, ‘I, we shall’; ‘you, he, they will’.
For promise, Determination, Willingness, Intention, and Command use, ‘I, we will’; ‘you, he, they shall’.
Going To
We can also express future intentions in another way, and that is by using going to.
Look at these examples;
– Gerald says he is going to work hard next year.
– I am going to write a letter to my uncle today.
– James is going to sell his car
– We are going to finish our homework after supper.
This is perhaps the commonest way of expressing the future; it saves all difficulty with shall and will. But remember you can’t use ‘going to’ for Simple Future.
You can’t say;
– ‘Today is the 14th of April; tomorrow it is going to be the 15th of April.
It can only be used for intention, or ‘strong probability’.
Below are examples of ‘strong probability’;
– I think it is going to rain. (That is, ‘I think it is very probable that it will rain’)
– I’m afraid the new building is going to cost a lot of money.
– We’re going to have two weeks holiday soon.
With the above illustrations, you can see that ‘going to’ expresses intention or a strong probability.
Thanks for reading & please, stay with us for more!