54934208 Gramatica Engleza Morfologie LEC

7/27/2019 54934208 Gramatica Engleza Morfologie LEC

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INTRODUCTION INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY

The present course will deal with the traditional parts of speech, in particular with the grammaticalcategories/inflectional categories traditionally associated with the major parts of speech such as tense,aspect, mood, for the verb (number, gender, case, determination for nouns, pronouns etc, comparison for

adjectives and adverbs).Language as an object of study has been approached from different perspectives: traditional

(descriptive; meant to observe and enumerate aspects of language); structuralist (descriptive; an attempt toreflect the systematic character of language); generative (language is a body of rules by means of which allthe sentences can be obtained).

The structure of language can be analyzed in terms of levels of representation. For any utterancethere are:

- a phonological level strings of phonemes- a morphological level morphemes and words- a syntactic level phrases and sentences- a semantic level semantic concepts: events, objects, states, processes

Morphology is a term based on the Greek words morphe (=form/structure) and logie(=account/study). In fact, the term can apply to any domain of human activity that studies the structure or form of something. In linguistics, morphology is the sub-discipline that accounts for the internal structureof words.

There are two types of complexity of word-structure: one is due to the presence of inflections andanother due to the presences of derivational elements. Both operations add extra elements to what is knownas the base.

Derivation refers to word formation processes such as affixation, compounding and conversion.Derivational processes typically induce a change in the lexical category of the item they operate on andeven introduce new meanings ( -er adds the meaning of agent/instrument).

Inflection encompasses the grammatical categories/markers for number, gender, case, person,tense, aspect, mood and comparison. It is defined as a change in the form of a word to express its relationto other words in the sentence. Inflectional operations do not change the category they operate on ( goes or

grammars are just variants of one and the same word go and grammar ). Actually, they are formal markersthat help us delimit the lexical category of a word, i.e. the parts of speech. In this respect, lexical items(words) that are distributionally similar (i.e. have the same distributional properties) form classes.(Traditionalists: parts of speech, structuralists: form/morpheme classes; generativists: lexical categories).All these terms are intended to designate elements from the same pool N, V, A, Adv, P etc. but thedifferent terms are associated with the theoretical frames in which they were used and, hence, with methodsof doing lg. research specific for that theoretical framework.

Inflectional affixes have the following characteristics:- They produce closure upon words (can no longer attach a derivational element to them)- Inflected forms are organized in paradigms , i.e. they are in complementary distribution; for

instance, nouns occurs in pairs hat hats, book books.- The elements of a paradigm may evince the phenomenon of suppletion one of the forms is not

phonologically related to the other: went for go, better for good.- A paradigm can be defective lacks a form: can - *cans, trousers - *trouser.- Inflections are formal markers ( semantically they are empty, abstract); they help us delimit the

lexical category of the word to which they attach. In other words, each lexical category (major partof speech) is characterized by specific inflectional markers. Case, number, gender, anddetermination characterize nouns. Tense, aspect, mood, number and person characterize verbs.Person, number and in some cases gender characterize pronouns. Adjectives and adverbs arecharacterized by comparison. Although all of them lack descriptive content, they pass on thedescriptive content of the category they depend on.


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Traditional approaches:

The basic unit of analysis was the word. Words operated as signs, i.e. as instruments for the description andunderstanding of reality. They were classified into parts of speech and set into paradigms of declension andconjugation.

Traditional theories described words in terms of the traditional list of Aristotelian categories. Aristotleassumed that the physical world consisted of things (substances), which had certain properties (calledaccidents). Transferred to morphology, the substance of a word (its meaning) had to be distinguished fromits accidents, i.e. the different forms it assumed in linguistic context. Thus, certain accidental categorieswere considered to be typical for particular parts of speech: nouns (inflected for case, number, gender;verbs for tense, number, person, mood, aspect). Hence, what are traditionally referred to as grammaticalcategories correspond to the accidental categories, and this explains the older term accidence for what isalso known as inflectional variation.The Aristotelian opposition matter vs. form also helped grammarians distinguish between major and minor

parts of speech. Only major parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs) were meaningful. Theother parts of speech (conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, determiners, quantifiers, etc.) known as minor

parts of speech did not signify anything of themselves but merely contributed to the total meaning of sentences by imposing upon them a certain form or organization.Thus, in delimiting parts of speech, traditionalist grammars, called notional, employed three criteria:meaning, inflectional variation and syntactic function. Meaning was basic and it was correlated with theother two criteria. The last two criteria are based on formal properties, so they define parts of speech interms of their distribution. Notional definitions were incorrect in that they were circular a term wasexplained by resorting to the same term. For instance, the noun was defined as the name of a living being or lifeless thing. But virtue is neither a lifeless being, nor a living being, the only reason for saying thatvirtue is a thing is that the word that refers to it is a noun.

Structuralist approaches:It is a formal approach. Language was regarded as a system of relations, the elements of which had novalidity independently of the relations of equivalence and contrast that held between them (syntagmatic and

paradigmatic relations). It excluded meaning from its analysis and was based only on the distribution of theitems analyzed. In structuralism, the lexical items (the traditional major parts of speech) and thegrammatical items (typically the minor parts of speech and inflectional affixes) are distinguished in termsof paradigmatic oppositions and fall into two classes: open vs. closed classes of items.Open classes (nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs) have large numbers of items and new members can beadded by coining or borrowing.Closed classes (conjunctions, prepositions, determiners, pronouns, etc. and inflectional affixes) includeterms that have no descriptive content, having a fixed/limited number of items.

Generative approaches:They are similar to the structuralists approaches in the sense that the lexical/grammatical categories can bedefined only through their roles in the rules and principles of grammar.

NB grammatical categories in generative approaches no longer refer to inflectional markers, but tosyntactic categories (sentence, noun phrase, verb phrase etc.). Generative grammars operate with two typesof categories: lexical and grammatical/syntactic categories. Lexical categories (N, V, A) coincide with thetraditional parts of speech and the structuralist open classes, and grammatical categories (NP, VP, AP)

correspond to phrases or syntagms specific sequences of words.Each lexical category has a corresponding syntactic phrase - N NP. In other words, syntactic

phrases are projections of lexical categories. Then we translate the syntactic information in N NP intofunctional information (i.e. the subcategorisation frame [_ NP] which is characteristic of a transitive verb isconverted into functional information by stating that direct objects are characteristic of transitive verbs).

According to this theoretical model, it is not lexical categories (N, V, A etc.) that correspond tosemantic categories, but major syntactic categories (NP, VP, AP etc.) The syntactic categories are in arelation of correspondence with semantic categories such as events, processes, states, individual objects etc.We shall clarify this later on when we discuss number, aspect etc. As we shall see, events are represented

by the syntactic category of verb phrase, e.g. read a novel , paint a picture . Objects will be represented by


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the syntactic category of noun phrases: the chair , a chair , my chair , this chair etc. In other words, theontological (semantic) categories are represented by major syntactic phrases, not by lexical categories.

The lexical categories are defined in terms of features to be found in their lexical entries in thelexicon. These features include morpho-syntactic categories, i.e. inflections.

Various parts of speech display certain categorical similarities, which can be represented in termsof shared features.

The most important opposition for the parts of speech system is the opposition between verbal andnominal categories. Parts of speech are analyzed along the dimension [+/- V] or [+/- N]. The [+/- N]categories (A, N) are marked for gender, number and case, while the [+/- V] categories are notcharacterized by these features. Adjectives and adverbs share the inflectional/functional category of comparison.

Another important opposition is between lexical categories and functional categories. This oppositionis in part the same as the structural distinction between open classes (N, V, A etc.) and closed classes(Determiner, Inflection, Complementizer etc) of items. The open classes are defined as classes withdescriptive/semantic content (N, V, A) containing indefinitely many items and which allow consciouscoining, borrowing etc. On the other hand, functional categories include free morphemes: determiners,quantifiers, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, complementizers etc. and bound morphemes/inflectional affixes:inflections for tense, aspect, agreement/number. Hence the term functional categories covers minor partsof speech and inflectional categories. They form a closed set of items which- never occur alone,- have a unique Complement and cant be separated from it,- lack descriptive semantic content,- act as operators placing the Complement in time, in the world- are heads of lexical categories.Information expressed by inflection is not always dictated by syntactic structure. There are two types of inflection:- Inherent/morphological inflection (not required by the syntactic context): number with nouns and

pronouns, person for pronouns, gender for nouns.- Contextual/syntactic (which follows from syntax): number and person in verbs, case in nouns.

