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Have and the Perfect

I have often walked down this street before

Past participles can also be found following the auxiliary have, another verb which can be used both as a main verb and as an auxiliary. As a main verb, have indicates possession of some thing or quality. As an auxiliary, it combines with the past participle to form a structure called the perfect:
(1) I have often walked down this street before.
Like the progressive, the perfect is technically a verb aspect but often referred to as a tense. The tense of a perfect verb phrase is actually determined by the auxiliary in front of it. Sentence (1) is in the present perfect because have is a present tense form, even though we are talking about things from the past. Once again, the English tense-aspect system does not have a very exact relationship with real time. The perfect refers to action already completed at the time specified by the tense. The present perfect in sentence (1) means that as of the time we are speaking we had already at some previous time walked down this street. The past perfect equivalent would have the past tense had as in (2). It would suggest that at some point in the past (specified by the context) we had already finished frequent walks down that street:
(2) I had often walked down this street before.

Exercise 1: Hamlet and the Haves

Now say whether the forms of have in the following sentences are (A) main verbs or (B) auxiliaries helping to form the perfect:
1.01 Let us impart what we have seen to-night unto young Hamlet.
1.02 What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
1.03 I have that within which passeth show.
1.04 A beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer.
1.05 I had seen this hot love on the wing.
1.06 I have heard of your paintings.
1.07 God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.
1.08 Mother, you have my father much offended.
1.09 I had my father's signet in my purse.
1.10 Revenge should have no bounds.
1.11 This skull has lain in the earth three and twenty years.
1.12 The cat will mew and dog will have his day. 1.13 He has done me no wrong.
1.14 She has nobody else to trust.
1.15 Has he been with you much?

Exercise 2: Past Participles

We can also sometimes be confused by the different uses of past participles and by their resemblance to the regular past tense. In the sentences below, say whether the underlined word is (A) a main verb in the past tense, (B) a past participle helping to form the passive, or (C) a past participle helping to form the perfect. Remember that have and be can both serve as main verbs as well as auxiliaries.
2.01 Hedi has been in Paris.
2.02 Janet was shocked by the outcome.
2.03 Madison had a bad toothache.
2.04 My cat destroyed the slipcover.
2.05 No one has told me the reason.
2.06 The monkeys had buried it in the sand.
2.07 Victory was declared.
2.08 The ending ruined it for me.
2.09 Elvis has left the building.
2.10 We were often surprised by his behavior.

Perfect Trees. As with the progressive and passive, we can diagram the perfect by showing "have" as a verb taking the rest of the predicate as its complement:

Perfect Combinations. The perfect can combine with the progressive or the passive to make the perfect progressive or the perfect passive. The perfect marker have comes first. The auxiliary be used to form the progressive or passive, will itself become a past participle, been.

(3) I have often been walking down this street before. [PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE]
(4) I had often been walking down this street before. [PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE]
(5) I have often been mugged on this street before. [PRESENT PERFECT PASSIVE]
(6) I had often been mugged on this street before. [PAST PERFECT PASSIVE]

Combinations of this sort are rather ungainly. The perfect progressive passive is even more so, and you might want to think twice if you find yourself about to use it:

(7) I have often been being mugged on this street before. [PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE PASSIVE]
(8) I had often been being mugged on this street before. [PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE PASSIVE]

Intervening Adverbs. We can sometimes become confused as to whether have (or be) is acting as a main verb or an auxiliary verb in a given sentence. One source of such confusion are adverbs inserted between the auxiliary and its participle, as often is in the sample sentences in this section.. The adverbs most frequently found in this position are adverbs of frequency, which we have already seen as occupying the specifier postion in a VP. When the verb they precede is the main verb, we can fail to notice that the verb ahead of it is an auxiliary. Notice that place adverbials like down the street and time adverbials like before are much more comfortable after the verb, though for emphasis one could move them to the beginning of the sentence. Although it can move around like other adverbs, "often" is much more comfortable preceding a verb, though it follows the main verb be without any problem.

Exercise 3: Perfect or Not?

Say whether the following sentences exhibit perfect aspect? Watch out for passives, for irregular past participles, and other uses of have:
3.01 Goldilocks has very long hair.
3.02 Goldilocks has found a curious little house.
3.03 Does Goldilocks have the right to go in the house?
3.04 Has Goldilocks gone in anyway?
3.05 The three bears had left their breakfast porridge on the table.
3.06 The bowl of the youngest bear was not finished by him
3.07 He had been in too big a hurry to go play with the nearby packers.
3.08 Goldilocks had not had any breakfast herself.
3.09 Goldilocks has eaten the porridge all up.
3.10 Goldilocks may later have been arrested by the fuzz.

Keeping Tenses Straight When Writing. There is a reason for trying to remember obscure tense-aspect combinations like past progressive passive and the like. One owes the reader the simple courtesy of keeping one's tenses consistent with each other. If one starts in the simple present, then one uses it with the present perfect, the present progressive, the present passive, and so on. If one starts in the simple past tense, one sticks to the past perfect, the past progressive, the past perfect, and so on. This is called the sequence of tenses, and it does not come easily to all writers. The perfect aspect is a particular problem, because perfects refer to completed actions, so that even the present perfect can seem like it should go with past tenses.

Another source of problems in sequence of tenses is starting out in the narrative present, which we often use for telling anecdotes or for discussing things we have read, and then drifting into the more natural past tense. Such problems don't normally happen right away, so the illustrations below may seem a bit exaggerated:

(9) ?A man walks into a bar with a life-sized hot dog and says, "A beer for me and one for my friend here." The bartender looked at the hot dog and said, "We don't serve food here."
(10) ?Raising Kumquats for Fun and Profit by E. J. Diddle is a good book which gives many valuable hints for the novice kumquat-raiser. It claimed that kumquats are a golden fruit.

Exercise 4: Having Pride and Prejudice

Say whether the forms of have in the following sentences are:
A) an auxiliary helping to form the past perfect
B) an auxiliary helping to form the present perfect
C) an auxiliary helping to form the future perfect
D) a main verb in the past tense
E) a main verb in the present tense
F) a past participle
G) a present participle
H) a base form main verb used to indicate the imperative mood
I) a base form used in an infinitive phrase
4.01 Elizabeth had not the least inclination to remain with them.
4.02 Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry.
4.03 Have a little compassion on my nerves.
4.04 Have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?
4.05 He does seem to have had some filial scruples on that head, as you shall hear.
4.06 I have no objection to hearing it.
4.07 I shall have nothing to wish for.
4.08 I cannot see that London has any great advantage over the country.
4.09 It has been the work of many generations.
4.10 Lady Lucas herself has often said so
4.11 Lydia was a favourite with her mother, whose affection had brought her into public at an early age.
4.12 Miss Bingley had spent some hours of the morning with the invalid.
4.13 She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker.
4.14 They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation.
4.15 You will be having a charming mother-in-law, indeed.
4.16 You will have been here only six weeks.

Just for the Record: Keeping Number Straight When Writing. Grammar is not really part of the problem here, but writers who can't keep their tenses straight often have trouble keeping their numbers straight as well. Some will also wander back and forth between the second and third person. The gender issues discussed earlier are one source of such veering back and forth. Consistency here is another courtesy owed one's reader. Avoid this sort of thing:

(11) ?A student should be careful what they to their professor. You may think one can trust them, but students should never be that trusting.

How Much of This Will be on the Test?
We are still filling in the English auxiliary system. This section has concentrated on perfect aspect and its various combinations. You should be able to tell the difference between a perfect structure and other uses of have or of past participles.