History of a revolution: Past and present perfect

14 July marks the 220th anniversary of Bastille Day, the initial event of the French Revolution. Though the revolution "ate its children", in time it brought Western Europe government based on liberté, égalité, fraternité. While the concept of government by the people, for the people, determined by fair and general elections, has become a popular ideal, it's rarely achieved perfectly. People have taken to the streets many times to fight for it, and such protests have almost always been violent.

Few revolutions have been bloodless. When they are, we hesitate to call them revolutions, like the German Wende of 1989. After all, the "Monday demonstrations" in Leipzig and elsewhere met with no resistance at all. Iranians, on the other hand, are up against a stronger regime. They have been on the streets of Tehran for over a month now to protest their stolen election. "Tell the world what is happening here," one 26-year-old engineering student told reporters. "This is our revolution. We will not give up. We want democracy." So far the protests have not cost Mahmoud Ahmadinejad his head, and it is doubtful that they will do away with theocracy anytime soon. In this week's grammar exercise, we look at the ongoing protests in Iran.

If you re-read the text above, you'll see that we use the past simple to retell the events that can be pinpointed in time and the present perfect to talk about unfinished, ongoing events. The actions still in progress are related in the present perfect continuous, while the outcome so far is summarized using the present perfect simple. See how well you can apply the tenses on the next page.

Anne Hodgson