For instance:

They are running in the field now.

He is running home now.

They 3 rd p.pl. information contained in the lexical meaning of they. Hence, inherent. Are running vs. is running is contextual information provided by the context in which the verb is used andtriggered by the presence of an agreement between the subject and the verb.

Gender for nouns is inherent. E.g. queen.Case for nouns is contextual (triggered by the type of verb double transitive as in ask somebody

a question or a verb with dative and accusative as in lend money to someone ).

THE CATEGORY OF ASPECT

Aspect a notion of time, distinct from tense, which describes the internal temporal structure of eventsWhat Tense and Aspect have in common: both are functional categories delimiting the lexical categoryVerb, they are related morpho-syntactically (realized by verb inflections and auxiliaries) and semantically(both partake of the notion Time but in distinct ways).Where Tense and Aspect differ:Tense represents the chronological order of events in time as perceived by the speaker at the moment of speaking; it locates the time of the event in the sentence relative to NOWAspect gives info about the contour of the event as viewed by the speaker at a given moment in time

Traditional grammars: aspect is used for the perfective imperfective opposition, referring to differentways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a situation


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The perfective provides a holistic view upon the event, looking at the situation from outsideThe imperfective is concerned with the internal phases of the situation, it looks at the situation frominsideCurrent approaches: aspect covers two perspectives. It is still used to refer to the presentation of eventsthrough grammaticized viewpoints such as the perfective and the imperfective (viewpoint / grammaticalaspect). In addition, the term also refers to the inherent temporal structuring of the situations themselves,

internal event structure or Aktionsart (situation/eventuality-type aspect). Situation/eventuality type aspectrefers to the classification of verbal expressions into states, activities, achievements, accomplishments andsemelfactives (how we conceive of situations or states of affairs).

Both viewpoint aspect and situation type aspect convey info about temporal factors such as the beginning,end and duration of a state of affairs/situation. However, we need to draw a clear line between them assituation types and viewpoint aspect are realized differently in the grammar of language, i.e. they differ intheir linguistic expression:

- viewpoint aspect (perfective vs imperfective) is signaled by a grammatical morpheme in English(be-ing); it is an overt category

- situation type aspect is signaled by a constellation of lexical morphemes. Situation types aredistinguished at the level of the verb constellation (i.e. the verb and its arguments (subjects andobjects) and the sentence (adverbials)). Situation types lack explicit morphological markers.Situation type aspect exemplifies the notion of a covert category.

Compare:

She ate an apple.She was eating an apple.She walked to the park.She was walking to the park.

The two components of the aspectual system of a language interact with each other in all languages,although across languages, aspectual systems vary considerably, especially the viewpoint subsystem.Situation types can be distinguished as covert categories in all languages.

Since Aspect can be assumed to be defined as the interaction of the lexical meaning of the verb, thenature of its arguments (subjects and objects) and grammatical inflection, aspectual meaning holds for sentences rather than for individual verbs or verb phrases. Sentences present aspectual info aboutsituation type and viewpoint. Although they co-occur, the two types of info are independent. Consider:

Mary walked to school. (perfective past tense, goal / natural endpoint)Mary was walking to school. (imperfective be-ing, goal not reached)Mary walked in the park. (perfective, no goal; the event was simply terminated)

Conclusion:Aspectual info is given by the linguistic forms of the sentences: situation type is signaled by the verband its arguments, while viewpoint is signaled by a grammatical morpheme, usually part of the verb or verb phrase. The perfective viewpoint gives info about endpoints (beginning and end) while theimperfective gives info about internal or other stages or phases.

The domain of aspect offers choices within a closed system to the speakers of a language. There is asmall, fixed set of viewpoints and situation/eventuality types. One of each must be chosen whenever asentence is framed. In other words, speakers choices in presenting actual situations are limited byconventional categorization, conventions of use and the constraints of truth.

ASPECT - Conceptual features of the situations types

There are three semantic features that help us distinguish among situation types: [+/- stative], [+/- telic] and[+/- durative]. They function as shorthand for the cluster of properties that distinguishes them.


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[+/- STATIVE] covers the distinction between stasis and motion and separates situation types into theclasses of states and events (activities, accomplishments, achievements and semelfactives).States are the simplest of situation types, consisting of undifferentiated moments. States are said to holdwhereas events occur, happen, take place or culminate. Events are doings; they are [+ dynamic] or [-stative], involving causation (which includes both agentive and non-agentive subjects), activity and change.

Events consist of stages/phases rather than undifferentiated moments.[+/- TELIC] separates situation types into telic and atelic. Telic situation types are directed towards agoal/outcome, that is, they have a culmination point. The goal may be intrinsic to the event, in this caseconstituting its natural endpoint, as it is with accomplishments and achievements (e.g. break ). In other cases, the endpoint is arbitrary, as it is for activities and semelfactives, which can be stopped or terminatedat any time.

N.B. The existence of telicity does not necessarily imply the presence of an internal argument (a syntacticobject) and conversely the existence of an internal argument does not imply telicity:

a) John stood up in a second. (telicity given by the particle up; the verb is intransitive/atelic) b) John pushed the cart for hours. (the verb has a direct object/internal argument, yet the situation is

an activity)

N.B. Telic events are not limited to events that are under the control of an agent. In The rock fell to the ground. there is a final point given by the expression to the ground, but the subject is not an agent.

[+/- DURATIVE] distinguishes between situation types that take time (activities, states, accomplishments)and instantaneous events (achievements and semelfactives). Duration is grammaticized overtly or covertly.In English duration is explicitly indicated by adverbials ( for phrases) and main verbs ( keep , continue ). Theimperfective viewpoint (be ing) is also related to duration, since imperfective focuses on the internalstages of durative situations. With instantaneous events, which lack an interval, the imperfective may focuson preliminary or iterated/repeated stages:

She was jumping up and down. (repeated activity from a semelfactive)The plane was landing. (preliminary stage from an achievement)

+/- stative +/- durative +/- telicStates Stative Durative AtelicActivities Dynamic Durative AtelicAccomplishments Dynamic Durative TelicAchievements Dynamic Instantaneous TelicSemelfactives Dynamic Instantaneous Atelic

STATES

States are stable situations. Typical, basic states are: know the answer, be tall, desire, want . States arecharacterized by the features [+ stative] and [+ durative]. The feature [+ telic] is not relevant for states

because they are unbounded and have an abstract atemporal quality. Intuitively, they predicate a quality or property of an individual (possession, location, belief and other mental states, dispositions, etc).There are different types of states: basic-level states and derived stative predicates.

Basic-level statesAccording to the type of referent they apply to, basic states separate into predicates that apply toindividuals (kinds of objects or objects) or to stages of individuals. Thus, English syntacticallydistinguishes between:


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a) Individual level predicates: permanent, non-temporary states ( know, desire, be tall, bewidespread ), which describe relatively stable, non-transitory inherent properties that apply toindividuals (objects or kinds), and

b) Stage level predicates: temporary states ( be available, be in the garden, be drunk, be angry ),which denote transitory properties and apply to stages of individuals. They are compatible withexpressions of simple duration and punctuality: He was angry for an instant. She was hungry at

noon.c) Individual / stage level predicates: with interval statives, that is, with verb constellations of

position and location ( sit, lie, perch, sprawl, stand ). They may appear in the progressive, althoughthey involve no agency or change.

The socks are lying on the bed. (stage level predicate)London lies on the Thames. (individual level predicate)*London is lying on the Thames.

Here, the progressive has a stative interpretation (they denote temporary states), whereas usuallythe progressive is associated with an active interpretation. The progressive is acceptable with these

predicates only if the subject denotes a moveable object, hence the ungrammaticality of the third sentencein which London does not qualify as a moveable object.Derived statives

a) generic sentences

b) habitual sentencesEvents can be recategorized into states, changing into individual level predicates, if used in the simple

present or past. They are semantically stative precisely because they denote properties that hold over individuals or patterns/generalizations over events rather than specific situations.

