Slightly Incomplete Sequential Acquisition, Possible to Fix?

Question

I have had my first exposure to English at about six years of age (and have used it ever since), and I generally consider myself a native speaker since I use it a lot (even if this is probably sequential bilingualism at work). All would be fine, if it weren't for those pesky **grammar mistakes**. My main problem is that I sometimes make mistakes having to do with the **past and future tenses**. I simply have no feeling of what's right or wrong at times (e.g should I use "have seen" or "had seen" or simply "seen"). I mostly get it right (I guess, because I have some "feeling" of what I should use). I've recently become interested in correcting those mistakes. Will reading a book (or multiple) help? Can I "fix" this somehow?

Answer 1

You are correct! Most people struggle with English language nuances like these! Here is the best way I can explain:

“Have seen” is called present perfect tense. It is used when you are speaking or writing about something that was in the more recent past.

“Had seen” is called past perfect tense. It is used when you are speaking or writing about something was in the more distant past.

“I saw” is simple past. “I see” is in the simple present. Let me know if I can go into more depth about this.

A good UTube video to watch explaining the perfect tenses is Past Simple and Present Perfect | Linguaplex Blog

Answer 2

There are probably several texts you can use that would help.

But I recommend you install Grammarly on your home computer and on your cell (in case you use it for writing). It has some capability when it comes to catching inconsistency in tense, and is excellent at editing as you write. You don't even have to get a paid version - that's mostly for professional writers and people in business.

Here's a nice short article Grammarly posted on their Web site on tense consistency, which may help.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-tense-consistency/