The Use of Perfect Tense in Oral Discourse Among Senior High School Teachers

The Use of Perfect Tense in Oral Discourse Among Senior High School Teachers

Edna Luz Torres-De Guzman

Faculty, University of Southern Mindanao Kabacan, Cotabato, Philippines

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.9020342

Received: 17 February 2025; Accepted: 23 February 2025; Published: 22 March 2025

ABSTRACT

 Perfect verb tense is used to present an action that is completed, finished or perfected. The formula is expressed by using any of the auxiliary verbs – have, has or had – paired with the past participle of the main verb. This linguistic analysis is focused on the teachers’ use of perfect tense in oral discourse. It specifically monitored the teachers’ use of perfect tense in their deliberation of subject matters. The findings revealed that the teachers use perfect tense to present a very recently completed action, signal prior completed event, an action completed at the moment of speaking, an action in progress that is not yet completed, a subordinate clause of time or condition, an action completed in the past prior to some other past event or time, future action that will be completed prior to a specific future event, a yes-no question, wh-structure, noun clause as subject noun clause as object, complementation and clitization.

Keywords: perfect tense; oral discourse; linguistic analysis; use of perfect tense, Philippines

INTRODUCTION

Grammar is the system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence (Ray, 2018).  Murcia and Freeman’s (1999) Descriptive-Prescriptive Grammar as cited by Lehr (2014) specifies Descriptive Grammar as built up by the analysis of how they deduce the rules that they follow while a Prescriptive Grammar is a set of well-defined rules for using language that are taught or enforced. Part of grammar is the use of perfect tense. The use of perfect tense, may it be in the written or oral discourse, is quite challenging especially for second language users because verbs carry a complicated tense, aspect and mood. One feels hesitant to use them because of the complexity of the tenses. The English perfect tenses such as present perfect, past perfect and/or future perfect tenses are used to present actions and connections of actions in relation to time. The correct usage of these tenses helps the listener (or reader) understand the verbs used in the utterance because they make these connections within time presenting which actions happened first and which happened next, which events are in progress, which past events were completed prior to another past action or which ones are to be completed prior to a specific time in the future.

This study aimed to determine how the senior high school teachers use perfect tense in their oral discourse. The data which were thoroughly transcribed and comprehensively analyzed were obtained from two separate hours with separate subject matters delivered in Oral Communication classes.

METHODOLOGY

This study used two class sessions, one hour each, of eight senior high school teachers from different schools. These first-hand recorded class sessions were transcribed, analyzed and interpreted based on the descriptive-prescriptive grammar of Murcia (1999). The transcription process was done in a verbatim way, where there was not a solitary expansion and extraction of the data provided. Every single sound from the recorded audio following the protocol of coding the output was properly observed. Not a single filter nor additional input was inserted. The transcription was a duplicate copy or a printed document of the recorded audio. Only the teacher’s activities were transcribed.

Equipped with the formula of Murcia and Freman’s (1999) grammar rules, transcribed teachers’ activities were discussed, analyzed and interpreted.  The analyses, interpretation and discussion were checked, counterchecked and validated by specialists in the field including debriefers. Furthermore, as protocol of a qualitative research, before any result of a study is disclosed, all transcriptions, information, analyses and/or interpretations should be taken back to the contributing individuals/participants for their consent. The debriefer, on the other hand, was a third party who backed and kept the exploration genuine and posed hard inquiries about strategies, implications and understanding and furnished the analyst with the open door for purgation by tuning in to the analyst’s emotions. All these to adhere to the trustworthiness, validity, transferability, confirmability and ethical consideration of a qualitative research.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Uses of Perfect Tenses

Very Recently Completed Action

 For a very recently completed action, present perfect tense is usually used for instance:

“So, eyes on the board. So I have here hmmmmmmm I have posted the  manila paper on the board and what you’re going to do is you’re going

to fill out each blank as you can see each blank with a letter corresponding to the number under each blank”.

The use of have posted in this statement shows a very recently completed action because of the preceding idea that the students direct their eyes on the board where the manila paper is posted. In have observed, the group’s task was to present an advertisement using non-verbal communication where actors and actresses presented all actions and gestures only.