Tigers eat meat. (generic)My cat eats carrots. (habitual)He writes novels. (habitual)

N.B. Perception verbs ( see ), verbs of feeling ( like, love ) and some verbs of mental states ( know,understand ), which are stative at the basic level of classification, may also have an achievementinterpretation in the context of adverbs like suddenly or with completive adverbials. Compare:

I saw the city hall from my window. (state)Suddenly, I saw a star. (achievement)I like music. (state)

I liked him in a second. (achievement)

ACTIVITIES (PROCESSES)

The term process is favored over activity because, while activity is associated with human agency,process encompasses both activities associated with human subjects (external causation) ( he

swam/slept/strolled in the park ) and activities that are not cases of human agency ( the ball rolled/moved, it rained for hours, the jewels glittered ).Processes are atelic, durative, dynamic events. An activity does not have a goal or natural endpoint. Itstermination is merely cessation of activity, that is, an activity has an arbitrary endpoint, which is why theysimply stop or terminate, but never finish.Process sentences consist of verb constellations presenting a process situation. The verb constellations mayconsist of:

a) an atelic verb and compatible complements (if any): push a cart, play chess/the piano, laugh, sleep, think about, dream, walk in the park, run along the beach, enjoy, etc. b) an atelic durative verb with a complement that is cumulative or uncountable. These qualify as

multiple-event processes: eat cherries, write letters, drink wine, etc . Multiple events also includeiterations, repetitions of instantaneous events, such as achievements and semelfactives: cough for

five minutes, find pebbles on the beach all afternoon, etc .c) in English, there are other means of changing the telicity of a constellation, for instance using a

particular preposition: read a book (acc.) vs. read at a book (activ.), paint the fence (acc.) vs. paint away at the fence (activ.).


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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Accomplishments describe change-of-states prepared (brought about/caused) by some activity/process, thechange being the completion of the process: build a bridge, repair a car, drink a glass of wine .Accomplishments are conceptualized as durative events, consisting of a process and an outcome / change

of state and having successive stages in which the process advances to its conclusion. Thus,accomplishments are complex events because they have other event types as their components.An accomplishment is a causal structure of the type e 1 causes e 2) where e 1 is the causing activity/processand e 2 is the resulting (change of) state. Thus, lexical causative verbs are accomplishments ( break awindow, cook a pie, cool the soup, shelve the books, poison your roommate ). Also, resultative constructions(which lexicalize both the causing activity and the resulting state) qualify as accomplishments:

The wind shaped the hills into cones.The maid swept the floor clean.He sang himself hoarse.

Verbs plus particle constructions also read as accomplishments: throw something away/down/up/aside/in .In a nutshell, accomplishment constructions consist of constellations that have:

a) Atelic, durative verbs and countable arguments: They drank a glass of beer and left. b) Atelic, durative verbs and directional complements: The kid walked to school.c) Atelic, durative verbs and certain prepositions: The boy ran out.d) Atelic verbs and resultative phrase: The alarm clock ticked the baby awake.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Achievements are instantaneous, single stage events that result in a change of state. Achievements focusmainly on the change of state, simply leaving out or backgrounding the causing activity and causing factor.Stereotypic achievements are: die, reach the top, win the race, arrive, leave, recognize, notice, find a

penny, miss the target, lose the watch, remember, etc. Even if some achievements may be preceded by some preparatory activity ( land, die, reach the top, win therace ), this instantaneous type does not conceptualize it. But remember that we can focus on the preliminarystage and turn the achievement into an activity if we employ the progressive:

The plane landed. (achievement)The plane was landing. (activity)

The predicates that do not presuppose a preparatory activity are known as lucky achievements: find,recognize, discover, notice, lose, remember, etc.

SEMELFACTIVES

Semelfactives are atelic, instantaneous events: cough, knock, hit, flap a wing, hiccup, slam/bang the door,kick the ball . Semelfactives do not have preliminary stages, nor resultant stages.When they occur with period adverbials and the progressive, they are interpreted as derived durative

processes/activities consisting of a series of repeated, iterated semelfactive events. The predicates arereinterpreted as multiple-event activities:

John was kicking the ball when I saw him.John kicked the ball for five minutes and then left.

THE ASPECTUAL RECATEGORIZATION OF VERB PHRASES

Predicates shift from their prototypical class due to various elements in the verb constellations:


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(1) Subject: If the subject of an achievement is an indefinite plural noun phrase or a collectivenoun, the achievement recategorizes into an activity.

The tourists have discovered a beautiful castle. (achievement)Tourists discovered that beautiful castle for years. (activity)The battalion was crossing the border for twenty minutes. (activity)

(2) Direct Object: If the direct object of an accomplishment or achievement is a bare plural noun phrase, they become activities.

Tom wrote the essay in two hours. (accomplishment)Tom wrote essays for two hours. (activity)

He discovered a treasure in the backyard. (achievement)Tom has been discovering lice in his son's hair for three days. (activity)

If the direct object of an accomplishment or an achievement is a mass noun, it turns it into an activity.

Tom ate his hamburger in three minutes. (accomplishment)Tom ate popcorn for an hour. (activity)

(3) Adverbials: If an activity is combined with an adverbial of extent, it turns into anaccomplishment.

Tom walked for an hour. (activity)Tom walked two kilometers in half an hour. (accomplishment)

If an activity combines with a locative noun phrase, it becomes an accomplishment.

Tom walked in the woods for an hour. (activity)Tom walked to the building in ten minutes. (accomplishment)

(4) Tense: Habitual sentences always designate states. Almost any verb can become part of ahabitual sentence if used in the simple present, sometimes with a frequency adverbial.

He played chess for two hours. (activity) He play s chess (every day). (state)

Activity verb phrases such as rub, burn, scratch, cut, kill turn into states when used in the simple present form, designating a general characteristic of the subject:

The wood is burning in the fireplace. (activity) / This burns like fire. (state) He is killing a chicken for dinner. (activity ) / Your behavior kills me. (state)

(5) Progressive / Continuous Aspect: When used in the progressive aspect, states,accomplishments and achievements recategorize into activities unfolding at a certain

reference time. N.B. Some verbs can have several readings even though the verb phrase doesnot undergo any change of the type illustrated above:

Tom read a book for an hour. (activity) / Tom read a book in an hour. (accomplishment)She combed her hair for two minutes. (activity) / She combed her hair in two minutes.(accomplishment)

ASPECTUAL CLASSES OF VERB PHRASES AND THE PROGRESSIVE ASPECT


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ACTIVITY VERB PHRASES

Used in the continuous aspect, with or without adverbials expressing duration ( all the time,meanwhile, all day / night long, for some time, etc.), activity verb phrases designate processes unfolding ata certain reference time. Sometimes they describe two simultaneous processes and are connected either byand or by subordinating conjunctions such as while, as, all the while , etc.

The river is flooding. / Meanwhile he was trying to find out who had robbed him. / While she wasrehearsing for the show, her maid was sewing her dress for the gala. / As he was crossing the street, he

slipped on a banana skin and broke a leg.

When used in the progressive, semelfactives: jump, kick, tremble, nod, knock, tap, pat, slam / bang the door , etc. describe a series of repeated processes rather than a single process:

The boy was kicking the ball against the wall.The dog is jumping up and down.

Her lips were trembling.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The internal structure of accomplishments and achievements presupposes a final goal, outcome or result that is suspended when the respective verb phrases combine with the progressive aspect. When theyappear in the continuous, they acquire an activity reading.

They built their house in two years. (accomplishment)They were building the house when the accident happened. (activity)The man fell into the river and drowned. (achievement)When his son came running to help him, the man was already drowning. (activity)

STATE VERB PHRASES

States are defined as having an abstract quality and an atemporal interpretation. They are said todesignate a property of the subject that lasts throughout time. Hence, they do not normally combine withthe progressive, which refers to situations of limited duration. However, there are certain state verb phrasesthat may appear in the continuous, changing their meaning.

(1) to be + property-designating adjectives and nouns: If the adjective / noun designates a permanent property of an individual, the verb will never appear in the continuous (be tall, be young, be old,etc.). Yet, certain adjectives / nouns express properties that can be altered and thus, allow us to refer to onlya temporally limited stage of the individual, in which case the use of the progressive is required. Compare:

He is a teacher. / She is taller than you. (general properties) He is being rude tonight. / You're being a total bastard. (process unfolding now)

The second set of sentences describes temporary activities under the control of the individuals.The implication is that their behavior is deliberate and they can put an end to it if they want to.

(2) mental cognition verb phrases : know, believe, hope, trust, imagine, wonder, think , etc.When they occur in the progressive, they express temporally and spatially limited processes

unfolding at a certain reference time. They refer to a manifestation of the individual, not to a characteristic property of his. Compare:

I imagine she will agree to your proposal. / I was only imagining those ugly scenarios. I think he is wrong. / I'm thinking of giving up smoking.They hope to win. / He was hoping against hope that there was still a chance of success.


