3.7.1.1: Present Perfect Tense Writing Passages

Present Perfect Tense Writing Passages

My Childhood Life

       I have had an exciting, interesting, and fun life.  I was born in Central Falls, Rhode Island, but I grew up in South Attleboro, Massachusetts.  My family was poor, but I never realized it at the time because most of the people around us were poor.  However, growing up for me was a lot of fun.  South Attleboro was a very rural town.  As a result, my family lived a rural lifestyle.  We had lots of chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats.  One of my chores was to feed and take care of the animals every day.  I had to feed them, collect the eggs, and make sure that their cages were clean and that they had enough water.  I also had to make sure that their cages were in good repair; otherwise, the rats, skunks, raccoons, and foxes would get into them and eat the animals.  I loved this job because I liked being with the animals.  Our house was located in the woods very near a big pond.  There were also a lot of smaller ponds close to our house.  As a result, every summer I would go swimming or fishing in the pond.  Sometimes I fished from the shore, and other times I used a row boat.  When I wasn’t fishing or swimming, I was playing in the woods.  It was such good fun to roam around the woods.  In winter I would go ice skating or ice fishing on the pond.  Across the street from my house there was an open field where my friends and I would play baseball or football.  Thus, I had everything a young boy could ever want to occupy my free time and have a lot of fun.

My Life as a Young Man

       I have had an exciting, interesting, and fun life.  As soon as I graduated from college, I was drafted into the U. S. Army.  I could have gotten out of my military service if I had decided to become a teacher right away after college, but I wanted to experience life before becoming a worker.  I knew that being in a war would be interesting.  Of course, I knew that it would be dangerous also, but I was young and as with most other young men, I knew that I could never get hurt or killed because I just knew it!  Was I stupid?  Of course, but I was young and young men never expect themselves to be in danger.  I went off to war in Vietnam in October 1968 in a mechanized infantry unit.  Was it dangerous?  Yes, very!  Was it exciting?  Yes, sometimes too exciting!  Was it interesting?  Yes!  Was it fun?  Not really!  Did I learn a lot?  Very much: some good, some bad.  After the army, I joined the U. S. Peace Corps.  I was a volunteer in Tunisia in North Africa.  Before reporting to Tunisia, I spent six weeks in the mountains of Colorado in training.  Then I spent three weeks in England at Essex University in training.  Then I spent three more weeks at a Tunisian resort in training.  Needless to say, the training was great.  I had a wonderful time.  After the training, I was assigned to go to Gabes, Tunisia, a small oasis town located right on the Mediterranean sea coast.  It was beautiful.  I taught English as a foreign language there for two years.  During the summer vacation in 1972, I went to the University of Aix-en-Provence to study French.  I then toured around southern Europe for a month or so.  When I finished with my two years, I spent six months hanging out in southern Europe again.  Was it exciting, interesting and fun?  You bet it was.  After I got back to America in 1974, I decided I wanted to leave the country again, so I got a job in Iran, again teaching English as a foreign language.  I spent two years in Iran, and it was even more interesting, exciting, and fun than Tunisia was.  After I finished working in Iran, I took a two-and-a-half year vacation.  I spent all of the money I had made in Iran and traveled all over Asia.  It was fantastic, an absolutely fantastic time in my life.

My Life Today

       I have had an exciting, interesting, and fun life.  I have a great job teaching foreign students every day except Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.  My students are the best in the world.  They come to class prepared and anxious to learn.  In addition, they are polite and hard working.  Other than my teaching duties, I have to serve on various committees, most of which concern other instructors and instruction at the college as well as curriculum decisions.  My home life is also quite nice.  My sons have graduated from universities and are happily working and well-adjusted in life.  Therefore, my wife and I have an empty nest, which is both good and bad.  Without our sons in our house, all of our bills, especially food bills, are much less; thus, we are able to save more money for my retirement.  However, I miss having my sons around.  I love being a dad and hanging out with them, talking, joking, and teaching them.  It’s too quiet now that they are gone.  Because I don’t work during the summer, my wife and I have been able in recent years to take long, interesting, and relaxing vacations.  Moreover, I can spend more time in my garden and on other projects around my house.  In sum, I have a good life as my aging years pass by.  I have no complaints at all.

