Tense
English verb tense refers to the time when an action or state occurs.
Linguists, led by Lewis (1986), refer to only two tenses, Present and Past.
Tense can be applied to three factors, namely Time, Reality and Register.
Present tense is used for actions and states that are close while past tense is used for actions and states that are remote.
When focusing on Time, we can use present tense to refer to present actions e.g. “I study every day”, and past tense to refer to past actions e.g. “I studied last night”.
When referring to Reality, present tense is used to describe reality e.g. “I am busy”, while past tense is used to describe hypothetical actions or states e.g. “I wish I wasn’t so busy”.
When used for Register, we can use present tense to show a neutral register e.g. “Can you help me?”, or a past tense for a more polite register e.g. “Could you help me?”.
In every instance of usage of past or present tenses, one of these three factors applies. Tense is, therefore, not simply about time.
In the table, there are three ways in which distance affects choice of tense. Time (close as in “my life now” or remote as in “my life in the past”), Reality (close to reality or remote from it, i.e. unreal), and Register (the “closer” someone is to me socially, the more “present” tenses I use).
There are no exceptions to this rule.
Courtesy of Collins ELT
Textbooks for English language teaching tend to focus on the time factor to make the overall topic easier for students to compartmentalise and understand and for teachers, easier to explain.
Reference
Lewis, M. (1986) The English Verb: An Exploration of Structure and Meaning. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Aspect
While tense refers to a location in time, aspect refers to the “fabric of time”; a single block of time, a continuous flow or a repetitive occurance.
We usually consider three aspects in English.
Simple Aspect
The first grammatical aspect in the English language is the Simple Aspect.
It is realised in English by the verb form without primary auxiliary verbs.
It function is to state a fact about the past, present or future or one which is always true and, therefore, timeless.
For example…
She dances.
It rained.
I like coffee.
Tomorrow is my birthday.
I will be 23.
The flight takes off at 15:00.
She walked the dog.
He played music.
We painted the house.
Perfect Aspect
The second grammatical aspect in the English language is the Perfect Aspect.
This aspect is signalled through the use of the primary auxiliary verb have and/or adverbial use.
The Perfect Aspect (or complete aspect as it’s sometimes called) is the aspect of a verb that expresses a completed action. In other words, “Perfect Aspect” is the collective term for all the verbs (in the past tense, present tense, or future tense) in a perfect tense.
Its function is to embed one state or event in another and signal the relevance (often causal) of one to the other. It may also signal chronological ordering.
For example…
Mary has arrived so we can start the meeting.
I had lost my money and had to walk home.
She will have finished so and then we can go.
I already told you so you should know.
I explained that yesterday so everyone is up to speed.
Progressive Aspect
The third grammatical aspect in the English language is the Progressive Aspect.
The Progressive Aspect allows speakers to express incomplete or ongoing actions or states.
It is realised in English by the use of the primary auxiliary verb be and / or the use of various adverbials.
Its function is to signal that an event or state is on going and unfinished.
It is similar to the imperfect in other languages.
For example…
We were playing tennis when it began to rain.
I’ll be walking to work this week.
Are you having problems?
I’m enjoying this music.
But…
English signals other aspects by repurposing the verb forms.
We must therefore also consider the further following aspects…
Continuous Aspect
The Continuous Aspect is expressed in two ways and also by the use of various adverbials e.g. dangerous, well, difficult, old, hot.
With Dynamic Verb (action verb) use, the preferred realisation is through the use of the auxiliary “be + -ing” form, and for this reason, the aspect is often conflated with the Progressive form.
However, with Stative Verb use, the preferred realisation is simply to use the base form of the verb without auxiliaries, or to signal the continuous nature of an event or state by temporal adverbial expressions.
Its function is to signal that an event may not be happening now (so it is not always Progressive in form) but it is occurring in the background.
The other function is simply to signal an existing state of affairs,called the Stative Continuous Aspect.
The form also signals and refers to general truths or established facts e.g. “A square has four sides.” and uses the Present Simple to express this aspect or a modal auxiliary verbs such as must, can, have to, for example, “Parallel lines cannot meet.”
Examples…
I enjoy classical music.
Sharks are dangerous.
She speaks Italian well.
She is being difficult.
The car is getting old.
I had a terrible cold.
I’ll be staying at the Savoy.
I’m staying at the Ritz.
It was becoming cold.
He used to be so nice.
She’s studying at university.
They go to university in America.
Durative Aspect
The Durative Aspect is used when when drawing attention to the fact that the situation spoken of has duration, and that this duration is limited.
Many verbs signal actions which are progressive or continuous therefore we do not need the “be + -ing” form to imply a long-lasting event, for example…
She worked for two hours.
…and the sense of a progressive action is embodied in the verb.
However, there are times when we wish to emphasise the length of an event, state or action. To do so, we can use the verb in the progressive form, for example, “She was working for two hours.”
We can also add adverbials such as “all night”, “for hours and hours”, and so on to underline our meaning.
For example…
The train broke down and we were sitting in the middle of nowhere for ages.
His speech went on for ages and I was finding it hard to stay awake.
