Name Date

Lesson
7 Perfect Tenses Teaching
The present perfect tense shows an action or condition that began in the past and continues into the
present.
Present Perfect Dan has called every day this week.

The past perfect tense shows an action or condition in the past that came before another action
or condition in the past.
Past Perfect Dan had called before Ellen arrived.

The future perfect tense shows an action or condition in the future that will occur before
another action or condition in the future.
Future Perfect Dan will have called before Ellen arrives.

To form the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses, add has, have, had, or will
have to the past participle.

Tense Singular Plural

Present Perfect I have called we have called has or have + past participle
you have called you have called
he, she, it has called they have called
Past Perfect I had called we had called had + past participle you had called
CHAPTER
you had called
he, she, it had called they had called
Future Perfect I will have called we will have called will + have + past participle you
will have called you will have called
he, she, it will have called they will have called

Recognizing the Perfect Tenses

Underline the verb in each sentence. On the blank, write the tense of the verb.

1. The film house has not developed the pictures yet. _____Present perfect tense
___
____Future perfect tense
2. Fred will have left before Erin’s arrival.
__
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3. Florence has been a vary gracious hostess. __ Present perfect tense __

4. Andi had lost her transfer by the end of the bus ride. __Past perfect tense __
__
5. By tonight, I will have finished my assignment. ___ Future perfect tense__
in buried treasure.

7. We have worked over an hour on one math problem. __ Present perfect tense ___
6.
8. Until his college years, Carl had not decided on his career. ____ Past perfect tense ___

9. The snow plows had cleared our street before the really
heavy snowstorm. __ Past perfect tense ___
______Present perfect tense
10. Have the Ortons found their dog yet? _________________
 Before the discovery of the buried chest, Joe had not believed

Lesson
7

____Past perfect tense____

GRAMMAR, USAGE, AND MECHANICS BOOK 97

Name Date

Perfect Tenses More Practice

A. Recognizing the Perfect Tenses
Underline the verb in each sentence. On the blank, write the tense of the verb.

1. Olga had figured out the answer before her teacher’s explanation. ________ Past perfect tense
_______________

2. I have walked every day now for a month. _______ Present perfect tense ________________

3. Vickie had liked Nels until their argument. ___ Past perfect tense ____________________

4. Alf will have jogged 70 miles by the end of next week. _____ Future perfect tense
CHAPTER 4
__________________

5. By lunch time, Rusty had started cooking dinner. ______ Past perfect tense _________________

6. Ira has practiced piano every day for a week. _____ Present perfect tense __________________

7. At this rate, we will not have finished the 30 chapters by June. _______ Future perfect tense
________________

8. Our HMO has added a number of new physicians to the staff. _____ Present perfect tense
__________________

9. The ice on the lake will have melted long before the weekend. ______ Future perfect tense
_________________

10. The window had cracked before the wind storm. ________ Past perfect tense _______________

B. Forming the Perfect Tenses

Complete each sentence by writing the form of the verb indicated in parentheses.

1. (finish, past perfect) We ____had finished__________ our game before the Meteors started theirs.

2. (graduate, future perfect) Margie __will have graduated__________________ before the spring
semester.

3. (vote, past perfect) Union members _____had voted__________________ before they saw the
contract.

4. (exercise, present perfect) We _____have exercised_____________ three times this week.

 Copyright © McDoug

5. (talk, past perfect) The manager ______had talked_________________ to the pitcher twice by that
time.

6. (clean, future perfect) I ___will have cleaned____________________ the whole kitchen by the time
Mom returns.

7. (offer, present perfect) Angelica frequently ___has offered____________________ to help.

8. (produce, future perfect) By the end of this writing course, you

______will have produced_________________ a plot outline and at least four chapters of your novel.

9. (picked, past perfect) He ______had picked_________________ ten bushels before the truck
showed up.

10. (search, present perfect) The rescuers ______have searched_________________ the area for hours.
98 GRAMMAR, USAGE, AND MECHANICS BOOK
Name Date

Lesson
7 Perfect Tenses Application
A. Using Verb Tenses
The following is a journal entry of a girl of the mid-1800s in a wagon train heading for
California. Supply verbs to the narrative in the tenses indicated in parentheses. Use verbs
from the list below.
be, expect, walk, insist, pack, lose CHAPTER

The first month on the trail (present perfect) _has been__________________

challenging. Before we set out, I (past perfect) ___had
expected____________________ that I would ride the wagon, but instead I
(present perfect)
___have walked_ _____ miles every day. Mother (present perfect) _has
___insisted___________________ that I always wear a bonnet because of the sun.
It’s a good thing that we (past perfect) _had ______packed________________ so
many bonnets, because the wind keeps blowing them off my head and across the
prairie! I think I (future perfect) _will have lost______________________ all my
bonnets before we arrive in California.

B. Using Verb Tenses

Choose a trip you have made or would like to make. Write sentences about the trip using the
following verbs in the tenses indicated.

1. see (future) _I will have seen the next spiderman’s movie

___________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________
__________
 2. pack (present perfect)_I have packed many of my books
___________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________
__________
Copyright © McDougal Littell Inc.
3. hope (past progressive) _I was hoping for improve my guitar’s technique
_________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4. visit (future perfect) The next year I will have to visited El Ñady
______________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

5. be (past perfect) _I had been a student of the school

_______________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

6. learn (past progressive) _I was learning English the past Monday

_________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________
__________

7. try (future perfect) _The next class_I will have tried play guitar correctly
____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________
__________

GRAMMAR, USAGE, AND MECHANICS BOOK 99