Past and Present Perfect Tense: rhesus macaque
The Grammar Bit!
Read the four scintillating sentences opposite. The first two sentences are in the simple past tense. This means that the actions or events started in the past and finished in the past.
When sentences are in the simple past tense, the verb (bold) often ends in ‘ed’.
With your talk partner, can you think of a different simple past tense sentence featuring rhesus macaques?
The third and fourth sentences are in the present perfect form of the past tense. This means that the actions or events started sometime in the past but are either still happening now or are in someway connected to the present. Notice how the words ‘has’ and ‘have’ (underlined) are used to help give this meaning to each sentence.
With your talk partner, can you think of a different present perfect sentence featuring rhesus macaques?
Scintillating Sentences
Simple past tense
1) The gang of excited macaques left a trail of destruction.
2) The devious macaque opened the fridge and stole several hard-boiled eggs.
Present perfect form
3) The gangs have damaged the power-lines and now the city is in darkness.
4) The bold macaque has entered the house through the shuttered window.
Did you know?
Sadly, many monkeys lost their lives in the the quest for putting humans into space. The first monkey to be sent successfully into space was Albert II, a male rhesus monkey, who made it to a height of 83 miles (134 km) on June 14th, 1949.