<p>Can someone explain to me when you use have, has had. I know it has to do with comparing different events. Can someone elaborate? Thanks</p>
<p>I have a cat - present tense
He has a cat - present tense</p>
<p>I had a cat - past tense
He had a cat - past tense</p>
<p>She has written for several newspapers - present perfect
She had written her first article last week - past perfect
She will have written two articles by next week - future perfect</p>
<p>She has been writing since elementary school - present perfect progressive
She had been writing articles before she joined the high school newspaper - past perfect progressive
She will have been writing on the newspaper staff for three years by the time she graduates - future perfect progressive</p>
<p>thanks for the examples! but i still don't understand what all these perfects, progressives, etc are.</p>
<p>Yea, the perfect tenses are confusing.... </p>
<p>present perfect - an action that occured in the past and is leading up to the present.
Ex - I have eaten the cookies already.</p>
<p>past perfect - usually there's two actions in the past. You use the past perfect to emphasize that an action in the past is before another action in the past.<br>
Ex - I had eaten a lot of candy when I went to the movies.</p>
<p>future perfect - an action in the future that will end in a specific known time.
Ex - By 3 pm tomorrow, I will have finished my homework.</p>
<p>The progressive are ez.. they're use actions that are continuous... hope this waz helpful</p>