My Life in the Future

       I have had an exciting, interesting, and fun life.  Barring injury or illness, my life should continue in this same manner.  When I retire, I will spend more time gardening, working with wood projects, reading, and taking care of grandchildren – when and if my sons get married and make my life-long dream come true: to be a grandfather.  Ever since I was a young man, I have wanted to become a grandfather.  It has always seemed like the best “job” in the world to me.  I know I will teach and spoil my grandkids.  If I have a granddaughter, I will be wrapped around her little finger.  As I get older, I know more and more that this will be the case.  I will also probably volunteer at a college or high school as a writing tutor.  I have a lot of skill and knowledge about teaching foreign-born students, and I want to continue giving to students the benefit of my knowledge and experience.  Thus, I look forward to being retired.  It will be an enjoyable part of my life.

My Life

       I have had an exciting, interesting, and fun life.  I was born in Central Falls, Rhode Island, in an elevator.  Thus, from the beginning I wanted to have an exciting, interesting, and fun time.  Growing up, my family was poor in money but rich in culture and love.  I never realized we were poor until I became a man.  We moved to Massachusetts from Rhode Island when I was six years old.  I am very happy that my parents decided to do that because we lived in the countryside with thousands of trees around us with four ponds in walking distance from my house, and a vacant lot across the street.  It was the perfect place for a boy to grow up.  I had lots of animals to take care of, wild places to play in and explore, ponds to swim in and ice skate on, and a field to play sports in.  I wish my sons could have had the same environment to grow up in, but they are city boys.  As I got older, I went to college, served in the U. S. Army and the U. S. Peace Corps, and traveled around the world twice.  After that, I got married, had two children, and spent years raising them.  Now I am a teacher in a community college where my students provide me with the pleasure of teaching them and watching them become more knowledgeable about English as well as American society.  It is an incredibly rewarding job.  Now, however, after 41 years, I am getting ready to retire.  I will teach until I am 68 years old and then hang up my career.  I will spend more time around the house doing gardening, working on wood projects, reading, and just enjoying myself.  Hopefully, my sons will provide me with grandchildren and then my time will be devoted to them.  I will come full circle from a baby born in an elevator to a granddad helping to raise the offspring of my offspring.  Thus, I have had a great life and have no complaints at all.  I have always been lucky.

 

Past Perfect Tense:  Used to describe two related actions or activities that happened at different times in the past.  Its emphasis is on showing the relationship of the actions relative to which one happened first and which one happened second.  The past perfect is used with the action that happened first; the simple past tense is used with the action that happened second.  It simply says, "First this thing had begun and ended, and then this other thing began and ended."  Note:  Most native speakers tend not to use the past perfect.  It can be avoided simply by using words such as before, after, first, then, next, afterwards, etc. and using the simple past tense to express both actions.  Also, if something logically comes before something else, then native speakers avoid using the past perfect.  It is not necessary.

Examples:
We had finished dinner when our friends stopped by for a visit.
My wife had graduated from the university when we met in 1979.
The students had taken the ESL Compass test when they received permission to register for class.
I had taken out the trash by the time my wife returned home from shopping.
I had finished university when I went into the army.
The students had finished the examination when John arrived in the room.

More on the Past Perfect Tense and the Past Continuous Tense

       As I said above, the past perfect tense is used when two or more actions happened in the past at different times.  One action began and ended in the past before another action began and ended in the past at a different time.  The action further in the past (the action that happened first) uses the past perfect tense.  The action that happened second uses the simple past tense.  Be careful not to confuse the past perfect tense with the past continuous tense.  The past continuous tense is used to describe two related actions or activities that happened in the past at the same time.  Its emphasis is on showing the relationship of the actions relative to the duration of time each takes.  The action of longer duration uses the past continuous tense; the action of shorter duration takes the simple past tense.  It simply says, "While this was happening, something else happened."  The second action interrupts the first action that is already happening.  The past continuous tense: two actions at the same time; the past perfect tense: two actions at different times.

       Also, do not use the past perfect tense when talking about only one action. 

       Moreover, don’t use the past perfect if one action of naturally occurs before another action. 

Examples:

I had graduated from university when I was drafted into the US Army.
After I graduated from university, I was drafted into the US Army.

I had taught for four hours by the time I went home.
After I taught for four hours, I went home.

I had prepared dinner when I started working on this handout.
Before I started working on this handout, I prepared dinner.

At the time I went shopping, I had already put gas in my car.
I put gas in my car.  After that, I went shopping.

I had defrosted the beef when I started cutting up the vegetables.
First, I defrosted the beef.  Next, I cut up the vegetables.

       In the following sentences, I would not normally use the past perfect tense because it is not necessary.  Of course the first action happened first.

I had talked to my mother, and then she died.  I talked to my mother the day before she died.

Someone had started the fire, and the house burned down.