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(3) physical cognition verb phrases : see, hear, smell, taste, feel Also referred to as 'verbs of perception', they do not occur in the progressive if they denote a

general characteristic of a certain individual / object. Even if they make reference to an act of perceptionunfolding at a specific moment like NOW, they avoid the use of the continuous. Instead, they appear accompanied by the modal verb CAN: I hear the wind blowing. / I can hear the wind blowing. / *I'mhearing the wind blowing.

It they combine with the progressive, they describe processes going on for a limited period of time. In this case the subject is attributed intention or purpose:

You smell nice. / I'm smelling your perfume to see if I can guess what it is.The milk tastes sour. / He is tasting the soup to see if it's got enough salt.

See and hear even acquire new meanings when appearing in the continuous: The court is hearing the evidence tomorrow. (they are listening to and trying the case); I'm seeing the doctor next week. (I havemade an appointment)

(4) emotive verb phrases : love, hate, like, dislike, want, miss , etc.Again, the atemporal quality of the state verbs is replaced with the temporal quality of the process

unfolding for a certain period of time.

I despise bad behavior. / He will be despising me heartily. Everybody envied everybody in that room. / I was envying him his freedom at the time.

(5) other property designating verb phrases : belong, contain, consist, weigh, measure , etc.If used in the progressive, they express temporary properties.

The necklace belongs to me. / Are you belonging to the local library?The castle costs a fortune. / The mistake is costing us dearly.

Verbs like weigh or measure have a behavior similar to that of perception verbs, that is, the subjectdeliberately does the action of 'weighing' or 'measuring': The baby weighs six pounds. / The nurse isweighing the baby.

(6) locative verb phrases : sit, stand, lie, rest, remain , etc. Such verbs appear in the continuous if their subject represents a moveable object and describe temporary states:

Her new house stands / (*is standing) at the corner of our street. / He is standing near the pole.

TENSE

TIME VS TENSE (TIME IS REFLECTED BY TENSE)

- Time is objective in the sense that it does not have absolute reality outside the form of our perceptionof the world; it is not inherent to objects.

- Time is an epistemic notion as it mirrors our experience of the world.- Time has a linear representation, which preserves the sequential character of our perception of the

world.- Time is durationally infinite and segmentable ; we perceive it as unidirectional (forwards).Time is segmented by two different procedures:- a personal subjective estimate of duration- a public estimate based on the periodicity of natural phenomenaAccordingly, there is


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- a personal time: mans endeavor to measure duration by using his emotions as an instrument (time isexpanded or contracted)

- a public time , characteristic of society; time measurement is subjected to public agreement and it is based on the periodicity of some observable natural phenomena (revolution of the earth round its axis,its periodic relation to the sun, the moon, the stars etc)

TENSE: A DEICTIC CATEGORY

Tense is generally defined as representing the chronological order of events in time as perceived by the speaker at the moment of speaking, speech time (ST). Tense is a deictic category, i.e. the moment NOW is central in the sense that time past or time future represent DIRECTIONS whose ORIENTATIONdepends on ST. ST/NOW is a central point on the temporal axis of orientation according to which weinterpret the ordering of events/states. All accounts of tense make interpretation sensitive to tense. Eventscan be simultaneous with ST ( at relation) or they can be sequential to it ( before / after relations).

Tense is a functional category that expresses a temporal relation to the orientation point (ST) inthe sense that it locates in time the situation talked about.

TENSE: MORE THAN TENSE INFLECTIONS

A common mistake in approaching the category of tense is the belief that tense inflections alonemirror time. In fact they are not enough to express the temporal specification of a message. A proper interpretation of temporal forms presupposes an analysis of the relation between

(i) tense specification of the V (i.e. tense inflection) and(ii) temporal adverbials.

INFL identifies the event of the VP in the sense that it places that particular event in time. A VPconsists of both its lexical head V 0 and the complement(s) it has selected. We know that information aboutthe selection of complements by a verb is part of the lexical entry of that verb in the lexicon and itrepresents more or less its descriptive content. If we assume that, roughly speaking, the descriptive contentof a verb is the idea of event , we cannot conceive of this event without taking into account the complementsof the respective verb as well as those explicit lexical means of placing the event in time: time adverbials. It

means that when discussing temporal interpretation, we have to talk about sentence temporal interpretationor, at least, about predicate temporal interpretation.

TIME/TEMPORAL ADVERBIALS

Time adverbials include adverbs, adverb phrases and adverbial clauses and they specify RTtogether with tense inflections. Tense inflections are strongly related to adverbials. The latter add meaningto a sentence and during the process they might even disambiguate it. On the other hand, sentences withouttime adverbials may be non-ambiguous due to the context, which acts as a time adverbial giving a certaintemporal reading or due to the fact that people tend to maximise available information, i.e. we apply therelation of simultaneity wherever possible.

Albert is playing tennis. (now / tomorrow)

Albert was playing tennis. (then / future)

This actually means that we associate with a sentence that is vague the temporal interpretation thatrequires the least additional information (sort of default reading).

In addition to this, there are regular co-occurrences between tense inflections and time adverbials(there are adverbials that co-occur only with simple past or only with present perfect and there are othersthat co-occur with both).


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Classification of time adverbials

The relation between time adverbials and ST can be explicit or non-explicit. We distinguish between:

(i) anchored time adverbials which are in an explicit relation to ST in the sense that their temporal interpretations are determined relative to ST (now, yesterday, tomorrow)

(ii) unanchored adverbials which do not have an explicit relation to ST and which orientthemselves to times other than the utterance time or to utterance time (in June, onFriday); they have various interpretations.

Given that temporal adverbials also contribute to the aspectual interpretation of sentences we canestablish a further classification that distinguishes among: duration adverbials, completive adverbials,locating / frame adverbials and frequency adverbials. Duration and completive adverbials also have anaspectual value (they are sensitive to the aspectual value of the situation), requiring compatibility with thesituation type.

a. Duration adverbials : for three months/a day/a week, for a while, since the war/Christmas, at night,all afternoon, for hours, all the time, over the weekend, through August, during the war, always,

permanently, all day long, etc.

- they indicate the duration of the described event by specifying the length of time that is asserted to take- contribute to the location of the event in time, more specifically within the stated interval- compatible with atelic sentences, but odd with telic sentences- compatible with states and processes (activities)

1. Susan was asleep for two hours. (atelic)2. Andrew swam for three hours. (atelic)3. (?) John wrote a / the report for two hours. (telic)4. *The train arrived late for two hours.

Whenever telic events occur in the context of duration adverbials there is a clash between the aspectual properties of the situation type and the aspectual properties of the adverbials. Such clashes are resolved by

a shift in the value of the verb constellation, which receives a marked interpretation. This contextualinterpretation is made possible by the process called coercion.

1. I read a book for a few minutes. (coercion into a process)2. Jerry wrote a report for two hours. (acc. into activity)3. John knocked on the door for two hours. (semelf. into process of the multiple-event type)4. Jon played the sonata for two hours. (acc. into process iterative: many times)5. For years, Mary went to school in the morning. (acc. into state habitual)6. For months, the train arrived late. (ach. into state habitual)

The felicity of the aspectual reinterpretation is strongly dependent on linguistic context and knowledge of the world. Compare:

*John went into the house all afternoon.John crossed the border all afternoon.

b. Completive adverbials : in 2 hours, within two months, in a second .- they locate the situation at an interval during which the event is completed/culminates. Aspectually,

completive adverbials are telic- compatible with telic situations and odd with atelics

1. John noticed the painting in a second.2. Mary wrote a sonnet in five minutes.3. (?) Bill swam laps in an hour.


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4. (?) Mary believed in ghosts in an hour.

If (3) and (4) can be understood at all, they impose an ingressive interpretation to the sentences, in the sensethat the adverbials refer to an interval elapsed before the beginning of the situations and not an intervalduring which the situations occur. The possible telic reinterpretations are: Bill swam his planned number of laps in an hour, In/after an hour Bill swam laps, At the end of an hour/after an hour Mary began to

believe in ghosts. The same interpretation as the latter occurs with achievements and semelfactives: Theyreached the top in ten minutes (after ten minutes), She knocked at the door in ten minutes (after tenminutes).

c. Frequency adverbials : frequently, on Sundays, never, sometimes, often, whenever, monthly, daily,once a week, every week/month etc.