“So what do you mean by that? No? No words, just actions. And I have observed that at the end of the end of your presentation…

yes…there is one member of your group who said…” Yeah” and that is verbal communication”.

The same instance holds through the utterance that follows:

“Okay, so let’s give everyone a round of

 applause for a very good presentation…Okay,

 so class what I have or the solutions that you

 have given to me are the solutions to an actual                       

communication with barriers”.

The use of the present perfect tense is proven by the previous utterance, “Okay, let’s give everyone a round of applause for a very good presentation.” Meaning, the students’ role playing has just been presented and that the remarks of the teacher “…so class what I have or the solutions that you have given to me are the solutions to an actual communication with barriers.”

The use of “so” in this statement shows that the teacher is concluding something from the previous role-playing activity which means it has just been presented.

Another utterance:

“…Okay. Knowing the importance or the value      

or the type of communication….and you have    

 answered…. they are used to start and maintain

communication”.

Here, the student’s statement, “They are used to start and maintain communication,” as quoted by the teacher was actually the answer she referred to in her discourse. The quick response of the students about the importance or the value or the type of communication prompted the teacher to use the present perfect. The same recency of completion can be noted from the utterance below:

“But of course, I have hmmm..I have recorded  

 here some of the things that you…some of the

 things that you…have to work on…”

In this instance, as I reviewed the earlier discourse of the teacher, the students were tasked to perform a short play showing the verbal and non-verbal cues of both regulation and control and social interaction. It was during the group presentation that the teacher recorded the strengths and weaknesses of every group. After all the group had presented, he teacher immediately announced the group grades including her remarks for improvement in the succeeding oral presentations. The recency of the completion of the recording with the time the utterance was done. Another statement:

“So, we already have identified the different purposes”.

This utterance clearly shows the scenario that the teacher has earlier discussed in detail the three purposes of speech writing as: exploratory or informative, entertainment and persuasive. Having done this, the teacher is now prompted to conclude that the students and the teacher have identified the different purposes of speech writing and that when students are tasked to come up with a speech, more or less, they already have the idea on what and how to do it.

Signal Prior Completed Event

The present perfect tense may also signal prior completed event. Consider this:

“Before you’re going to proceed with your

  activity, let’s read first what are the different

   rubrics shall I say these are the rubrics

   I am going to use to give you your points…

Okay, you will be guided by these rubrics. Also, I have given your…. ahhh…leaders a copy of this one so that…….”

What the teacher is referring to in her statement “I have given your…ahhh…leaders a copy of this one….”is the rubric that has been discussed earlier in the discourse prior to the utterance of giving. In other words, the event that has been completed is the giving of the rubrics to the leaders which served as their guide in coming up with their presentation. So, the completion of the action is based not on the single utterance but the entire idea of the discussion.

Situation that Began at a Prior Point in Time and Continued to the Present

Consider these statements:

“The teachers of the school have

  conducted their classes in the covered court.

  So we have conducted our classes in the

  covered court last year, right?”

Using perfect tense in the first sentence is in place. The succeeding sentence may seem to be doubtful at first because the use of have conducted does not agree with the definite past time, last year. Using present perfect tense with time expression in the past is misleading.

Action Completed at the Moment of Speaking

The present perfect tense also denotes an action which is completed at the moment of speaking, just like:

Okay another 5 claps for group 3. Okay…

 so…everybody very good. You have presented

  your activity well”.

This means that at the moment when the teacher asked five claps for group three for a very good presentation, the performance was already done and well presented. The teacher would have asked for the applause without the earlier worth commending presentation.

An Action in Progress that is Not Yet Completed

The present perfect progressive is also used to express an action in progress. For instance:

“Have you done answering the questions?”

“Not yet, Maam”.

“Okay, make it fast”.

The utterance denotes, that the action has been started prior to now and is still continuing. The response of the students, “not yet” means that the students kept on answering at the moment when the teacher asked if they were done. The students’ answer was followed-up by the teacher saying, “Okay, make it fast.” This utterance means that the teacher is giving additional time for students to complete the task.

Subordinate Clause of Time or Condition

The present perfect form is also used in subordinate clause of time and condition. In the utterance that follows:

“…let’s see if we have achieved these today….”