Iterative Aspect
The Iterative Aspect usually expresses the repetition of an event observable on one single occasion, for example…
He knocked on the door.
He coughed.
She is drumming.
They are jumping.
It is not to be confused with the Habitual Aspect which signals repetition over multiple occasions.
The Iterative Aspect is also used to denote ‘several’ repetitions over more than one occasion, as opposed to ‘frequent’ repetitions which is conveyed with the Frequentative Aspect, for example…
I called the number time and again before I eventually got through.
Someone has been stealing my vegetables from the garden.
I will have been taking this medicine for three years soon.
It had been raining on and off all day.
Diplomats will be meeting for more discussions next month.
Prospective Aspect
The Prospective Aspect describes an event that occurs subsequent to a given reference time. It combines a reference time (past, present, or future) in which a situation takes place, and the time of a particular event relative to the reference time (before, at, or after).
For example…
When I got home yesterday, Peter called and said he would arrive soon.
The verb ‘would arrive’ expresses a combination of past reference time (the situation of my getting home, established as being in the past by the introductory clause “When I got home…”) and an event (Peter’s arrival) whose time of occurrence is subsequent to the reference time.
Technically, this verb is said to be “Past tense, Prospective Aspect”, with the tense expressing the time of the overall situation and the aspect expressing how the event itself is viewed, relative to the vantage point of the overall situation.
In English, the Prospective Aspect is most clearly distinguished in the past.
The English future form expressed by the auxiliary verb “will + bare infinitive” refers to an event in the absolute future, regardless of the reference time or relative time of the event…
When(ever) I get home, Peter usually calls and says he will arrive soon (Present reference, Prospective event).
When I get home tomorrow, Peter will arrive and meet me (Future reference, Simultaneous event).
When I get home tomorrow, Peter will probably call and say he will arrive soon (Future reference, Prospective event).
When I got home yesterday, Peter called and said he will arrive in three weeks (Past reference, Prospective event in the absolute future).
With the same combination of Past tense and Prospective Aspect as “would arrive” with the initial example (“When I got home yesterday, Peter called and said he would arrive soon.”), there is an emphasis on the time of the relative event occurring in the absolute future; after the present time i.e. now, rather than simply after the time of the situation being described.
It is also possible to express the Prospective Aspect using the so-called “going to” future…
Present intention of a future situation: They can’t treat me like this. I’m going to hand in my notice.
Present evidence of a future situation: Look at those clouds! It’s going to pour down soon.
Past intention of a later situation that actualised (or will actualise): I didn’t call Mary on Monday morning, as I was going to see her that evening.
Past intention of a later situation that was interrupted: The children arrived just as she was going to put her feet up.
Past intention of a later situation that did not actualise: Neysa was going to look for a new job, but she decided to stay after she got her rise.
Past evidence of a later situation that would actualise: John swore loudly as he saw the bus pull away. He was going to be late again
Looking back on a past intention for a situation that has not (yet) actualised: George has been going to mend that tap for weeks.
“He says he’s going to finish soon. Yesterday, he was also going to finish soon, and I’m pretty sure in five weeks he’ll still be going to finish soon.”
Looking back on a past intention of a later past situation that would not actualise at that later past time: Why did she have to arrive now? He had been going to have a quiet day in his study. No hope of that now!
Habitual Aspect
The habitual Aspect characterises a situation as occurring regularly or habitually.
Habituality is either linguistically represented by verbal expressions like used to or it is indirectly implied in situations “in which the adverb usually is possible in English”.
The habitual aspect is a subcategory of the imperfective aspect. It must be distinguished from the iterative aspect. While habituals “describe a situation which is characteristic of an extended period of time” (Comrie 1985: 27), iteratives consist of “repeated occurrences of the same situation” e.g. giving a sequence of coughs should be understood as a single iterative situation rather than a characteristic or habitual feature of the person who is coughing.
Habitual sentences can basically be categorised into three subtypes across languages…
habituals
habitual-generic sentences
the habitual past
Habituals
Habituals describe individual persons’ habits.
I used to get up early.
After dinner Mr. and Mrs. Cooper (usually/habitually) go for a walk.
I (usually) read a newspaper before going to bed.
Habitual-generics
Habitual-generic sentences describe the “typical or characteristic properties of a species, a kind, or an individual”. Their “lawlikeness” makes them similar to eternal truths or generalisations.
When cats are hungry they meow.
Children like ice cream.
Competitive athletes pay great attention to a well-balanced supply of essential nutrients.
Habitual past
The habitual past is found in habitual sentences with past time reference.
Specialized habitual past tenses are found in English, Alawa, Oneida and Seneca, among other languages. This type of habituality implies a certain degree of indeterminacy because it does not make reference to the present. It is therefore unclear whether the situation described still holds at the moment of utterance.
He used to swim every morning.
Habituality markers in English
used to: My parents used to travel to Rostock at the Baltic Sea every summer.
would: A friend of my mine would swim in the ocean every day.
adverbials like usually, always etc.: We usually play table tennis after dinner.
like to: I like to go to the matches of my favourite football club.
subordinate clauses beginning with (always) when: When I’m hungry my husband calls the pizza service.
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