THE PERFECT TENSE (PEMINATAN KLS XI GANJIL)

THE PERFERCT OR INCLUSIVE TENSES

(MINOR ENGLISH OF 11TH GRADE)

SCAFFOLDING TALK:

The word TIME and TENSE must not be confused. The word time stands for a concept with which all mankind is familiar. The word tense stands for a verb form or series of verb forms used to express a time relation. According to AS. Hornby, tense may indicate whether an action, activity, or state is past, present, or future.

A clear distinction should be made between ‘tense’ and ‘time’. The notion of time – present, past, and future time are universal. According to Eckersley, tense is a linguistic device varying from language to language. It means the verb forms used to express certain time relations.

In this part, I am going to tell you three of tense forms in a group of the perfect or inclusive tenses. They are present, past, and future perfect tense.   

·      THE PERFECT OR INCLUSIVE TENSES

The three tenses, simple present, simple past, and the future, are concerned mainly with the aspect of TIME of an action. But in the perfect tenses our interest is primarily NOT IN THE TIME OF THE ACTION but IN THE FACT OF ITS OCCURANCE and ITS RESULT. Thus in the sentences:

1.    Surya has been to Leuwiliang three times.

2.    I have driven this truck.

3.    Makmun has bought a new watch.

The attention is directed not on the time in the past when these actions were done but simply on the fact that Surya’s visits have taken place, that the truck is driven and Makmun now has a new watch. If we wanted to direct attention to the time of those actions we should use the past tense and generally, an adverbial that indicated definite past time, the examples:

1.    Surya went to Leuwiliang in 2000, 2002, and 2014.

2.    I drove this truck this afternoon.

3.    Makmun bought a new watch on last Saturday.

·      THE PRESENT PERFECT

The present perfect tense is made by using the present tense of the verb have and a past participle. The interrogative, as with all perfect tenses, is formed by inversion of HAVE and the subject; the negative by addition of not, the examples:

Affirmative: Boy has eaten all the sweets.

Interrogative: Has Boy eaten all the sweets?

Negative: Boy has not (hasn’t) eaten all the sweets.

The present perfect tense indicates an action that took place in the past, is associated with the present idea of NOW, e.g.

I have never met your sister. (Up to now)

I have studied all the documents in this case. (So now I am fully informed on the matter)

We have bought our yearly stock of rice. (So now our rice storage is full; now we are all right for the pandemic)

THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE IS USED:

(1) For an action just concluded when the resulting state is still present, e.g.

I have lost my pen; I am unable to do my test.

He has unlocked the door; there is nothing to prevent you from going out.

With activities completed in the immediate past, just is often used, e.g.

The post has just come.

NOTE that though just is an adverbial of the present, just now (a little time ago) is an adverbial of the past and the verb used with it will be a past tense, e.g.

The post came JUST NOW.

(2) For duration of an action or of absence of an action begun in the past and continuing to the present (and possibly to the uture), e.g.

I have taught this class for ten years (and am still teaching it)

Compare this with:

I taught this class for ten years (but no longer teach it)

(3) When the time of the action is indefinite, e.g.

I have watched this film before.

Compare this with:

I watched this film last January when it was first shown in London. (where the time is definite)

·      PAST PERFERCT TENSE

This tense is formed by had + a past participle. It is used:

(1) To speak of an action concluded before a certain time in the past or before the time of the occurance of another action (denoted by the simple past tense) and yet continuing into it, e.g.

Luna had learned English before she came to England.

When we got to the field the football match had already started.

I didn’t go to the cinema because I had already watched the film.

Just as the present perfect is used when the resultant state is still ‘now’, so the past perfect tense would be used to refer, at a subsequent time, to this prior action. Read:

I had lost my pen and I was unable to do the test.

He had unlocked the door; there was nothing to prevent you from going out.

(2) To express duration up to a certain time in the past, e.g.

By the time I left the school I had taught that class for ten years.

·      FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

This tense is formed by the future tense of have + past participle. It is used to indicate:

(1) An action that will be completed before a certain time or another action in the future. The state it brings about will still exist at that time or at the time of that action. So the future perfect takes the same realation to afuture moment as the the present perfect takes to a present moment and the past perfect to a past moment. This tense is often associated with the preposition BY and the construction ‘BY THE TIME (THAT)’. The examples:

It is now 6 p.m.; I shall have finished my work by 8 o’clock.

The taxi will have arrived by the time you finished dressing.

In another year or so, you will have fogotten all bout her.

(2) Duration up to a time in the future, e.g.

When I leave the school next week I shall have taught this class for ten years.

On December 18th we shall have been married for 25 years.

(3) Possibility or assumption, e.g.

You will have heard, I expect, that Elizabeth is going to be married.

It’s five o’clock; they will have arrived home by now.

THANK YOU

SMAN 1 KOTA BOGOR