The subordinate clause introduced by the adverbial subordinator “if” means whether both the teacher and the students have achieved their objectives set earlier or at the start of the lecture. In other words, they are bound to check if they have targeted their purpose.

The same is also true with:

“If you have finished the puzzle, just make a  noise”. 

The use of just in the main clause could mean in the immediate past, which means the action is completed.

An Action Completed in the Past Prior to Some Past Event or Time

In the case of this utterance:

“You did better than your previous role

 plays… your previous role plays that you had

performed in our classes”.

The statement denotes an action that has its beginning and completion at a specific time in the past. This completed action is compared with simple past verb ‘did’. In other words, the comparison of the precious role plays and the just presented role plays is very clearly explained by the use of simple emphatic form of do (which is did) which obviously carries a meaning that the performance was completed at a definite past time.

A Future Action that will be Completed Prior to a Specific Future Time

Present perfect tense may be used to express an action that will be completed at a specific time in the future. For instance:

“By 2:30, you should have accomplished your

 program”.

This discourse definitely means that those who were addressed this utterance are obliged to complete/accomplish their task before a specific future time or before 2:30 comes. Moreover, in this discourse:

“So by now, all of you should have laid your

 possible topic for your speech”.

the students were given an earlier task to lay their topics for their speech so that by now (that meeting after the last), the same task has already been accomplished. In other words, the prior event was already given during the previous meeting yet, and that its completion is expected before the end of the period.

Yes-No question

The present perfect form of the verb may also be used in yes-no questions. Let’s take a look at:

“Have you ever asked yourselves why can’t

 they understand me?”

British English speakers prefer the use of the present perfect tense in questions expecting for either a yes or no answer. As we can see, the perfect tense have asked is embedded in the discourse. An American English speaker simplifies the utterance by asking, “Did you ever ask yourselves why can’t they understand me?” Both discourses mean the same. They only differ in the verb form. British English has it structured using the present perfect tense [have asked] while the American way uses the simple past [did ask].

The same is also true with:

“Have we done that one?”

“Have you done answering the questions?”

“Have you tried watching the MTV of Piliin Mo

ang Pilipinas?”                    

“Have you understood my instruction?”

All discourses are answerable by yes or no. Every discourse uses the present auxiliary have and the past participles done, tried and understood. They are all structured correctly.

WH Question Structure      

Perfect tenses are also used to form wh-questions. A wh-question requires a specific answer. It specifically assumes that the one who answers such question knows the answer. In the case of these utterances:

“What have you learned?”

“Who have picked the number?”

As we notice, there is no problem with their structure. Both utterances ask questions that require specific answers. Again, this construction is preferred by British speakers. The American speaker would simply ask, ‘What did you learn?’ and ‘What number did you pick?’ without the use of the present auxiliary have and the past participles [learned and picked].

Syntactically speaking, this wh-expression that asks question functions as complement of the verb at the end of the sentence which may be paraphrased as: ‘You have learned what?’ This utterance is termed wh- insitu question, since the wh-expression does not get proposed, but rather remains insitu, meaning ‘in place’ with regard its grammatical position in the utterance.

Noun Clause as Subject and Noun Clause as Object

Perfect tenses may also be used either as noun clause as subject or noun clause as object. In this particular utterance:

“What you have been presented is the excited

emotion”.

The noun clause ‘what you have been presented’ where the perfect verb have been presented is attached denotes an action that is just completed. Grammatically speaking, the function of ‘have been presented’ in this case is a part of the noun clause ‘what you have been presented’ which then functions as the subject of the entire utterance which is linked by the linking verb is with its simple noun complement, emotion. To illustrate how the perfect form of the verb functions in the entire sentence, it can be this way:

 S (noun clause as subject)     L V    C

[What you have been presented]is the excited emotion.

Present perfect form

The S stands for the subject, the LV for the linking verb while the C for the complement. What you have been presented which is an example of a noun clause and where the perfect form of the verb is found is the entire subject of the whole utterance. To give further explanation, it is the topic which is talked about or the one that is discussed in the whole construction.

On the other hand, in this utterance:

“So tell me now what you have learned from

 the video”.

