A little help please,   Which of the following is more accurate in this sentence, "The dream I had last night is one I (had had/have had/am having) for many years"?  I'd say it is "am having" since there is a period which spans -perhaps- until the present. However, there is also a sense of "pastness" as having been suspended and then suddenly returned.   Any suggestions?
577
Non-na­tive speak­ers of­ten get con­fused about what the var­i­ous tens­es  and as­pects mean in English. With in­put from some of the folk here I've put to­geth­er a di­a­gram that I hope will pro­vide some clar­i­ty on the mat­ter.  I of­fer it as the first an­swer to this ques­tion. Con­sid­er it a liv­ing doc­u­ment. In­put is wel­come, and good sug­ges­tions will be  in­cor­po­rat­ed in­to the di­a­gram.    No­ta bene: What this is not is a dis­cus­sion of whether there are  more than two tens­es in English. , to which this ques­tion is not in­tend­ed to sup­ply ar­gu­ments one way or the oth­er.  Here, the aim is to pro­vide an overview of what con­struc­tions English-speak­ing peo­ple use for con­vey­ing in­for­ma­tion about ac­tions re­fer­ring to past, present, and fu­ture, and to pro­vide it first and fore­most to pre­cise­ly the peo­ple who are like­ly to use "tense" as a catch-all term in their search, rather than to lin­guists who know bet­ter.  Break­ing News There is now an ex­cel­lent ELU blog ar­ti­cle ti­tled  . It is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed read­ing.
7235
Here's my problem:  I've been confused about the placement of adverbs in present/past perfect phrases. For example, which sentence would sound better:     "We had been slowly drifting down the river when a bear attacked."      or      "We had slowly been drifting down the river when a bear attacked."   Personally, I'd go with the former, and this led me to believe that if the sentence contains both "had been" and a verb, the adverb should be placed after "had been"--if the adverb is indeed modifying the verb.  This, however, led to me to think of other uses of the present/past perfect, where another verb isn't present. The is the best example I could formulate:     "He has always been an academic and a charitable person."   See, right there, always--an adverb of frequency--was placed in between has and been.  Does this mean only adverbs of frequency (e.g., always, usually, etc.) should be placed in between such constructs?  A final example to put this topic over the edge is "He had been either sick or exhausted." Now, if you were to move "either" in between "had been," would the sentence be grammatically incorrect? I've noticed that the former is used more frequently, but the sandwiched version doesn't sound wrong either.  Thanks!
95516
What is the difference between the sentences        He had a gun.      and         He has had a gun.      I think when you are saying about the past why don't you just say it as  "He had a gun" instead of "He has had a gun"?, this goes same with these below sentences as well.        He has killed.   He has had killed.              She had sex before she died.   She had had sex before she died.
89880
I was told that if an action is completed once in the past, the simple past is used. Ex:  I saw that movie.  If the action is completed more than once, the present perfect tense must be used. Ex:  I have seen that movie twelve times.    So, "I have seen that movie twelve times on Tuesday." is correct and "I saw that movie twelve times on Tuesday." is incorrect?
54756
Where did you go last night?   Where went you last night?   Is there a reason we say the first of the previous two sentences as opposed to the last one?   I know the second sentence is ungrammatical. I was just wondering if there was more of a rule than just "asking questions in the simple past needs 'did' + verb in the present tense."
102205
I'm from the northeast US. When describing the phenomenon of going to bed at night, or falling asleep, I always formulate the verb like that, as in "I went to bed at 10" or "I didn't fall asleep until midnight."  However I frequently hear the formulation "Last night, I slept at 10" or "I usually sleep at midnight". I'm interested in whether there's any interesting known dialect or historical distinction between the formulations. I now live on the west coast US and know many people who use these latter forms, and it still sounds wrong to my ear, like it's missing the helper verb (fall, go).   (The one case where I might crossover is in the sentence "I couldn't sleep until midnight", which sounds right to me, although "I didn't sleep until midnight" sounds wrong.)    It feels to me (though I don't have the professional vocabulary for this) that for me, "sleep" is an indefinite-duration, continuous action ("I'm sleeping"). So when I want to mark the time that it starts, I need to help it with "go to sleep". When I hear people say "I slept at 10", it sounds to me like they were asleep for only a moment, at 10 o clock, but not after, if that makes sense.
