+Examples+.--The birds _sang_ (simply past action). He _wrote_ for the
newspapers (past habit). If I _should go_, you _would miss_ me (future
events). If he _were_ here, he _would enjoy_ this (refers to present time).
The +Future Tense+ may express (1) simply future action or being, (2) a
habit or custom as future or as indefinite in time.
+Examples+.--I _shall write_ soon (simply future action). He _will sit_
there by the hour (indefinite in time).
The +Present Perfect Tense+ expresses (1) action or being as completed in
present time (_i.e._, a period of time--an hour, a year, an age--of which
the present forms a part), and (2) action or being to be completed in a
future period.
+Examples+.--Homer _has written_ poems (the period of time affected by this
completed action embraces the present). When I _have finished_ this, you
_shall have_ it (action to be completed in a future period).
The +Past Perfect Tense+ expresses (1) action or being as completed at some
specified past time, and (2) in a conditional or hypothetical clause it may
express past time.
+Examples+.--I _had seen_ him when I met you (action completed at a
specified past time). If I _had had_ time, I _should have written_ (I _had_
not time--I _did_ not _write_.
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