- they indicate the recurrent pattern of situations within the reference interval- they express a series of events which as a whole make a state of the habitual type:

We often/always went/go to the mountains in wintertime.

d. Locating adverbials / Frame adverbials :- they locate situations in time by relating them to other times or to other situations

- they refer to an interval of time within which the described situation is asserted t have taken place- according to the time of orientation we can distinguish three classes:1. deictic adverbials: oriented to the time of utterance (ST): now, today, last Sunday, last

week, this year, tomorrow, tonight, two weeks ago2. anaphoric adverbials: relate to a previously established time: until, till, in the evening, on

Sunday, at night, early, before, in three days, on Christmas, at lunchtime, two years later,in March, already

3. referential adverbials: refer to a time established by clock or calendar: at six, august 19,in 1987

PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE

Present Tense Simple is associated with the present moment - the speech time - in the sense that itmay refer either to a point in time identified with speech time (ST) or to an interval that includes themoment of speaking. As far as its factual status is concerned, the present is between the past and the future.The past is considered to be factually determined since we know if an action took place or not in the past.On the contrary, the future is the least factually determined time. The present expresses both situationswhose time of occurrence is known and situations whose time of occurrence is not known.

VALUES OF PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE

1. GENERIC VALUE unmarked value

Present Tense Simple used in generic sentences indicates the validity of a state at speech time withoutmaking reference to a particular situation or moment. It ascribes a property to a subject; therefore, itappears in so-called characterizing sentences. Generic sentences are true of some particular entities,namely kinds. Kind referring expressions are bare plurals, definite singular NPs and mass nouns. Theycan also appear with indefinite NPs, proper names and quantified NPs but in this case the locus of genericity is not in the NP but rather in the sentence itself, i.e. these NPs get a generic interpretation onlywhen occurring in characterizing sentences. Present simple is associated with stative verbs and it is used inscientific language, in proverbs, definitions, geographical statements, in instructions or when specifyinggame rules etc. Generic sentences are timeless statements expressing general or universal truths.


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involved in it are appropriate for the invocation of the respective procedure (for instance, it is only a priestthat can marry you and this can happen only in a church).

Both habitual and generic sentences may receive instantaneous readings under certain circumstances:

Swallows fly higher than doves . (generic reading) Look, the swallows fly higher than the doves. (instantaneous reading because of the suggestion of

instantaneous perception indicated by "Look") He scores goals . (habitual interpretation because of the plural direct object) He scores a goal. (instantaneous interpretation)

4. FUTURE VALUE - marked

The simple present may acquire a future value either in simple sentences or in subordinate adverbialclauses of time and condition introduced by after, as soon as, when, before, if, unless etc.

In simple sentences it is accompanied by a temporal adverbial indicating the future: The plane leaves for New York at 5 p.m. tomorrow. The use of the simple present signals the fact that the future event is bound to happen, in other words, the anticipated event is attributed the same degree of certainty that wenormally assign to present or past events. For this reason the simple present with this value represents theonly marked way to express the future time in English. It refers to mostly official or collective future plansor arrangements that cannot be altered. It may relate to timetables, schedules, itineraries etc.:

The caravan sets off tomorrow morning.We leave Bucharest on Monday morning, arrive in London at noon and set off for Glasgow in theevening.

The use of the simple present with future value in adverbial clauses of time and condition has morethan a syntactic explanation. In the examples below the content of the adverbial clause is assumed to existas a fact:

I'll see what to do when I meet him. By the time you get there, the show will have already begun. I will be very unhappy if our team does not win.

There is a contrast of meaning between the main clause and the subordinate. The event referred to inthe former is a prediction, whereas the event expressed in the latter is a fact that is taken as given, which

provides an axis of orientation for the action predicted in the main clause.

NB. Students are inclined to think that they must use only the simple present after clauses introduced by when and if . However, the rule applies only to those cases in which when and if introduce adverbialclauses of time and condition. Compare:

I will talk to him when I see him. (time clause) I don't know when I will see him. (direct object clause) / I don't know this.

I will take my umbrella if it rains. (conditional clause) I don't know if it will rain. (direct object clause) / I don't know this .

5. PAST VALUE - marked

The use of the Simple Present with a past value is best known as the historic present and represents astoryteller's license, being typical of an oral narrative style. As Jespersen (1931:17) remarked, the "historic

present is pretty frequent in connected narrative: the speaker, as it were, forgets all about time andimagines, or recalls, what he is recounting, as vividly as if it were now present before his eyes". The simple

present with this value often alternates with a time adverbial indicating the past:


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understand this either by inferring the time from the larger context in which the situation occurs or bymaking use of the definiteness of the participants involved:

Did you remember to give him my message? Did you see Led Zeppelin perform live in Bucharest? A: I couldn't find Mary at the party last night. / B: Well, I couldn't find her either.

Thus, in the first two examples above the definiteness of the situation is confirmed by thedefiniteness of the participants involved (my message) or of the circumstances (Led Zeppelin did performin Bucharest on a specific day which is officially known). In the last example, speaker A specifies the pastmoment and speaker B does not need to mention it in his turn. Thus it becomes obvious that thedefiniteness of the event expressed by the simple past does not necessarily presuppose that the time inquestion be specified, only that it be specifiable.

Another particular case in which a past simple is used without a definite adverb of time involves acombination with the present perfect. The latter is used to introduce an unspecified event that takes placeanterior to the moment of speaking in a period that began in the past and includes the moment NOW. Oncean anterior frame of reference is established for the discourse it is only natural to refer to the alreadyintroduced situation by means of a definite specifier, i.e. the simple past:

A: Where have you been? / B: To the restaurant. / A: What did you do there? / B: I had lunch, of course.

Finally, the simple past can be used without a definite adverb of time if the utterance refers to acomparison between present and past conditions as in: Bucharest is no longer what it was / used tobe. / He is a nitwit, but he is less of a nitwit than he was.

VALUES OF PAST TENSE SIMPLE

1. DEICTIC VALUE

The simple past can be used deictically with a deictic adverb of time of the type yesterday, two years ago, last night, in 1987 , etc. In this case the location of the event in time is established in relation tothe moment of speaking NOW:

Haydn was born in 1732. / My friend left for Poland in July. / I finished reading the book last night.

2. NARRATIVE VALUE

Since it deals with past events the simple past is a natural choice for narratives, whether the eventsnarrated are real historical events or just fictional situations devised in novels. However, in this case, thesimple past is no longer accompanied by a time adverbial and the situations described by this tense areordered by the laws governing the narrative mode rather than by information present in the sentences

proper. It is the whole context created by the advancing of the story that supplies the order of the events.

'() She left him alone in the kitchen. He picked up a chair, then set it down again and went out

into the scullery. He opened the garden door, and a great moth flew into his face. Then he stepped out intothe garden and faced the enemies.()' (Dylan Thomas - 'In the Garden' - Collected Stories)

Moreover, we use the simple past for narrative even when referring to future events as in sciencefiction. "We are invited by this convention to look at future events as if from a vantage-point even further in the future. Any narrative normally presupposes, in the imagination, such a retrospective view." - A. S.Leech (1971: 10).

In the year AD 2201 , the interplanetary transit vehicle Zeno VII made a routine journey to themoon with twenty people on board.


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3. HABITUAL VALUE

When used with this value, the simple past refers to events recurrent within a given past interval of time. Unlike simple present sentences in which the time adverbial specifies the event time - i.e. indicatingthe recurrence of the event, simple past sentences allow the presence of both a time adverbial indicating the

frequency specification and a time adverbial that supplies the interval during which the recurring event took place. Compare:

Brian runs a mile every day. Brian ran a mile every day during his childhood.

The habitual interpretation can be rendered by the frequency adverbial whose determiner must beindefinite or by a plural indefinite object:

I went to the mountains three times a year. (habitual) I went to the mountains three times that year . (non-habitual) My dog chased my neighbor's cat / a cat. (non-habitual) My dog chased cats. (habitual)

4. PAST PERFECT VALUE

This value is derived from a contrast between simultaneous past events and past events occurringin a sequence.

He enjoyed and admired her paintings. (simultaneous) He unlocked and opened the door. (sequential)

In the first example the order of the events can be reversed without altering the meaning of thesentence, whereas a reversal of the order of the events in the second example is impossible basing our

judgment on our knowledge about the way these activities can be performed. The event of unlocking thedoor necessarily takes place before its opening and thus the simple past "unlocked" has past perfect value.

