The perfect aspect

In the mind of an English speaker, there's a clear difference between talking about an event that happened in the past and talking about something that has happened. The difference is whether there's an effect on the speaker right now.

For example, if you say "I ate" it's just a fact - you ate at some time in the past. It doesn't have any connection to how you feel right now.

But if you say "I've eaten", that expresses

the idea that you ate something, and it's still affecting you. Maybe you feel full. Maybe you don't want to eat another meal. You are not only talking about a past action, but also about the present effect of that action.

Visually, think about it like this:


The name for this way of speaking and understanding sentences is the "perfect aspect". Perfect aspect is used in a few different kinds of situations:

• For talking about your experiences ("I've never met her.")
• For talking about things that are still going on ("We've been together for three years.")
• For talking about something you expected to happen ("Have you called him back yet?")

But the big question is, how do you learn how to use perfect aspect correctly? Do you just read this email and remember this list of rules? That probably wouldn't work. A better way to learn is to look at examples of how people use perfect aspect in real situations. This list of sentences that use perfect aspect will help you to get started:

http://www.phrasemix.com/categories/grammar-perfect-aspect

Read those sentences, and try to "feel" why the speaker would choose "have done" instead of "did".                                              ("Year of English")

http://www.phrasemix.com/categories/grammar-perfect-aspect

perfect aspect

Each of these lessons includes a perfect aspect verb. These include:

·     present perfect ("have done", "has been", "has gone", etc.)

·     past perfect ("had seen", "had known", etc.). There's also a separate category that includes only past perfect lessons.

·     future perfect ("will have done")

·     perfect progressive ("have been doing", "has been going", "had been waiting", "will have been doing", etc.)

There's also a post in the Concepts section explaining Perfect Aspect.

1. “We've been toying with the idea of raising our own chickens.”

2. “Don't tell me you've never ridden a roller coaster before!”

3. “I wanted to let you all know that Mindy has suffered a loss in her family.”

4. “I've developed a rash of some kind on my upper back, between my shoulder blades.”

5. “I've been feeling kind of lightheaded lately whenever I stand up.”

6. “Hey, have you had a chance to consider my request?”

7. “Dude! Have you been living under a rock? She's über-famous!”

8. “Have you experienced any heart palpitations?”

9. “Have you been naughty or nice this year?”

10. “It's mostly just spread through word of mouth.”

11. “I've been meaning to ask you: do you know what's up with Matt?”

12. “Her health had been deteriorating for many years.”

13. “The Jets have let their 12-point lead going into halftime slip away.”

14. “You should have seen the look on his face. It was priceless!”

15. “Sales have been steadily increasing since the launch.”

16. “I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on it.”

17. “He claims to have been abducted by aliens.”

18. “It's been on the market for nearly a year now, but we still have nothing to show for it.”

19. “What's up with this erratic weather we've been having, huh?”

20. “There's been non-stop coverage of it on all the news networks.”

21. “I've been glued to the TV all week.”

22. “Actually it's been kind of slow this week.”

23. “Thanks, but I would have remembered!”

24. “Have you confronted him about it?”

25. “So they haven't filed for a divorce yet?”

26. “She's already moved on.”

27. “I'm pleased to announce that Carlos Turner has been promoted to Northeastern Regional Manager.”

28. “We've actually had to turn away business.”

29. “We've been absolutely overwhelmed with orders.”

30. “I've had this presentation looming over me for weeks now.”

31. “I'm trying to break my Facebook addiction, so I haven't been on in a while.”

32. “I feel like I've hit a plateau.”

33. “It's been one thing after another all day.”

34. “I've come a long way since then.”

35. “I've had this song stuck in my head for two days!”

36. “So far I've just been getting caught up.”

37. “So, have you settled back into the routine?”

38. “I've never been able to stick to a diet.”

39. “Have you spotted any celebrities?”

40. “I was really sleepy because I had gone out drinking the night before.”

41. “Sorry, I've kind of been in my own little world lately.”

42. “Oh, have you taken up painting?”