Past and Present Perfect Tense: albatross
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 main verb (bold) often ends in ‘-ed’.
With your talk partner, can you think of a different simple past tense sentence featuring albatrosses?
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 some way 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 albatrosses?
Scintillating Sentences
Simple past tense
1) After two long weeks of waiting, the mother suddenly appeared in the sky.
2) Wisdom’s ravenous chick was overjoyed to see her.
Present perfect form
3) The baby albatrosses have not seen their mothers for over a week.
4) Wisdom has probably flown around three million miles in her lifetime.
Did you know?
Albatrosses use their enormous wingspans to ride the ocean winds. They can glide on these winds for hours at a time without rest or even a single flap of their wings.