The use of have learned expresses an action that has already been completed. Its function in the utterance is part of the noun clause ‘what you have learned from the video’ which at the same time serves as the whole object of the bigger utterance. The illustration below shows how the perfect form of the verb is related to the entire utterance:

   V     IO              O (noun clause as object)

“Okay… So tell me now [what you have learned from this video.]”  present perfect form of the verb

The illustration above follows the S-V-IO-O pattern where S is the subject, V is the verb, IO is the indirect object and O refers to the direct object. In the given utterance however, though there is no S (subject) to show, it is understood that the sentence has the second personal pronoun ‘You’ for its subject which directly addresses the students who the teacher is talking to. The utterance has tell for its verb. The teacher asks his students to tell him (me as used in the sentence – serving as the indirect object) what they have learned from the video. The direct object “what you have learned from the video” where the perfect form of the verb have learned is found is the complete object of the sentence.

Complementation

In the plotted utterance that follows:

S          V         O                                                        C (noun clause as C)

“So do you have questions regarding the

 principles [that we have discussed a while

 ago?]”

The use of have discussed expresses an action which is already completed. Now, it functions as part of the entire complement ‘that we have discussed a while ago’. Notice that the group of words inside the brackets contains a subject and a verb that looks like an independent clause except that it is prefaced by ‘that’. This goes to show that in cases where any group of words that may contain a subject and a verb but prefaced by a clausal complement ‘that’ cannot stand by themselves as they are called dependent clauses. These dependent clauses require the presence of another independent clause for them to depend on. In other words, it can be noted that it does not serve as the main verb of the entire utterance but only a part of the complement because the main verb of the utterance is ‘have’.

To further illustrate the utterance, its subject is you, its verb is have while its direct object is questions. Meaning, it follows the SVO pattern. Now, the function of ‘that we have discussed a while ago’ which stands as the complement of the utterance further explains the ‘principles’ which were earlier discussed by the teacher. Added to it, the complement completes the meaning of the object.

On the other hand, the teacher may simply frame her question as ‘Do you have questions?’ but she would like to specifically expect that the answer/s to her question would be the principles in speech writing; thus, the addition of the ‘that complement.’

 Clitization

The term clitic refers to an item or word which is reduced. Its reduced form must cliticise or attach itself to an appropriate base word or host which may be another word or phrase. It should not remain as the reduced form. Clitization or cliticization may also be evident in perfect tenses. For example:

“You’ve made…the two of you made a very

good presentation”.

“You should’ve given that answer earlier…..”

“Who said he’d memorized his lines?”

“He’s read his script beforehand”.

“Very good! You’ve used your communication

skill very well”.       

In the first utterance, the original clause is ‘you have made…’  The ‘ve in this case is the clitic form of have which attaches itself in the second personal pronoun you ending in vowel. Thus, the rise of the contraction ‘you’ve’. The same is also true with shoud’ve, he’d, he’s and you’ve. ‘ve in should’ve is the clitic form of have. The ‘d in he’d is the clitic form of had while the ‘s in he’s and the ‘ve of you’ve are the clitic forms of has and have respectively. Originally, should’ve, he’d, he’s and you’ve come from the contraction of should have, he had, he has and you have. Now, looking at the entire idea of the utterance, when the teacher says, ‘The two of you’ve made a very good presentation’, the use of the cliticized you’ve and the main verb made expresses a completed action. Meaning, the teacher could not utter such a complimentary remark if the presentation has not yet been completed. Also, the four other utterances with the following expressions as: should’ve given, he’d memorized, he’s read and you’ve used also express completed action. They only differ in tense.

Most English for Science and Technology (EST) educators concur that for the nonnative speaker of English, the present perfect is one of the most troublesome tenses in the English action word framework. As a result of its intricacy of utilization and importance, in some cases it is mistaken for a current state and at different occasions a past. This gives the educator the most troublesome assignment to instruct understudies. This is significantly additionally escalated when regularizing speakers are required to peruse and compose logical talk and are gone up against with the talk of logical English.

The teaching of tense as a whole is not integral because the teachers used to teach it separately every time tense appears in the text. Also, there is no thorough comparison as to how and when to use one tense from the other tenses. This poor teaching strategy results to the inability of the students to master the tenses comprehensively because they are taught with the tenses separately.