On the other hand, the temporal relation between two consecutive events can be overtly marked bymeans of conjunctions (preserving the simple past in both the main clause and the subordinate clause) or bythe auxiliary HAVE, which indicates anteriority:

I (had) read twenty more pages before I went to bed. As soon as she saw / had seen me, she rose quickly and left the room. After I (had ) finished dinner, I went out with my friends.

5. PRESENT TIME VALUE

This represents a special development of the normal past meaning, which appears in everydayconversation making reference to the present feelings or thoughts of the speaker:

A: Did you want me?

B: Yes, I hoped you could give me a hand with the cleaning.

Although speaker B could have used the present instead of the past, his choice of the respectiveverbal form renders the request indirect and thus, more polite. Unlike a present form, which would havemade a polite answer impossible, the past form avoids a clash of wills, allowing speaker A to either acceptor decline the request. Similarly, speaker A's question indicates politeness. "Do you want me?" would have

been rather imperative, suggesting that speakers A and B have similar social positions, and would haveimplied that the former was not at all pleased with speaker B making a request.

Other verbs often present in similar contexts are wonder and think ; in most cases they are used incombination with the continuous aspect, which adds a further overtone of politeness:


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I wondered / was wondering if you could help me with the kids while I am away. I thought I might drop by later tonight if you don't mind.

PRESENT PERFECT

Past events can be predicated about either in the past tense or the present perfect from twodifferent perspectives. In John read the book last year, the event of Johns reading the book in is entiretyis specified/dated as occurring during last year, which is prior and thus distinct from the moment NOW. InJohn has already read the book, we understand that Johns reading the book in its entirety occurred atsome unspecified time in the past, but the event is related and, thus, relevant to the present moment throughits result: now, John knows what the book is about.

There have been several theories that tried to capture this distinction between the past simple and the present perfect:

(a) The Indefinite Past Theory present perfect locates events somewhere before the moment of speaking, without identifying any particular point or interval of time. ET is indefinite andspecified only by indefinite adverbials: since 3 oclock, for two hours, so far, yet, etc. incontrast, ET of past simple events is definite: at two oclock, yesterday, etc.

(b) The Current Relevance Theory it is only present perfect that claims relevance at the moment

NOW, a feature the past simple lacks. Compare You woke him up when you went to the bathroom ten minutes ago. to Youve waken him up the present perfect itself in the secondsentence locates the effects of the event at NOW.

(c) The Extended Now Theory speakers can psychologically extend the present backwards bymeans of present perfect in English. The present perfect serves to locate an event within a periodof time that begins in the past and extends up to the present moment (and includes it). In contrast,the past tense specifies that an event occurred at a past time that is separated and distinct from the

present.

Before embarking upon an analysis of the two tenses mentioned above, we should clarify therelationship between the English perfect and the perfective aspect, since the English perfect is quite oftenrelated to the meaning of completion or result. Without renouncing the idea that the perfect marksanteriority, we can maintain the connection between the perfect and the perfective in view of the fact that

what is 'summed up as a whole' (i.e. perfective) may also be anterior to a certain moment in time. What weneed to understand is that the 'result / completion' meaning is not intrinsic to the perfect; rather, just like theother meanings of the present perfect, it stems from the interaction of the perfect form with the aspectualmeaning of the verb phrase, plus the temporal adverbials it co-occurs with.

Thus, the perfect may acquire different senses according to the type of aspectual class 'have' combineswith:1) continuative perfect2) experiential perfect3) resultative perfect4) 'hot news' perfect

CONTINUATIVE PRESENT PERFECT

When the present perfect combines with state verb phrases in sentences that contain a durativeadverbial (for instance, since / for phrases), they express states extending over a period of time that lasts upto the present moment:

I have lived in Paris since 1987.The castle has been empty for ages.

Have you known my uncle for a long time?


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Generally, the adverbial of duration cannot be absent from the sentence or otherwise theconstruction acquires an indefinite past reading. I have lived in Paris simply places the situation at someunspecified point in the past, without carrying any other information.

At the same time, there are exceptions to this rule if the semantic content of the respectivesentence suggests a period leading up to the present. In I've had a good life or You've outstayed your welcome the adverbials of time are felt as implicit ('during my life' / 'so far' or 'for too long' in the case of

'outstay').Used with process verb phrases and a frequency or a durative adverbial, the perfect expresses ahabit and thus has a recurrent continuative reading:

Mrs. Jones has played the organ in this church for fifteen years. I have followed her behavior every day since she got here.When I have tried to join their club, they have constantly turned me down.The news has been broadcast at ten o'clock for as long as I can remember.

Since a habit is described as a state consisting of repeated events, this iterative use closelyresembles the continuative use of the perfect and, in fact, we may subsume it in the previous class as a typeof 'recurrent continuative' perfect.

Continuative: also with event verbs if in the progressive:e.g. Hes been sleeping for two hours./ It has been snowing since noon./ Ever since the house has beenoccupied the poltergeist have been acting up.Modes of occurrence: a) continuous continuative: I have been sitting in all day.

b) discontinuous continuative: He has been building the house for the last five years. (i.e. on and off)

EXPERIENTIAL PRESENT PERFECT

With process and event verbs phrases (accomplishments and achievements), the perfect may refer to some indefinite situation in the past. By 'indefinite' we mean on the one hand, that the number of occurrences is unspecified and on the other hand, that the time when it takes place is not mentioned.Therefore, such use is often accompanied by adverbials of time of the type never, ever, always, before(now):

I have never seen such a majestic cathedral before. Have you ever been to the States? Have you visited the Dali exhibition?

The temporal location of some events may be very close to the moment NOW, in which case werefer to recent indefinite past situations. Such examples often contain adverbs like just, already, yet or recently : Has the postman called yet? / They have already had breakfast.

If the definite time when the experience occurred is mentioned, the speaker shifts from PresentPerfect to Past Tense:e.g. A: Have you been to Edinburgh?

B: Yes, I have.A: When did you go?

B: Oh, last April , thats when I did.A: And did you visit many places while you were there?B: Yes, I went to Hollyrood Palace.

Modes of occurrence: a) general experiential: He has never liked heavy metal. / A: Have you ever in your life seen anyone so entirely delightful? B: Only when Ive looked in the mirror.

b) limited experiential: Have you had a letter to type today?/ She has already had three proposals thismorning.

RESULTATIVE PRESENT PERFECT


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The association of event verb phrases (accomplishments and achievements), that presuppose aclimax or end point, with the perfect generates a resultative reading - that is, it implies that a transitioncomes to a final state valid at the present moment. The resultative meaning does not need the support of time adverbials:

He has delivered the parcel. / The plane has landed. / He has recovered from his illness.

'HOT NEWS' PRESENT PERFECT

The perfect is often used in newspapers and broadcasts, especially in news reports, to introduce'the latest' events, which afterwards are described using the past tense. The temporal location of suchsituations is generally mentioned in the second sentence, but even if it is not, the simple past is stillemployed at this point in the discourse:

The struggling Romanian soccer club Jiul Petrosani has experienced what may be one of the morehumiliating moments in recent sports history. Last week, the club announced that it would trademidfielder Ion Radu to second-division club Valcea for two tons of beef and pork.

( Newsweek , March 1988)NB. There is a special use of the present perfect instead of the simple present in adverbial clauses

of time referring to the future introduced by after, when, until, once , etc. In such cases the present perfect issaid to have a future value. In most cases the alternation of present simple and present perfect bears nosignificance. The presence of the perfect simply places emphasis on the order of the events: I shall leavewhen I finish / I have finished .

On the other hand, there are contexts in which the perfect is obligatory, namely, in those sentencesthat are semantically based on the cause - effect relationship. We say You will feel better after you havetaken this pill if the pill conditions the well-being of the patient. Similarly, when the events in the mainclause and the subordinate temporally coincide, the simple present is favored; when the event in thesubordinate occurs before the one in the main clause, we use the present perfect: Come over and see uswhen our guests leave / have left .

PRESENT PERFECT AND SIMPLE PAST

As already stated, present perfect and simple past resemble in that both express anteriority to agiven moment in time. What differentiates them is their relation to the present. The simple past marksevents assigned to a past that is concluded and completely separate from the present. In contrast, the present

perfect either involves a period of time lasting up to the present or has results persisting at the presentmoment. The common factor is the inclusion of the present in its analysis.

Bearing this in mind, let us compare the various uses of the present perfect with the simple past.Consider the following examples of continuative, experiential and habitual perfect:

She has been poor all her life. (She is still alive.)She was poor all her life. (She is dead.)

