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The State University of Zanzibar

(SUZA)DE: 201 : Tenses and Aspect

Prepared by: Mr. Nahoda, A.M

Meaning of tense

Grammatical tense can be defined as the grammaticalized expression of the location in time of an action or state. Verb tense only roughly relates to actual time. The English language has two grammatical tenses:

• Present tense• Past tense

Time

• Time is often equated with tense and, although time references can be carried in the verb, they are not limited to it. English has no verbal inflection to mark a future tense. Futurity is expressed in English by different means

• Time line:

Past Present Future

Aspect

• As well as temporal distinctions which are made overt in the verb phrase, English makes distinctions relating to the continuity or non-continuity of an action.

• In English, two types of aspect are clearly marked: Progressive/Continuous Aspect,

• Continuous Aspect involves the use of BE+a present participle:

E.g. I am singing in the rain.

Aspect

• Perfect Aspect, involves HAVE+a past participle: E.g

• He has painted the whole house. • He had painted the door by nine o’clock• The progressive and the perfect can be combined: • She has been looking for her dream house for ten

years. • She had been looking for a dream house for years.

Meaning of tense

• The Past tense in English is the marked form. Cognitively, the situations conceptualised by the speaker as past have the status of known, but not immediate, reality; they are not currently observed. Morphologically, the vast majority of verbs in English have a distinctive past form, (played, saw) and, semantically, the past tense basically refers to a situation that is prior to the present.

Meaning of tense

• The angry boy broke the expensive dining room chair. (simple past)

• I had written the senator a letter. (past perfect)• The ugly woman was colouring her hair green. (

past progressive)• We had been eating dinner during the storm. (

past perfect-progressive)

Meaning of tense

• We have seen that the basic meaning of the Past tense in English is to locate an event or state in the past. It means:-

• The speaker conceptualises the event as having occurred at some specific time in the past.

• The event is presented as wholly located in the past, in a time-frame that is separated from the present.

Secondary Meaning of tense (past)

• The Past tense can refer to time-frames other than the past in the following three ways:

• In ‘closed conditionals’ and other hypothetical subordinate clauses

I. If we had enough time.. .II. He talks as if he owned the place.III. I often wish I were somewhere else.

Secondary Meaning of tense (past)

• In reported speech or thought: after a reporting verb in the Past tense, the reported verbs in the dependent clauses are also in the Past. This phenomenon is known as ‘backshift’ . Present tense forms are optional, e.g

I. She said she prefers/ preferred vanilla ice cream, as long as the situation is still valid.

Secondary Meaning of tense (past)

• In polite requests and enquiries, the past form ‘distances’ the proposed action, so making the imposition on the hearer less direct:

I. Did you want to speak to me now?II. I wondered whether you needed anything.

Basic Meaning of tense present

• The basic meaning of the Present tense is to locate a situation holding at the present moment.

• Instantaneous Present: These are events which coincide, or are presented as coinciding, with speech time and have no duration beyond speech time:

Basic Meaning of tense present

I. Performatives: I promise I’ll be careful.II. Exclamations with initial directional adverb:

Off they go! (at the start of a race)III. Commentaries: Jones passes and Raul kicks

the ball into the net.IV. Demonstrations: I place the fruit in the

blender, press gently, and then pour out the liquid.

Basic Meaning of tense present

The State Present: Used with stative verb senses, the Present refers to a single uninterrupted state, which began before the moment of speaking and may well continue after it. They include timeless statements, that is, statements which apply to all time.

I. I think you are right.II. MP stands for Member of Parliament.III. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.

Basic Meaning of tense present

• The Habitual Present: this is used with dynamic verbs to encode situations that occur habitually over time.

I. Tim works in an insurance company.II. Many trees lose their leaves in autumn.• The plain Present tense used for habitual

contrasts with the Present Progressive, which encodes an actual occurrence of a dynamic action observed in the process of happening.

Secondary Meaning of tense (present)

• The Present can be used to refer to past events in certain limited ways.

• In newspaper headlines and captions to photographs

I. Thousands flee persecution.II. Demonstrators clash with armed police as

violence increases.

Secondary Meaning of tense (present)

• In relating incidents in informal, casual speech: the historic present and the quotative

I. He was only an average athlete, and then suddenly he wins two Olympic medals.

II. I had just left the bank when this guy comes up to me and asks for money.

Secondary Meaning of tense (present)

• In reporting information With verbs of communicating (say, tell) and of perception (see, hear, understand) the use of the Present implies that the reported information is still valid, even though the communicative process took place in the past. With a Past tense, the validity is not implied:

I. The weather forecast says that rain is on the way.II. I understand that you would like to move to

London.

REFERRING TO FUTURE EVENTS

• ‘Safe’ predictions: These are predictions which do not involve the subject’s volition, and include cyclical events and general truths. Will + infinitive is used, shall by some speakers for ‘I’ and ‘we’:

I. Susie will be nineteen tomorrow.II. You’ll find petrol more expensive in France.

REFERRING TO FUTURE EVENTS

• Programmed events: future events seen as certain because they are unalterable or programmed.

I. The sun sets at 20.15 hours tomorrow.II. Next year’s conference will be held in Milan.III. He is due to retire in two months’ time.IV. She is to marry the future heir to the throne.

REFERRING TO FUTURE EVENTS

• Intended events: can be expressed by be + going to + infinitive ; and by the Progressive. These forms can be marked for tense. The past forms refer to an event intended at some time in the past to occur in some future time . As with all intended events, they may or may not actually take place.

• 1 I am going to try to get more information about this.• 2 Pete is thinking of changing his job.• 3 I was going to leave a note but there was no-one at

Reception.

REFERRING TO FUTURE EVENTS

• Imminent events: an event seen as occurring in the immediate future is expressed by be + going to or by combinations such as: be about to + infinitive, be on the point of/ be on the verge of + ing.

I. It looks as if there’s going to be a storm.II. This company is on the verge of being taken

over by a multinational.

REFERRING TO FUTURE EVENTS

• Future anterior events: a future event anterior to another event is expressed by the Future Perfect:

I. The programme will have ended long before we get back.

• Future Perfect also expresses the duration or repetition of an event in the future. The addition of the Progressive emphasises the incompletion of the sequence

I. We’ll have lived here for ten years by next July.II. We’ll have been living here for ten years by next July.

REFERENCES:

Downing, Angela and Locke, Philip (2006) English Grammar ; a university course. Rougtledge: UK

Houddleston, R and Pullum, G.F (2007) A Student's Introduction to English Grammar . Cambridge. UK

Todd, Loreto and Hancock, Ian (2005) International English usage. Routledge: London

Trash, R.L (2004) Language and Linguistics; The Key Concept. Rougtledge: UK