present perfect
1
2.7
- noun
- /ˈprɛzənt ˈpɜrfɪkt/
- Specialized
:
pretérito perfecto
- But the present perfect is deictic; it links situations directly to the present and so never requires such an antecedent time; compare 26 to 27:
- present perfect tense
Examples
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Like the present perfect, it is about a state of affairs, not a series of occurrences.
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Could you make a lesson about the present perfect tense, when we can use it?
Blog text (23) -
But the present perfect is not the same thing as used to.
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That the present perfect and used to share so many properties is no accident.
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The present perfect, too, readily occurs in absolute or initial position.
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It should not be surprising, given all these similarities, that it shares with the present perfect its connotation of "present relevance."
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The present perfect is also not readily negated, at least in its continuous and resultative readings, though it is more readily negated in its existential use.
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It has been observed that the present perfect presupposes that an event be repeatable (McCawley; Leech 32ff).
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In English grammar, the present perfect tense is formed using 'has' or 'have' followed by the past participle of the verb.
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Many learners find the present perfect useful for discussing experiences that relate to the present moment.
Synonyms
A verb tense used to talk about actions that happened before now and still matter
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is compositionally built from 'present' (present time) + 'perfect' (completed action), so its meaning — a tense relating completed actions to the present — can be inferred by a learner who knows both words. This grammatical label is also cross-linguistically common (many languages use equivalent compound names), making it readily comprehensible rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The name present perfect comes from the idea that present links the action to 'now' and perfect means 'finished'. So it describes actions that happened before 'now' but still matter in the present.