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The word "perfect" in this sense means "completed"; it contrasts with the "imperfect", which denotes uncompleted actions or states. In English grammar, the pluperfect (e.g. "had written") is now usually called the past perfect, since it combines past tense with perfect aspect. (The same term is sometimes used in relation to the grammar of other ...
Resultative perfect (referring to a state in the present which is the result or endpoint of an event in the past): "I have lost my pen-knife" (message: I still don't have it) Continuative perfect (past situations continuing into present): "I have always guided him" Anterior perfect (completed past situations, but with relevance to the present):
The base form or plain form of an English verb is not marked by any inflectional ending.. Certain derivational suffixes are frequently used to form verbs, such as -en (sharpen), -ate (formulate), -fy (electrify), and -ise/ize (realise/realize), but verbs with those suffixes are nonetheless considered to be base-form verbs.
Past perfect is a verb tense which represents actions that occurred before other actions in the past. Past perfect may also refer to: Past Perfect, a 1984 novel by Yaakov Shabtai; Pastperfect, a 2004 DVD by VNV Nation; Past Perfect Future Tense, an album by Magne F; Past Perfect, an Italian film; Past Perfect, an action-science fiction film ...
Most verbs have three or four inflected forms in addition to the base form: a third-person singular present tense form in -(e)s (writes, botches), a present participle and gerund form in -ing (writing), a past tense (wrote), and – though often identical to the past tense form – a past participle (written).
The difference between "past" ("absolute past") and "anterior" ("relative past") is that, the past-tensed verb is about a situation which took place prior to the speech-act, while the anterior-tensed verb is about a situation which took place prior to some other, more-topical (or more-focal) event which is also being spoken of.
The perfect infinitive can further be governed by modal verbs to express various meanings, mostly combining modality with past reference: "I should have eaten" etc. In particular, the modals will and shall and their subjunctive forms would and should are used to combine future or hypothetical reference with aspectual meaning:
A relation between past happenings: a situation that was in progress in the past or a condition originated in a previous time, when another isolated and important event occurred (the first verb, indicating the status in progress or condition from the past using the imperfect, while the latter uses the preterite).