CONCLUSION

In the examination about present perfect tense, Ureel (2011) referenced that the present perfect tense might be said to be a kind of a blend of present and the past. This further implies that it is predominantly used to tell activities previously yet which has association with the present. This part of the present perfect tense can be settled by Bentein (2018) when he expressed that the ideal of the ongoing past is utilized to report a projection that simply occurred. On the other hand, the present perfect tense may also be used to signal prior completed event. This aspect of the present perfect tense does not rely on the recency of the event but the prior completion of the action. Meaning to say, at the time of speaking, the event has already been accomplished.

The perfect tense is also used to denote an action that is completed at the moment of speaking. This aspect of the perfect tense as based on the example in the data briefly explains that the commendation of the teacher was based from the worth-applauding students’ performance. In other words, the performance was already completed when the teacher spoke. This aspect of the perfect tense uses the verb ending with –ing and combines the “then” with the meaning of “incompleteness.” (Murcia & Freeman, 1999). This means that the event that has been started without a specified time earlier is still continuing at the moment of speaking, and its completeness is still indiscernible. However, when the perfect tense is used as a subordinate clause of time or condition, the formula remains the same. Adverbial clauses such as the use of ‘if’ denotes a condition. The conditional clause denotes that it can only take place if the idea in the independent clause happens or is executed.

Interestingly, perfect tense, particularly the present perfect is also used in yes-no questions. This proposition now lies in the question as to whose English is correct or is awkward: the British or American English? The distinction on the use of the perfect tense has been resolved by DE WIT and Brisard (2014) when they presented that the Present-Day English (PDE) has a choice between the present perfect and the simple past tense (SP). With temporal adverbials like yesterday or last year, the simple past is usually required. Adverbials like since, just and yet tend to be used with a present perfect (PP). The distinction between the SP and PP is a fairly recent development in English. However, since the distinction was not clear-cut in British English (BrE), its scarcity in American English (AmE) has been interpreted as an aspect of colonial lag.

Added to this, perfect tenses are also used to form wh-questions. The same explanation holds through with yes-no questions. BrE prefer the use of perfect tenses in asking questions while the AmE simply use the simple tense. By looking at the syntax of wh-questions, Radford (2004) explains that the wh-question comprises the root interrogative (i.e. main clause questions) which are the expressions containing an inter word like what, who, which followed by the inverted auxiliary occupying the head C (complement) position of the complementary phrase (CP). The wh-expression functions as the complement of the verb at the end of the sentence when we convert the position as in-situ questions if the wh-expression does not get preposed.

In grammar, complementation has something to do with a word, phrase or clause that is used to complete the meaning of a given word/context.  A clausal complement which usually contains a subject and a verb is prefaced by a complementiser ‘that’ which is why the clausal complement is sometimes called ‘that-complement’ (Murcia & Freeman, 1999) or simply complementiser (Radford, 2004).

Whether we mean complementiser or ‘that-complement’, one characteristic that describes it is that though it contains a subject and a predicate with other additional information in it, it cannot stand as one independent sentence because for one thing, it is called dependent. What makes it dependent is the fact that it is prefaced by ‘that’. So, since it is dependent in nature, it needs another independent entity in order to stand.

Additional evidence to support the dependency of the complementiser is that, since it cannot stand to carry one complete meaning by itself, it is therefore embedded into larger, independent clause. In other words, because it is embedded and noun-like in structure, it behaves like a noun phrase (NP). Freeman and Murcia (1999) further discussed one more fact about ‘that-complementiser’ is that it answers the typical noun-like question what. One example of a complementiser is a clause that contains perfect tense. As the term complementiser implies, its function is to complete the meaning of a word or a given context. The usual pattern of a complementiser is SVOC (Subject-Verb-Object-Complement). Here, the C completes the meaning of the O.

These correct uses of the perfect tenses in the oral discourse of the teachers imply that teachers are knowledgeable in teaching the language not their own. To think that they are non-native speakers of English, they are able to construct utterances by correctly using the perfect tenses. This further implies that they are able to convey the messages they intend to deliver as evidenced by the understanding and commendable performance of their students.

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