Present Perfect or Past Perfect?

 

How do you choose between the Present Perfect and Past Perfect?

 

The Present Perfect is used to talk about an action that took place in the recent past and is still relevant to the present moment.

• The bus has left and we have to wait for another one.

 

The Past Perfect is used to talk about an action that took place before another moment in the past.

• The bus had left before we arrived to the station.

 

Consider the following examples:

 

Present Perfect	Past Perfect
I am so excited. I have just passed my exam.	I was so excited. I had passed my exam.
We’ve finished the game and now we have dinner.	We’d finished the game when mom called us for dinner.
His team has won and he’s very happy.	His team had won, so he went to the bar to celebrate their victory.

 

Past Perfect: questions

 

To make questions in the Past Perfect, put “had” before the subject and add the Past Participle form of the verb:

 

Singular	Plural
Had I seen? Had you seen? Had he/she/it seen?	Had he seen? Had she seen? Had they seen?

 

• Had you seen Helen playing squash with Nicole before the rain started?
• Had he made any mistakes before the teacher asked him to hand in the test?
• You looked pale. Had anybody scared you?

 

Note: In short positive answers to the Past Perfect questions we use only full forms of had. In short negative answers we can also use short forms of had.

 

• Had you made your homework before the movie started?
• Yes, I had (No, I hadn’t).

 

• Had he already finished cleaning when you came in?
• Yes, he had (No, he hadn’t).

 

Past Perfect: negative

 

To make negative statements in the Past Perfect, use:

had not + Past Participle:

 

Singular	Plural
I had not (hadn’t) left You hadn’t left He/she/it hadn’t left	We hadn’t left You hadn’t left They hadn’t left

 

• Nick hadn’t attended our meeting, so we discussed everything without him.
• I hadn’t read the play before I went to the theatre to see it.
• They were so excited. They hadn’t danced together since 2014.     

 

Past Perfect: statements

 

We use the Past Perfect for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past. The Past Perfect is used in the same way as the Present Perfect, but it refers to a time in the past, not the present.

• She didn’t want to move. She had lived in Milan all her life.

The Past Perfect is normally used with the Past Simple to talk about two or more events that happened at different times in the past.

In such statements the Past Simple describes the event that is closest to the time of speaking. The Past Perfect describes an event further back in the past.

• The train had left (Past Perfect) before we arrived (Past Simple) at the station. (The train left earlier and we arrived later).
• Anthony had gone (Past Perfect) to the university when I knocked (Past Simple) on his door.
• He had cooked (Past Perfect) dinner before Gwen got (Past Simple) back from work.

 

To make the Past Perfect, use the verb “had” + Past Participle. 

 

Note: For regular verbs, this is the “-ed” form of the verb. For the list of Past Participle forms of irregular verbs see Verbs: irregular in the Pre-Intermediate course.

 

Singular	Plural
I had planned You had planned He/she/it had planned	We had planned You had planned They had planned

 

In the following examples, even if the Past Simple action is first in the sentence, it still happened later:

• The traffic was bad because a car had broken on the road.
• When we arrived at the stadium, the game had already started.

Linking words of cause and effect

 

Sometimes we need to link two ideas in a way that shows a cause and effect relationship between them.

 

Look at the following example:

• I was late to work today because I missed the bus.

The first part of the sentence, ‘I was late to work today’, tells us what happened. The second part of the sentence, ‘because I missed the bus’, tells us why it happened.

 

The linking word ‘because’ in this sentence shows cause and effect. The cause is WHY it happens. The effect is WHAT happens.  

 

Because, since, as, and so

 

Let’s look more closely at some cause and effect linking words. Some common cause and effect linking words are ‘because’, ‘since’, ‘as’ and ‘so’.

 

‘Because’, ‘since’, and ‘as’ show cause.

• It game was cancelled because it was raining.

‘Because it was raining’ is the cause. It is why the game was cancelled.

 

Here are a few more examples.

• I took notes for you in class today since you were absent.
• As Monday is a holiday, we have decided to leave town for the weekend.

 

‘So’, on the other hand, shows effect.

• It was raining, so the game was cancelled.

This is almost the same as the earlier sentence, but we use the word ‘so’ to talk about the effect: the game was cancelled.

 

Consequently and therefore

 

Some other words we can use to talk about effect are ‘therefore’ and ‘consequently’.

• Jesse’s new girlfriend was allergic to cats. Therefore, he had to give his beloved cat Fluffy away.
• He stole money from the company, and consequently, he was fired.

 

Note: ‘Therefore’ and ‘consequently’ either start a new sentence, or they are preceded by the words ‘and’ or ‘so’.     ‘So’, on the other hand, cannot start a new sentence and does not need any words before it.

 

Cause and effect words that are followed by nouns

 

‘Because of’, ‘due to’, and ‘owing to’ are linking words that also show cause, but they must be followed by a noun instead of a verb phrase.

•   The game was cancelled because of the rain.

Here, we use a noun, the rain, after the linking words ‘because of’. ‘Due to’ and ‘owing to’ are used the same way.

• We lost the contract due to Edgar’s careless mistakes.
• The business went bankrupt owing to a combination of bad luck and bad decisions.

 

‘So… that’  and ‘Such… that’

 

We can also use ‘so + an adjective + that’ to create cause and effect:

• I was so tired that I fell asleep on the bus.

In this sentence, ‘I was tired’ is the cause and ‘I fell asleep on the bus’ is the effect.

 

We can also use a quantifier and a noun instead of an adjective to create a sentence in the same way:

• Bill Gates earns so much money that he donates most of it to charity.
• He ate so many cookies that he threw up.

