Dear Chris and All,

We know that the structure of the continuous tenses is 'be + present participle' and that is/ am / are signal the present continuous, with is / am/ are showing a reference to the present and the -ing form of the verb signifying the continuity of the action. Similarly, was / were signal the past continuous with was / were referring to the past moment and the -ing form of the verb showing continuity of the action. There is a suggestion, now, [ on at least one web site]  that the perfect tenses refer to the past as against the older view which says that the perfect tenses refer to actions which began in the past and which are relevant to the present.  Looking at the structure of the perfect tenses [have + past participle], we see that 'have' or 'has' refer to the present and the past participle refers to the past moment of the action. So the perfect tenses are a mixture of both the present and the past which supports the older definition. In the past perfect tense, we see that 'had' refers to the past and the past participle also refers to the past, so the past perfect shows the first of two past actions.

Similarly, the structure of the perfect continuous tenses is 'have + been + present participle'. In the present perfect continuous, ' have/ has' refer to the present; 'been' refers to the past, and the -ing form of the main verb refers to the continuity of the action. In the past perfect continuous tense, 'had been' refers to the past, and the -ing form of the main verb shows the continuity of the action.

Is this correct? Please tell me.