ABSTRACT
4.1. The Perfect, which is composed by means of the present of an auxiliary, is itself a kind of present tense, and serves to connect the present time with the past. This is done in two ways: first the perfect is a retrospective present, which looks upon the present state as a result of what has happened in the past; and second the perfect is an inclusive present, which speaks of a state that is continued from the past into the present time. In the next chapter we shall look at the retrospective perfect in its relation to the preterit. Here we shall consider some special cases that illustrate the 'presentic' character of the perfect (cf. also is gone above 3.3), and then the perfect as an inclusive present in connexion with other expressions for 'inclusive time'.