 

We can also use ‘such + an adjective + a noun + that’ to create cause and effect.

• She is such a beautiful woman that everyone she meets falls in love with her.

‘She is a beautiful woman’ is the cause in this sentence; ‘everyone she meets falls in love with her’ is the effect.

• This is such a good recipe that my grandma refuses to share it.  

‘This is a good recipe’ is the cause; ‘my grandma refuses to share it’ is the effect.

 

The Future Simple Passive

 

Future simple passive is used to talk about an action that is going to happen in the future. In such statements emphasis is put on the effect of an action.

 

Future simple passive forms are normally built using ‘will’ rather than ‘going to’:

• The motorway will be closed for three days.
• Your room will be cleaned while you are out.
• Only English will be spoken at the conference.

 

To make statements with the Future simple passive, use:

will be + the past participle form of the verb

 

Singular	Plural
I will be treated You will be treated He/she/it will be treated	We will be treated You will be treated They will be treated

• The new university will be opened by the President.
• The football match won’t be played because of bad weather.
• Will Jane be visited by her relatives from New-York?

 

 

 

Past Simple Passive

 

Past Simple Passive is normally used to talk about some completed actions in the past.

• This fortress was built 120 year ago.
• Two people were taken to hospital after the accident.
• The railroad was damaged by the storm.

 

To make statements with the Past Simple Passive, use:

was/were + the Past Participle form of the verb

 

Singular	Plural
I was heard You were heard He/she/it was heard	We were heard You were heard They were heard

• I was bitten by a dog a few days ago.
• Where were you born?
• Mary wasn’t invited to the party.

 

 

 

Present Simple Passive

 

Present simple Passive is used to talk about some actions that are performed at the present moment or repeatedly, simple statements of fact or universal truth.  

 

The agents of such actions may be denoted with ‘by’:

• This work is performed by a new company.
• The beach is cleaned every morning.
• Oranges are imported from Paraguay.  

 

To make statements with the Present Simple Passive, use:

am/is/are + the Past Participle form of the verb.

 

Singular	Plural
I am visited You are visited He/she/it is visited	We are visited You are visited They are visited

 

• Glass is made from sand.
• Spanish is not spoken in China.
• Are US dollars accepted at Dubai airport?

 

 

The Passive: overview

 

Passive constructions are used when the speaker wants to focus not on the subject but on the action itself and the object receiving this action:

• Millions of people play mobile games every day (focus on “millions of people”).
• Mobile games are played by millions of people every day (focus on “mobile games are played”).
• Butter is made from milk.
• The telephone was invented by Alexander Bell.

 

Positive statements with passive constructions are built using various forms of ‘be’ (is, are, were, etc.) + the Past Participle form of the verb:

• The office is cleaned every day.
• I was born in 1980.
• These castles were built by our ancestors.

 

Note: For regular verbs, this is the “-ed” form of the verb. For the list of Past Participle forms of irregular verbs see Verbs: irregular in the Pre-Intermediate course.

 

To make negative statements with passive constructions, use:

subject + form of ‘be’ + not + Past Participle.

• I was not offered any job.
• That bird is not usually seen in our region.
• They weren’t invited to the party last Saturday.

 

To make questions with passive constructions, use:

(Question word) + form of ‘be’ + subject + Past Participle

• Where were you born?
• Was anybody injured in the accident?
• Were you paid when you finished your work?

 

 

Reported questions

 

Reported questions are used to describe questions that someone has asked.

Direct questions and reported questions use different word orders.

 

1 Closed questions

 

You go to a job interview and the interviewer asks you:

• Are you friendly and outgoing?
• Have you done this kind of work before?

 

Later, you want to tell a friend what the interviewer asked you. You have two options:

 

a) You can repeat her words:

• She asked me, ‘Are you friendly and outgoing?’
• She asked me, ‘Have you done this type of work before?’

 

These are direct questions.

 

b) You can also use reported questions.

 

If the answer to a question in direct speech is ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ ‘if’ or ‘whether’ is used to report the question. ‘Whether’ is more formal than ‘if.’

• She asked me if I was friendly and outgoing.
• She asked me if I had done this type of work before.

 

Reported questions with ‘if’ and ‘whether’ leave out the auxiliary verb ‘do.’

• Do you want me to stay for dinner? – Ian asked me if we wanted to stay for dinner.

 

Changing direct questions to reported questions

 

The change of pronoun and tense are similar to reported statements.

 

In addition:

a) the word order changes

b) we add ‘if’ or ‘whether’ with ‘yes’ / ‘no’ questions

 

• Interviewer: ‘Can you start tomorrow?’ – She asked me if I could start the next day.

 

2 ‘Do’, ‘does’ and ‘did’

 

These auxiliary verbs are not used in reported questions. The past form of the verb is usually used.

• Interviewer: ‘Do you like working as part of a team?’ – She asked me if I liked working as part of a team.

 

3 Choice questions

 

‘If’ or ‘whether’ can also be used to report questions that use “or” in direct speech.

• Interviewer: ‘Do you want to work in the morning or in the afternoon?’ – She asked me if I wanted to work in the morning or the afternoon.

 

4 Open questions

 

Direct open questions are reported by swapping the order of the subject and the verb.

• What are your hobbies?
• Where do you live?
• Why did you apply for this position?
• What hours can you work?

 

The subject comes before the verb in reported questions.

• She asked me what my hobbies were.
• She asked me where I lived.

 

The tense in reported questions usually moves one tense back from the tense in direct questions.

• She asked me why I had applied for the position.
• She asked me what hours I could work.