Perfect tenses

Outcomes Advanced 2nd Edition.

Unit 1 - Cities
 Present Perfect Simple
We use Present Perfect to talk about things that took place:
 during a period that includes past and present (something started in the past and it is still
true in the present):
I’ve known her for twenty years.
 At some point between the past and the present, but we're not saying exactly when:
Don't tell me he's bought another new car!
 in the past with an effect or result in the present:
I'm afraid I've forgotten my key.
 with the time adverb ‘just’ meaning 'a short time ago' (American English uses Past
Simple here):
She's just gone out.
 Past Perfect Simple

We use Past Perfect to talk about things that took place:

 before something else in the past (‘the past of the past’):

He had already left when I got to the restaurant.
 After ‘I wish’ when you want to express a regret.
I wish I had done this writing before.
 In the ‘if clause’ of conditionals type 3.
If she hadn’t got wind of what was happening, she would have stayed there.
 Future Perfect
We use Future Perfect to talk about:
 something that will be finished before a specific time in the future:
I’ll have signed nearly a hundred letters by tonight.
 Participle clauses
 British council
 USES OF PERFECT INFlNlTlVES
We form the perfect infinitive with to have + the -ed form of a verb .

 The perfect infinitive often refers to things that might have happened in the
past:
She claims to have met a number of famous people, but I don’t believe her.
 We use the perfect infinitive after verbs such as claim, expect, hate, hope,
like, love, prefer, pretend:
He pretended to have lost her number and so had been unable to contact
her.
 The perfect infinitive can refer to something that will be completed at a
point in the future:
We hope to have finished the building works by the end of March.
 COMMON PHRASES
 They've made it! (= They've succeeded)
 I've had enough. (= I'm fed up. I don't want to do any
more)
 You've had it! (= You're in serious trouble)
 That's torn it! (= You, we, etc. have done something
that someone else will complain strongly about)
 COMMON PHRASES
 Now you've done it! (= You've done something seriously wrong)
 She’s arrived. (= She's achieved fame, success, acceptance, etc.
at last)
 He's lost it. (= He's lost his patience or self-control)
 You've got me there! (= Good point: I've no idea what the
solution is)