Glizdka
Key Member
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2019
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Polish
- Home Country
- Poland
- Current Location
- Poland
What I'm going to start with is this link.
I've noticed that perfect tenses are being used less and less, and it's not just like how it is suggested in the article above. I was taught to use the past perfect simple with two verbs when one of them happened before the other one, e.g. "I had brushed my teeth before I left the house". In every day speech, however, I don't see the past perfect used this way too often, I see it being substituted with the non-perfect past simple on a regular basis, e.g. "I brushed my teeth and I left the house". I do see it in constructions that require using the past perfect (like the third conditional). I don't think I've ever heard anyone using the future perfect, I've only seen it in books, and have heard it from program narrators or TV presenters, people who read from a script.
The past participle and the past form are usually the same word for most verbs so I can understand why "had" is omitted, but I don't know if I'm on the right track. Are perfect tenses dying in English?
I've noticed that perfect tenses are being used less and less, and it's not just like how it is suggested in the article above. I was taught to use the past perfect simple with two verbs when one of them happened before the other one, e.g. "I had brushed my teeth before I left the house". In every day speech, however, I don't see the past perfect used this way too often, I see it being substituted with the non-perfect past simple on a regular basis, e.g. "I brushed my teeth and I left the house". I do see it in constructions that require using the past perfect (like the third conditional). I don't think I've ever heard anyone using the future perfect, I've only seen it in books, and have heard it from program narrators or TV presenters, people who read from a script.
The past participle and the past form are usually the same word for most verbs so I can understand why "had" is omitted, but I don't know if I'm on the right track. Are perfect tenses dying in English?
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