English Verb Tenses
Made
Simple Course
Lesson 07
Welcome to the seventh lesson of this special course!
Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses
On this lesson we will learn how an action can be both ongoing and complete, at the same time!
The Perfect
Progressive Tenses
Yes! A verb can be both PERFECT and
PROGRESSIVE!"How can it be?!" you ask...
Well, here is the explanation:
When the verb is in its PROGRESSIVE from it expresses an ongoing action.
For example, "I am eating" means the action of eating is in progress.
When the verb is in its PERFECT form it expresses a complete action.
For example, "I have eaten" means the action of eating is finished.
What do you get when you combine the two?
You get an action that was in progress, and now it is finished!
For example, "I have been eating."
In this sentence the verb is in the Present Perfect Progressive.
And it means that I started to eat in the past, and finished by now.
If I want to say that I started to eat 2 hours ago, and I was eating until now, I would say:
"I have been eating for 2 hours."
OR
"I have been eating since 4 o'clock."
OR
"I have been eating since I got here."
And so on.
So the Perfect Progressive tense is a form of the verb that shows the action started, continued, and was complete until some point of time.
- Past Perfect Progressive is a form of the verb that shows the action started in the past and continued until some point in the past.
- Present Perfect Progressive is a form of the verb that shows the action started in the past and continued until the present.
- Future Perfect Progressive
is a form of the verb that shows the action will continue until some
point in the future.
For example: By tomorrow morning, Lisa will have been dancing for 12 hours!
For example: Lisa had been dancing for 2 hours before she was tired.
For example: Lisa has been dancing for 3 hours without stopping!
A) Do the following steps, one after the other:
- Read
the general explanation about the Present Perfect Progressive
tense
- Read
the rules for positive sentences, negative sentences and questions
- Read
the list
of examples
- Do the exercises
B) Do the following steps, one after the other:
- Read
the general explanation about the Past
Perfect Progressive tense
- Read
the rules for positive sentences, negative sentences and questions
- Read
the list of examples
- Do the exercises
C) Do the following steps, one after the other:
- Read
the general explanation about the Future Perfect Progressive
tense
- Read
the rules for positive sentences, negative sentences and questions
- Read
the list
of
examples
- Do the exercises
Come back
when you are done...
Are you done? Great!
Then let's continue.
On the next lesson we will make a review of the English tenses, in preparation to the final test in end of this special course!
Do you have any questions? Now is the perfect time to ask them!
Click here to ask your question.
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