8316
I am very much confused with two aspects which are perfect aspect and present perfect continuous.  From the sentences below I am not sure what to use..  Perfect aspect:     I've lived here for ten years.   Perfect Continuous aspect:     I've been living here for ten years.
115684
Should I write 'I have been reading a book now' or 'I am reading a book now'? I started to read one week ago and I haven't ended yet. Thanks for help
120502
A colleague asked me which of these sentences is correct, or if they are both correct which is better to use.   Are you using the current template version? Do you use the current template version?   I recommended using the first sentence but only because it sounds better to me.  Is there anything grammatically wrong with the second sentence or does it convey a different meaning to the first sentence?
7313
Which of these is grammatically correct?       1. a) He has been working under my direct supervision since the last two years           1. b) He has been working under my direct supervision for the last two years            2. a) He has not met her since a very long time        2. b) He has not met her in a very long time    Which of the above are correct? Are all of them correct? My friend says 1.b and 2.b are correct, but I am not sure. Or is this an American English and British English thing? (He mostly goes by American English)
29555
Today an excruciating accident has taken place in our vicinity. Today an excruciating accident took place in our vicinity.   Today indicates the present time. So I prefer has taken, which has been used in first sentence. But a native speaker of English said that he would prefer took place, though he didn't tell me why he would do this.  Now I ask to the members of this site what do they think about this?
71612
What's the difference between      I have been playing tennis for five years.   and   I have played tennis for five years.   Are they grammatically correct? If yes, how are they different in meaning/nuance?
83243
What is the difference in the meaning between following sentences:        John was to have picked strawberries yesterday but the downpour made the field too muddy.   John was to pick strawberries yesterday but the downpour made the field too muddy.      (Source: modified )  I've read in Learn English BBC that the form "was to" and "was to have" is used for past plan which wasn't fullfiled.  But What  I haven't understood is that these form look similar to me. I'm in a dillema which one (was to, or was to have) is used for past plan and which one is for unfullfilled past plan.  So, what is the differences between the construction was/were to ...  and was/were to have + past participle?
86974
When in a sentence I want to use the present perfect of get, I say have/has gotten. A friend of mine (who is American) corrects me, saying I should use have/has got. From my English classes, I remember that the past participle of get is gotten.  Why does my friend tell me that it is not correct to use have gotten?  If that makes any difference, my friend lives on the east coast, closer to the New England zone.
70123
A) He was arrested by police. b) He had been arrested by police.  In newspaper reporter want to tell about past event that has already happened.  In above statements Reporter conveyed same meaning, that police have arrested criminal and he is still in there custody.  I am aware that above sentence are In past Tense i.e. former is in simple past and later is in Past perfect. And also in Passive voice  My question is that why reporter purposely used was and had been in sentence? instead of that he could have used Present perfect. e.g he has been arrested by police.  Also Some times reporters does not use simple past before using past perfect.  e.g. He had been arrested by police when I was reached on the spot.
39246
I have read an interesting book yesterday and underlined the new words which are simple but effective.    Present perfect tense specifies an action that has recently finished. The above sentence is present perfect if I am using have (I believe).  But in my book have is given as error and the sentence is corrected by removing have. I believe by removing have we are changing the tense to simple present. But simple present does not indicates an activity that is finished.  I am not sure why have is error in the above sentence. Please suggest.
98825
Until I went into the army, I (had been / used to be / was ) an introverted person. And after I I finished army service, I became more confident.   I think all of these are possible.  As for had been, I'm referring to the state of me being introverted before the accident that happened in the past. So, I think I can use had been.  And at the same time I feel I can use used to be and was.. If I don't want to emphasize the time gap between two accident, I feel I don't need to use past perfect. So I think this problem depends on how I'm going to say something.   which one is preferable? and what is the difference?