Hannibal brought / *has brought elephants across the Alps. For generations, Nepal has produced the world's greatest soldiers. (Nepal still exists.) For generations, Sparta produced Greece's greatest warriors. (Sparta no longer exists.)

The use of either the perfect or the past in the above sentences is to be interpreted pragmatically.The period referred to is rather assumed than named, but our knowledge of the world allows us to employthe appropriate tense; thus, we talk about Hannibal or Sparta in the past because we know they no longer exist, whereas Nepal obviously has relevance for the present.

This last observation relates to another notion - that of Discourse Topic (defined as 'the subjectmatter under discussion in a certain context'). Discourse topics condition the use of the present perfect inthe sense that only those covering a period of time that includes the moment of speaking can be expressedin sentences that employ present perfect. Compare:


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Shakespeare has written impressive dramas.*Shakespeare has quarreled with every playwright in London.

The first sentence is appropriate if the discourse topic is 'great dramatists of the world' or 'impressive dramas in world literature', because such a topic would have relevance for the present moment.But if the discussion (i.e. discourse topic) is about Shakespeare as a person and his activities, neither of the

two sentences is correct since Shakespeare is dead. In conclusion, "at the pragmatic level, the present perfect is appropriate in all those uses in which the event described has relevance for the discourse topic, afact which can be evaluated entirely only on the basis of contextual factors" (Ioana Stefanescu, English

Morphology , vol. II, 1988).The basic difference between present perfect and simple past stems from the contrast definite /

indefinite. As already seen in the analysis of the simple past, this tense requires the use of a definite timeadverbial which locates the respective event at a certain point in the past. If there is no time adverbial, then'definiteness' is retrieved by assumption of a particular time from the context or is justified by the precedinguse of a past or perfect tense:

We met yesterday. (definite time adverbial) I have already talked to him; he came to ask me for money. (the past event is introduced by the perfect) Did you walk the dog? (said between husband and wife who refer to a particular time when thedog is usually walked)

Contexts as that supplied by the second example also emphasize a characteristic of the present perfect; this is used to initiate conversations, since it is only natural to start conversations indefinitely andthen to carry on using definite linguistic expressions (be they the simple past, definite articles or personal

pronouns):

I have bought this bag in Cypress Street. How much did you pay for it ? I paid 15 $.

Since it specifies a definite moment in the past, the past tense is expected in (subordinate) clausesof time introduced by when, while, since , etc. because the time indicated by them is considered to bealready given. Naturally, a clause introduced by when will trigger the use of a past tense in the main clauseas well because the subordinate functions as a definite time adverbial:

When did you last see him? I haven't seen him since we met at Jane's party. I didn't recognize him / *haven't recognized him when I saw him.

The present perfect is less used in American English, especially when it appears with recentindefinite past value; Americans tend to say Did you meet him yet?, while the British say Have you met him

yet? or I did it just now vs. I've just received word that he isn't coming .In spite of the differences mentioned so far, there are contexts in which the two tenses are

interchangeable - that is, when they describe recent events. Their alternation depends on the speaker'sviewpoint. Compare: Where did I put my gloves? to Where have I put my gloves? In the first example, the

speaker focuses on the moment when he misplaced his gloves, perhaps trying to remember what he wasdoing at the time, while in the second he concentrates on the present moment and is only interested inwhere they are at present.

TIME ADVERBIALS IN RELATION TO PRESENT PERFECT AND SIMPLE PAST

Time adverbials (i.e. adverbs, adverbial phrases, adverbial clauses) classify into definite (bearingthe feature [+THEN], indefinite (which are [-THEN]) and those that have both features (that is, they are[+/- THEN]). The first class combines only with the past, the second only with the perfect and the last with

both, resulting in different meanings.


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The definite adverbials of time point to a specific moment in the past, having no relation to the present and hence, they cannot occur with the present perfect ( yesterday, a week / month / year ago, last night / Tuesday / week / month / year, etc.). Apart from them, there is the class of unanchored adverbs of the type in the evening, at 5 o'clock, on Monday, then, soon, next, after lunch, etc. which most likely occur with the simple past, although they do not make specific reference to it:

He went out ten minutes ago. I left home at 8.00 and got here at 12.00. I saw him on Sunday morning.

On the other hand, the following adverbials are associated only with the present perfect: since, so far, up to now, hitherto, lately, for the present, for the time being, for now, as yet, during these five years,before now :

I haven't been able to talk to him since I last saw him at the mall. He hasn't done much work lately.We have been very busy so far.

It is interesting to notice that, though since - phrases cannot be used with the simple past, for - phrases occur with both the perfect and the past, given the appropriate contexts:

They haven't spoken to each other for three weeks.They didn't speak to each other for three weeks, but then they made up.

The third group of adverbials allows the use of both the perfect and the past, resulting in differentinterpretations. Compare:

I haven't read the paper this morning. (uttered at 10.00 a.m.) I didn't read the paper this morning. (uttered at 6.00 p.m.)

Today, tonight and all phrases with this (this afternoon / month / year / Christmas / March, etc.) behave in a similar way. I saw her this July implies that July is over, but I've seen her this July suggeststhat it is still July when I utter the sentence. The difference lies in whether the event is viewed simply as afactor of experience obtaining at the moment of speech (with the present perfect) or within the context of the time at which it occurred (with past simple).

The difference in use between just and just now is the following: just can take either past simple or present perfect: I have just seen your sister . / I just saw your sister . while just now is interpreted as amoment/second/minute ago and occurs only with the past tense: I saw your sister just now .

Never, ever, always combine with both tenses, again depending on the context; when used withthe past tense, the 'never' period, for instance, must be restricted to a past temporal frame as in: I never liked bananas when I was a child where the time clause supplies the background.

Now is mainly associated with present tense: Now my ambition is/has been fulfilled . But it mayalso be a substitute for then and thus occur with past tense: Now my ambition was fulfilled .

Once appears with the simple past when it means 'on a certain occasion' or 'at one time', but if it isa numerical adverb that may contrast with twice or three times, it may be used with both tenses:

I was happy once in this house. I've seen the movie only once. I met him only once when I was in Spain.

Already, still, yet and before occur with the perfect if they mean 'as early / late as now' and withthe past if interpreted as 'as early / late as then':

I've already heard that piece. ('as early as now') I was already fed up with that piece. ('as early as then')


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PAST PERFECT

Past perfect may appear with both [+then] and [-then] adverbials, unlike present perfect whichcombines only with [+/-then] and [-then] adverbials:

They had been there since 5. [-then]Susan knew John had left at 5. [+then]

Moreover, past perfect may appear in narrative contexts, again unlike present perfect.On the other hand, like present perfect, past perfect has three values: continuative, resultative and

experiential:

Jim had dislocated his shoulder. (resultative) He had been at work for more than two hours. (continuative) I had watched United lose twice that season. (experiential)

In Indirect Speech, past perfect is the tense we obtain if in Direct Speech we have present perfector past simple:

I have laid the table.She said she had laid the table.The show finished two minutes ago.She said the show had finished two minutes before.

In conclusion, past perfect has two dimensions: (a) it parallels the semantics of present perfect; (b)it is seen as a past tense that expresses past anteriority , in which case it is said to have a pre-preterite value.In this sense, past perfect describes a past event that takes place before another past event or past moment:

They found out where she had buried the treasure. By the time they went to dig it up, she had already hidden it in a new place. By Friday they had already found a way to get rid of her.

As already exemplified in the sentences above, the past perfect occurs in both main andsubordinate clauses introduced by when, after, before, until, by the time, etc.

The past perfect can be substituted with the simple past, which acquires a past perfect meaning:When he came back from the States, he landed a very important job . However, in some cases thesubstitution is semantically impossible: When he had read the letter / *when he read the letter, he burned it .

There are three reasons for which we attribute this value to past perfect:(a) its co-occurrence with [+then] adverbials(b) the fact that it is the equivalent of past simple in Direct Speech. NB. In Indirect Speech, if the

verb expresses an event, past perfect is optional: Yesterday I went to the market. / She said she went/had gone to the market the day before. If the verb expresses a state, then past perfectis obligatory: Lily was here. / She said Lily had been there. / *She said Lily was there.

(c) the fact that it can be used in narratives to tell a story within a story, in which case pastsimple sets the scene and past perfect expresses what had happened before: That morning I was quite content. I had written the essay the previous evening, I had finished washing theclothes and Id gone to bed early. Now I was anxious to go to school .

