Page 434 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford
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perfect verb forms construction
Perfect verb forms are made with have + past participle.
She has lost her memory. (present perfect)
They have been living in France for the last year. (present perfect
progressive)
/ told him that / had never heard of the place. (past perfect) When 1went back to the village the house had been pulled down.
(past perfect passive)
We will have finished by tomorrow afternoon. (future perfect tense) I'm sorry to have disturbed you. (perfect infinitive)
Having seen the film, / don't want to read the book. (perfect -ing form)
terminology and use
A perfect verb form generally shows the time of an event as being earlier than some other time (past, present or future). But a perfect form does not only show the time of an event. It also shows how the speaker sees the event - perhaps as being connected to a later event, or as being completed by a certain time. Because of this, grammars often talk about 'perfect aspect' rather than 'perfect tenses'.
For details of the use of the various perfect verb fonns. see the individual entries in the hoole.
personal pronouns (1): basic information terminology and use
The words /, me, you, he, him, she. her, it, we, us, they and them are usually called 'personal pronouns'. (This is a misleading name: it, they and them refer to things as well as people.)
Personal pronouns are used when more exact noun phrases are not necessary.
I'm tired. (I replaces the name of any speaker.)
John's ill. He'll be away for a few days. (NOT •• • 16hn'U he away . ..)
Tell Mary 1 miss her. (NOT 'feU };!ary I miss Mary.)
subject and object forms: I and me. he and him etc
Personal pronouns (except you) have one form when they are used as subjects, and a different form for other uses - for example. when they are the objects of verbs or prepositions.
Subject: I he she we they
Object: me him her us them
Compare:
- 1 like dogs. - We sent her some flowers.
Dogs don't like me. She sent us some flowers.
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