Some features of the perfect aspect:
The perfect auxiliary:
There is only one perfect auxiliary. This is the auxiliary have.
The form of the perfect auxiliary:
The perfect auxiliary have has many forms, depending on the auxilary preceding it in the sentence. As mentioned before, the auxiliaries always come in one particular order: modal - perfect - progressive - passive. Since the perfect auxiliary can only be preceded by a modal auxiliary or no auxiliary at all, have can take precisely two shapes. It can either be in its tensed form (preceded by no auxiliary at all) or in its non-finite form (preceded by a modal):
| preceded by: |
no auxiliary |
modal |
| I |
have |
had |
have |
| you |
have |
had |
have |
| he/she/it |
has |
had |
have |
| we |
have |
had |
have |
| you |
have |
had |
have |
| they |
have |
had |
have |
The form of the following verb:
The verb following a perfectauxiliary always appears in its past participle
form. This form is made up from the verb's stem + -ed, except for the
irregular verbs. Compare the example sentences already
given on the Auxiliaries page and notice the verbs
following the perfect auxiliaries in their past participle form:
| iii. |
He has forgotten. |
perfect |
| vi. |
He will have forgotten. |
modal perfect |
| ix. |
He has been forgetting. |
perfect progressive |
| x. |
He has been forgotten. |
perfect passive |
| xii. |
He will have been forgetting. |
modal perfect progressive |
| xiii. |
He will have been forgotten. |
modal perfect passive |
| xv. |
He has been being forgotten. |
perfect progressive passive |
| xvi. |
He will have been being forgotten. |
modal perfect progressive passive |
Comment:
Whether the perfect auxiliary appears in present tense form or in past tense form, it always refers to past time. This can be demonstrated by the following two examples:
| 1. |
She has forbidden me to come to the party. |
| 2. |
He had gone out. |
The first sentences has a present tense auxiliary, but the forbidding happened in the past. In sentence 2 there is a past tense auxiliary, which also refers to something that happened in the past. Both perfect auxiliaries refers to past time.
|