I’m afraid that your statements about the various forms of the progressive tenses and of the perfect tenses don’t correctly reflect the differences between them. To show why, however, we first need to clearly understand the concept of the perfect tenses and progressive tenses in English.
The perfect tenses are the verb forms that express
an action or state completed at the time of speaking or at a time spoken of (whether in the past, present, or future); the word “perfect” in this sense means “made complete” or “completely done.” The progressive tenses, on the other hand, are the verb forms that express
an action or state in progress at the time of speaking or a time spoken of (whether in the past, present, or future).
How the present progressive differs from the present perfect progressive The
present progressive tense describes an ongoing action that is happening at the same time that the statement is written or spoken. This tense is formed by using “am”/“is”/“are” with the verb form ending in “-ing,” as in the following sentence: “The jurors
are reviewing the evidence against the accused.”
In contrast, the
present perfect progressive tense describes an action that began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future. This tense is formed by using “has”/“have been” and the present participle of the verb (the verb form ending in “-ing”), as in the following sentence: “The jurors
have been reviewing the evidence against the accused much more closely.”
It is therefore incorrect to say that the only difference between the present progressive tense and the present perfect progressive tense is that the action in the latter already started. In both of these tenses, in fact, the action has already started. In the present progressive tense, however, there is no indication when that action started; all we know is that the action is in progress even as it is being written or spoken about. In contrast, in the present perfect progressive tense, it is clear that the action started at some time in the past and there is the implicit possibility that it may continue into the future.
How the past progressive differs from the past perfect progressiveThe
past progressive tense describes a past action that was happening when another action took place. This tense is formed by using “was”/“were” with the verb form ending in “-ing,” as in the following sentence: “The newspaper reporter
was interviewing the high official
when the demonstrators pelted the latter with rotten tomatoes.”
In contrast, the
past perfect progressive tense describes a past ongoing action or activity that was completed before some other past action. This tense is formed by using “had been” and the present perfect of the verb (the verb form ending in “-ing”), as in this sentence: “
Prior to their arrest, the hoodlums
had been victimizing students in the city campus.”
It is therefore incorrect to say that the only difference between the past progressive tense and the past perfect progressive tense is that the action in a past perfect progressive tense is already complete. The past progressive tense describes an ongoing past action or activity that is immediately followed by another action, also in the past. In the past perfect progressive tense, however, the past ongoing action or activity had already ceased or stopped but is told in the context of another past action or activity that followed it.
How the future progressive differs from the future perfect progressive The
future progressive tense describes an ongoing or continuous action that will take place in the future. This tense is formed by using “will be” or “shall be” with the verb form ending in “-ing,” as in the following sentence: “Next year, we
will be touring Europe with our friends.”
In contrast, the
future perfect progressive tense describes an ongoing or continuing action that will occur or will be completed in the future before some other action. This tense is formed by using “will have” + been + the present participle of the verb, as in the following sentence: “
By the time we are back in Rome, we
will have been touring no less than 11 European cities.”
It is therefore incorrect to say that there’s no remarkable difference between the future progressive tense and the future perfect progressive tense. The future progressive tense is about an ongoing or continuous action that’s expected to take place in the future, but the future perfect progressive tense is about the expectation of completing an ongoing or continuous action or activity in the future before some other future action or activity takes place.
It will take some doing, but by thoroughly familiarizing ourselves with the attributes and nuances of the perfect tenses and of the progressive tenses, we should be able to construct grammatically airtight sentences in the perfect progressive tenses without any trouble.
For a very comprehensive verb tenses tutorial that covers the tenses all the way to the perfect progressive tenses, click this link to Englishpage.com.
