People call these constructions by different names, but the simplest of the names that I've run into would be "conditional perfect progressive". Present/past, which is the only real tense distinction in English, doesn't apply because of the semantics of the modal. Herb Stahlke Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D. Professor of English Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 [log in to unmask] >>> [log in to unmask] 04/02/01 03:01PM >>> Hi, A minor point came up that I couldn't answer in my English class, so I told the kids I'd go right to the experts. We've been studying verb tenses in my sixth grade class with an eye to their effect on writing. I asked them to write a half-page narrative using as much progressive tense as they could (I wanted them to notice what it did to "voice"). We were looking at the sentences today, and I didn't know what to call the verb phrase in the following: The children should have been eating. It's present perfect progressive, but does adding the modal change it to something else? For that matter, does adding a modal change the name of any tense? Thanks, Gretchen in San Jose [log in to unmask] To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/