Change the verb inside the parentheses into its past form write your answer on the blank

According to corpus research, in academic writing, the three tenses used the most often are the simple present, the simple past, and the present perfect (Biber et al., 1999; Caplan, 2012). The next most common tense for capstone writers is the future; the doctoral study/dissertation proposal at Walden is written in this tense for a study that will be conducted in the future.

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of written and spoken English. Pearson. https://doi.org/10.1162/089120101300346831

Caplan, N. A. (2012). Grammar choices for graduate and professional writers. University of Michigan Press.

Simple present: Use the simple present to describe a general truth or a habitual action. This tense indicates that the statement is generally true in the past, present, and future.

• Example: The hospital admits patients whether or not they have proof of insurance.

Simple past: Use the simple past tense to describe a completed action that took place at a specific point in the past (e.g., last year, 1 hour ago, last Sunday). In the example below, the specific point of time in the past is 1998.

• Example: Zimbardo (1998) researched many aspects of social psychology.

Present perfect: Use the present perfect to indicate an action that occurred at a nonspecific time in the past. This action has relevance in the present. The present perfect is also sometimes used to introduce background information in a paragraph. After the first sentence, the tense shifts to the simple past.

• Example: Numerous researchers have used this method.
• Example: Many researchers have studied how small business owners can be successful beyond the initial few years in business. They found common themes among the small business owners.

Future: Use the future to describe an action that will take place at a particular point in the future (at Walden, this is used especially when writing a proposal for a doctoral capstone study).

• Example: I will conduct semistructured interviews.

Keep in mind that verb tenses should be adjusted after the proposal after the research has been completed. See this blog post about Revising the Proposal for the Final Capstone Document for more information.

Today we’re going to be talking about the difference between present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect verb tenses.

Remember that verbs are words that describe an action, occurrence, or state of being. The tense of a verb refers to the time of the action or state of being. The perfect form is the verb tense used to talk about a completed action or condition and always uses a form of “have” or “had,” plus the past participle.

Participles are words made out of verbs but used as adjectives. In English, participles are also sometimes used to form compound words like “is going.” A past participle, in the context we’re using it today, is the second part of a compound verb that’s used to form perfect and passive tenses. Past participles usually end in -ed.

Verbs can appear in any one of three perfect tenses: present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect.

Present Perfect Tense

Let’s start by talking about present perfect verbs. The present perfect tense expresses an action that began in the past and is now completed in the present. Take a look at this equation:

Present tense of have + past participle = present perfect tense

Present Perfect Tense Example

We can put those elements into practice in the following sentence.

I have finished my homework already.

We know this sentence is written in the perfect tense for two reasons. First, we see that it is talking about a completed action: “I have finished my homework.” There’s our -ed past participle, and it’s telling us that the job is completed. The second hint we have that it’s the perfect tense is the word have. Remember, the perfect form is a verb tense that uses a form of have or had plus a past participle.

In this sentence, have finished tells us that the finishing action began in the past but is now completed in the present. We can see that the sentence used have instead of had, so we know it’s present perfect tense, not past perfect.

Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense expresses an action that began in the past and was completed in the past before something else occurred. The past perfect equation looks like this:

Past tense of had + past participle = past perfect tense

Past Perfect Tense Example

Here’s a sentence with past perfect tense.

Paul tried to hide the vase because he had broken it.

Right away, our eyes should be drawn to the past perfect phrase had broken. There’s our past tense had and our past participle. You may notice that broken is not an -ed verb, but it’s still a past participle; it just conjugates differently than the -ed verbs we’ve looked at so far. This also happens with words like ate and shaken. The sentence is describing something that began in the past and was completed before something else occurred. Paul broke the vase. The action is complete, therefore the tense is perfect, and it happened in the past, therefore the word had appears in our equation.

Future Perfect Tense

The future perfect tense expresses an action that will be completed by some specified point in the future. This equation is a little more exciting.

Will or shall + have + past participle = future perfect tense

Future Perfect Tense Example

Here’s a sentence with future perfect tense.

Do you think the lunchroom will have cooked enough rice?

First, we notice the two elements we’ve learned to expect from the perfect tense: a version of have or had, and a past participle, in this case, the -ed verb cooked. You might be tempted to think this was present perfect tense based on our earlier equation, but be careful to look first in front of the word have to make sure it’s not future perfect. Sure enough, the entirety of the phrase reads will have cooked.

This tells us that we’re talking about an action that’s not done yet, but will be done in the future at a specific time. Take, for example, the following phrases:

By the end of the night, Mary will have danced for three hours.

In two years, I will have saved $2,000.

In both these examples, the reader is standing in the present without evidence of a completed action, but we can be sure that both of those things will be done in the future, thus the past participles danced and saved.

It may sound complicated, but if you remember these three grammar equations and acquaint yourself with common past participles, you’ll have a solid understanding of present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses.

I hope this overview was helpful!

See you next time!

Question #1:

 
Which verb tense is being used in the following sentence?

My sister has read that book at least 20 times.

Question #2:

 
Which verb tense is being used in the following sentence?

Caleb will have finished all of his chores before dinner.

Question #3:

 
Which verb tense is being used in the following sentence?

Because of the cold temperatures, she had decided to stay indoors.

Question #5:

 
How would you change the following sentence so that it is written in the past perfect tense:

Jim will have taught school for 15 years by then.

Change will have taught to did teach

Change will have taught to had taught

Change will have taught to will teach

Answer:

1. Lawrence 1. Lawrence attended the meeting last week.

2. We visited Bohol last summer.

3. Jack stepped on the newly planted seedlings yesterday.

4. The mayor postponed his visit this morning, because of the bomb threat.

5. The campers fried some eggs this morning.

6. I wished on a falling star last night.

7. Last summer, Cathy topped the entrance exam.

8. The boys carried their backpacks with them.

9. Yesterday, the program started late.

10. The janitor trimmed the grasses last Saturday

II.

1. Long time ago, a rooster  found a pearl.

2. He saw that it was a jewel and not a grain of corn.

3. The farmer’s wife came with a sack of feeds for the chickens.

4. The rooster put it aside.

5. It ate the feeds.

6. Something white caught the attention of the farmer’s wife.

7. She knew it was a pearl

8. She threw away the sack.

9. She ran into the house with delight.

10. She took the treasure with her.