NB. Mai mult ca perfect: always past perfectPast perfect: mai mult ca perfect, perfect compus, imperfect.

THE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE FORMS


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As already discussed in the chapter on the values of the simple present, this tense denotes thefuture either in subordinate clauses of time and condition or in main clauses, being generally accompanied

by a future time adverbial. The presence of the simple present instead of a will / shall construction in thesubordinate is justified by the fact that the situation contained in this clause is taken as a given fact, not as a

prediction. The reasoning behind such structures would be: "If X is a fact, then I predict Y.'Similarly, the simple present in main clauses denotes future facts , not possible future events. We

attribute to such sentences the same degree of certainty we would attribute to present or past events.Therefore, constructions with the simple present describing a future event are restricted to certain areas,like statements about the calendar, programs or itineraries regarded as immutable:

Tomorrow is Friday. / School starts on Monday / next week. / We leave for Brasov tomorrowmorning.

Since such arrangements are supposed to be unalterable, it is easy to understand why they arenormally collective or impersonal - made by official authorities, committees, a court of law, etc.

There is an entire range of verbs commonly used in such contexts, verbs associated withannouncements about timetables, schedules or organized events: start, begin, end, leave, set off, come, go,depart, arrive, etc.

If we consider that the simple present with future value describes a definite occasion in the futurein the same way the simple past refers to a definite occasion in the past, we have an explanation for theobligatory presence of the future time adverbial in such sentences, unless reference time is provided by thecontext (like, for instance, in a narrative sequence).

Future events expressed by means of the simple present are assumed to take place without fail;therefore, we might say that the simple present with future value presents the highest degree of certainty asto the occurrence of a certain action in the future.

PRESENT TENSE CONTINUOUS

When used with future value, the continuous present signals a future event anticipated by virtue of a present plan, program or arrangement, generally aiming at the near rather than the distant future; hence,the suggestion of imminence of these constructions. At the same time, this does not mean that there are no

present progressive sentences referring to the remote future; they exist in as far as we make reference toremote future events determined in advance:

I'm taking Mary shopping tomorrow. He's getting married in September.When I grow up, I'm joining the fire brigade.

The verbs that enter such constructions are generally verbs of 'doing', involving conscious humanagency. On the other hand, it is obvious that the continuous present with future value will not combine withstate verbs normally incompatible with the progressive aspect. Compare:

Hillary is rising at 6.00 tomorrow to prepare breakfast for the kids.*The sun is rising at 6.00 tomorrow.

In the first example we interpret Hillary as the agent who has deliberately made this plan, whichis, in fact, reinforced by the presence of the purpose clause 'to prepare breakfast for the kids'. In contrast,the second example sounds absurd because the sunrise can't be planned, it is determined by natural law.

The continuous present with future value is close in meaning to the going to form, since theyexpress an arrangement or an intention. However, while the going to form is used in a wider variety of contexts and not necessarily with a time adverbial, the present continuous refers only to very definitearrangements, mostly in the near future, and thus is always accompanied by a future time expression:

Are you going to the auction tomorrow?Yes, I'm going, but I'm not going to buy anything.


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We might consider that there is a slight difference of emphasis between the two structures in a pair like:

I'm going to have lunch with Jim tomorrow. I'm having lunch with Jim tomorrow.

The first sentence reflects the speaker's present state of mind and it may well be the case that Jimhas no idea about the speaker's plan. The second sentence refers to an arrangement already made in the

past, hence the implication that both the speaker and Jim know about it. It is only the second sentence thatthe speaker could offer as an excuse for not joining a friend for a game of snooker.

BE GOING TO

The general meaning attached to this linguistic form is that of 'future fulfillment of the present';this extends to two more specific meanings: 'future fulfillment of present intention' and "future fulfillmentof present cause'.

Going to with the first meaning is restricted to human, or at least animate subjects endowed withwill that can, thus, express their intentions. The kind of verbs admitted in such structures are, again, verbsof 'doing' ('agentive' verbs) that imply conscious exercise of the will, and not state verbs:

The detective is going to ask you a few questions.What are you going to do with the money?

I've reminded you once; I'm not going to do it again.

Though its nature brings it closer to the idea of imminence, going to can be used to refer to periodsremote from the moment of speaking: I am going to be a teacher when I grow up .

Going to can be paraphrased by intend , but with a slight difference in meaning. I'm going to participate in the board meeting tomorrow is distinct from I intend to participate in the board meeting tomorrow in the sense that the former has a higher degree of certainty, the expectation that this will happenis stronger than in the latter.

We should distinguish between the going to expressing intention and the will + infinitiveconstruction having the same meaning. Very often either of the two can be used; yet, when the intention isclearly premeditated, we employ the going to form, and when it is clearly unpremeditated we use will +infinitive :

I've hired a typewriter and I am going to learn to type. A lot of paint was delivered here today. Are you going to redecorate your kitchen?You look frozen. Sit down by the fire and I'll make you some tea.

Did you remember to book seats? / Oh no, I forgot. I'll telephone for them now.

The second meaning of going to - that of 'future fulfillment of present cause' - is less restrictive both in point of subject choice and choice of verb class. Thus, the subject can be either animate or inanimate and the expression can occur with both 'agentive' and 'non-agentive' / 'state' verbs:

She is going to have a baby next month.There's going to be a riot in this village.

I think I'm going to cry. It's going to rain.

In all the above examples the underlying assumption is that factors already at work at present areinevitably leading to a certain future state of affairs. For instance, a sentence like It's going to rain would beuttered if the speaker saw black clouds already gathering in the gloomy sky.


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Bearing this in mind, it is easy to understand why going to refers to the immediate future and isalso named 'current orientation' be going to : Look out! The glass is going to fall! ('I can see it alreadytottering').

'Current orientation' going to contrasts with prediction will to the extent that the going to formcarries this sense of inevitability. Compare:

The soup will cool soon.The soup is going to cool soon.

If the first sentence makes a prediction, counseling patience, the second should be interpreted as awarning for the addressee to, perhaps, hurry and eat it before it cools.

FUTURE TENSE SIMPLE

There is no future tense in modern English, but for convenience shall and will combined with the bare infinitive are designated as future tense simple. Shall and will are, in fact, modal verbs that express prediction, therefore something that involves the speaker's judgment and is directly related to the futuretime sphere. Students must take into account the fact that shall and will also have other modal meanings(see chapter on Modal Verbs ); they can express promises, threats, refusals, etc. and still refer to a futureevent.

Shall has a neutral predictive meaning only when used with the first person singular or plural: I shall never have the opportunity to thank him . In American English it is used in formal contexts: We shall never surrender to the terrorists .

Shall / will with predictive meaning appear in various contexts. They may express the speaker'sopinions, speculations and assumptions about the future (used after verbs such as doubt, expect, hope,believe, think , etc.):

Perhaps I'll find another teacher after this. I will know him when I see him. I'm sure / I suppose they won't agree to our project. I expect the train will be late.

They are also specific of sentences with subordinates of condition and time, in which case themain clause contains the future structure and the subordinate employs a simple present (see chapter on thevalues of the simple present):

If I throw this plate against the wall, it will smash into pieces. Birds will start to sing when spring comes.

Those verbs not normally used in the progressive will combine with the simple future: verbs of perception, cognitive verbs, verbs of possession, etc.

You'll have plenty of time to finish your book. He'll be there by tomorrow.They'll find out about your plans tonight.

The future simple is mainly present in newspapers and on TV in news broadcasts when formalannouncements or announcements about the weather are made. In fact, in everyday conversation thelistener will use other means of expressing such future events, such as the going to form or the presentcontinuous for plans:

Newspaper: The Queen will visit the southern part of the country tomorrow.Reader: The Queen is visiting / is going to visit the southern part of the country tomorrow.


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Generally, shall / will + infinitive does not appear without a time adverbial for obvious reasons.As already mentioned, the modals in themselves do not express future time, they simply suggest a

prediction. It is the adverbial that places this prediction in time; otherwise the sentence is factually empty.Thus, there is no point in saying *it will rain without mentioning when it will happen.

FUTURE TENSE CONTINUOUS

As it combines with the progressive aspect, this structure will naturally refer either to an activity in progress at a specific point in time (i.e. in the future) or to a temporary arrangement, again in the future. Inthis respect, future tense continuous matches the patterns of the present or past continuous:

This time next week I'll be

54934208 Gramatica Engleza Morfologie LEC

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