What tense is must have been?

There is no past of 'must', so when you say 'must have been' you are using present tense, reporting the person's thoughts as present to them (about the past, hence the following perfect).
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Is must have been past tense?

Must have followed by a past participle can be used for saying that you believe something happened in the past: They must have missed the train. When indirect speech is introduced by a verb in the past tense, must can be used as a past tense: She said that I must come immediately.
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When to use must have been?

Be that must have been or any other phrase in the English language. That said, must have been is used when you see some clear evidence and are sure that the thing you are going to talk about has actually happened, but you are still not 100% sure.
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What kind of verb must have been is?

It's a Modal Auxiliary Verb, which are very irregular. One of the strange facts about modal auxiliaries is that they always have at least two kinds of meaning. One use of modals (like must, should, or may) is called the Deontic sense, and it always deals with social permissions and obligations.
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What tense is would have been?

Conditional Tense: What Would Have Been.
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PAST MODALS: could have | may have | might have | must have | should have | would have - GRAMMAR



What is conditional perfect tense?

The conditional perfect is used to refer to a hypothetical, usually counterfactual, event or circumstance placed in the past, contingent on some other circumstance (again normally counterfactual, and also usually placed in the past).
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What is past conditional tense?

The Past Conditional. The past conditional describes a past situation that never happened, or it did happen and the person speaking is describing the possibility of something not happening in the past. This is also called the past unreal or the past contrary-to-fact.
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Is Must a present tense?

- must and have to. The verb must only exists in the simple present and present perfect forms. While the present form can express obligation, necessity, certainty or strong probability, the present perfect forms only express a strongly felt opinion or supposition.
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Is must a future tense?

Like all modals, 'must' has no future form; we have to use an alternative way of expressing the idea, for example: He will have to (future obligation) visit the doctor. 'Must' has no past tense form; once again, we have to use an alternative way of expressing the idea, for example: He had to visit the doctor.
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Which form of verb is used after Must?

Examples of modal verbs are can, could, may, must, should, and would. When you use this type of verb, the verb that follows it must be in its base form. Do not conjugate the verb after a modal verb into a specific form.
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How do you use must have in a sentence?

Must-have sentence example
  • He must have changed clothes during the night. ...
  • Alex must have listened to her message. ...
  • You must have seen the reports. ...
  • Someone must have forgotten something. ...
  • He must have been really exhausted. ...
  • Well, she must have thought it was something.
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What tense is may have been?

There is no past tense, but may have followed by a past participle can be used for talking about past possibilities: She may have changed her mind and decided not to come. When indirect speech is introduced by a verb in the past tense, might is used as the past tense of may: I asked if I might see the paintings.
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Should have been past participle?

We use should have + past participle to talk about things we regret. I got really wet walking home last night, I should have taken an umbrella. The speaker did not take an umbrella when she went out last night so she got wet.
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What is the past perfect tense of must?

Must has no past participle, so there is no way to use it in past perfect. Another way to say must is have to and have does have a past participle: It must be ten years. = It has to be ten years.
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Is Must an imperative verb?

1 Answer. No. "Must" is not an imperative. It's a Modal Verb.
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Is Must a helping verb?

The modal auxiliary verbs

The subgroup of auxiliary verbs known as modal auxiliary verbs, or modal verbs, include words such as can, could, should, might, must, may, will, and shall. Generally speaking, these words are used as helping verbs to establish the mood of a verb.
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What is the future tense of have?

The future perfect is composed of two elements: the simple future of the verb “to have” (will have) + the past participle of the main verb. It can be used in the affirmative, negative and affirmative and negative of interrogative sentences.
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What is example of past perfect tense?

You can see examples of this in the following sentences: I had caught ten fish before my dad caught one. When we found our dog, he had gotten stuck in a fence. She didn't eat any of the stew because she had already eaten a big lunch.
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What is used in past continuous tense?

The past continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with the verb's present participle (-ing word). There are many situations in which this verb tense might be used in a sentence.
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Was present perfect tense?

The present perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). This tense is formed by have/has + the past participle.
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What is past perfect continuous tense?

The past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past. The past perfect continuous tense is constructed using had been + the verb's present participle (root + -ing).
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What is perfect continuous tense?

The perfect progressive tense (also called the perfect continuous tense) is used to say that an event or action is, was, or will be continually occurring (progressive) but that it is, was, or will be completed at a later time, or that it relates to a later time (perfect).
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What is conditional continuous tense?

The present continuous conditional tense

The present continuous conditional tense of any verb is composed of three elements: would + be + present participle. The present participle is formed by taking the base form of the verb and adding the -ing ending.
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What is past tense have?

The base form of the verb is have. The present participle is having. The past tense and past participle form is had.
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Had been Vs have been?

“Had been” is used to mean that something happened in the past and has already ended. “Have been” and “has been” are used to mean that something began in the past and has lasted into the present time.
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