VERBS

Tense and Aspect

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TENSE refers to the absolute location of an event or action in time, either the present or the past. It is marked by an inflection of the verb:
David walks to school (present tense) David walked to school (past tense)

Reference to other times -- the future, for instance -- can be made in a number of ways, by using the modal auxiliary will, or the semi-auxiliarybe going to:
David will walk to school tomorrow David is going to walk to school tomorrow.

Since the expression of future time does not involve any inflecton of the verb, we do not refer to a "future tense". Strictly speaking, there are only two tenses in English: present and past. ASPECT refers to how an event or action is to be viewed with respect to time, rather than to its actual location in time. We can illustrate this using the following examples:
[1] David fell in love on his eighteenth birthday [2] David has fallen in love [3] David is falling in love

In [1], the verb fell tells us that David fell in love in the past, and specifically on his eighteenth birthday. This is a simple past tense verb. In [2] also, the action took place in the past, but it is implied that it took place quite recently. Furthermore, it is implied that is still relevant at the time of speaking -- David has fallen in love, and that's why he's behaving strangely. It is worth noting that we cannot say *David has fallen in love on his eighteenth birthday. The auxiliary has here encodes what is known as PERFECTIVE ASPECT, and the auxiliary itself is known as the PERFECTIVE AUXILIARY. In [3], the action of falling in love is still in progress -- David is falling in love at the time of speaking. For this reason, we call it PROGRESSIVE ASPECT, and the auxiliary is called the PROGRESSIVE AUXILIARY. Aspect always includes tense. In [2] and [3] above, the aspectual auxiliaries are in the present tense, but they could also be in the past tense:
David had fallen in love -- Perfective Aspect, Past Tense David was falling in love -- Progressive Aspect, Past Tense

The perfective auxiliary is always followed by a main verb in the -edform, while the

progressive auxiliary is followed by a main verb in the -ing form. We exemplify these points in the table below:

Perfective Aspect Present Tense Past Tense has fallen had fallen

Progressive Aspect is falling was falling

While aspect always includes tense, tense can occur without aspect (David falls in love, David fell in love).

Each of the following sentences exhibits aspect. Is it perfective aspect or progressive aspect?

1. David has bought a new house

Perfecti ve Progres sive

2. I think we have seen this film already

Perfecti ve Progres sive

3. The whole class is going to the theatre tonight

Perfecti ve Progres sive

4. John's left his coat iGrammar & Composition

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aspect
By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide

See More About: glossary of grammatical and rhetorical terms

Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English by Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech (Longman, 2002)

Ads QNUPS for Offshore BondsProtect Offshore Bonds against IHT QNUPS Lite low cost pensionwww.AgilityPensions.com/QNUPS Free English to Urdu Dictionary Find Urdu Meanings of English Wordswww.englishtourdutranslation.com Writing CoursesOnline class at Sarah Lawrence College 'Writing for Digital Media'echook.com Definition: The verb form that indicates completion, duration, or repetition of an action. (Compare with tense.) The two aspects in English areperfect and progressive. Adjective: aspectual. In English, aspect is expressed by means of particles, separate verbs, and verb phrases. See also:

Modality

Telicity

Etymology: From the Latin, "how [something] looks"

Examples and Observations:

Perfect Aspect, Present Tense: "History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created." (William Morris)

Perfect Aspect, Past Tense: "At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice." (Maya Angelou)

Progressive Aspect, Present Tense: "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." (Bill Cosby)

Progressive Aspect, Past Tense: "I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything." (Steven Wright)

"The perfect aspect most often describes events or states taking place during a preceding time. The progressive aspect describes an event or state of affairs in progress or continuing. Perfect and progressive aspect can be combined with either present or past tense. . . . "Verb phrases can be marked for both aspects (perfect and progressive) at

the same time:

present perfect progressive :

God knows how long I've been doing it. Have I been talking out loud? past perfect progressive : He had been keeping it in a safety deposit box at the Bank of America. For months she had been waiting for that particular corner location. The perfect progressive aspect is rare, occurring usually in the past tense in fiction. It combines the meaning of the perfect and the progressive, referring to a past situation or activity that was in progress for a period of time." (Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech, Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Longman, 2002) Varieties of Verbs Auxiliary Verb Phrasal Verb Prepositional Verb More Verb Types Finite Verb Nonfinite Verb Transitive Verb Grammar Basics Basic Sentence Unit Parts of Speech Basic Sentence Structures Related Articles tense - definition and examples of tense past perfect - definition and examples of past perfect aspect of a verb w... progressive aspect - definition and examples of the progressive form of the... perfect aspect - definition and examples of perfect - the perfect aspect of... Let's Talk Tenses - Grammar and Style

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What is Tense?

tense (noun): a form of a verb used to indicate the time, and sometimes the continuation or completen of speaking. (From Latin tempus = time).

Tense is a method that we use in English to refer to time - past, present and future. Many time. Other languages have no tenses, but of course they can still talk about time, using di So, we talk about time in English with tenses. But, and this is a very big

we can also talk about time without using tenses (for example, future, it is not a tense) one tense does not always talk about one time (see Tense & Time

Here are some of the terms used in discussing verbs and tenses.

Mood

indicative mood expresses a simple statement of fact, which can be positive (affirmative) I like coffee. I do not like coffee.

interrogative mood expresses a question

Why do you like coffee?

imperative mood expresses a command

Sit down!

subjunctive mood expresses what is imagined or wished or possible

The President ordered that he attend the meeting.

Voice
Voice shows the relationship of the subject to the action. In the active voice the passive voice, the subject receives the action (mice are eaten by cats). Among other change the focus of attention.

Aspect

Aspect expresses a feature of the action related to time, such as completion or duration. Pr tenses have no aspect, but if we wish we can stress with other tenses that:

the action or state referred to by the verb is completed (and often still relevant), for I have emailed the report to Jane. (so now she has the report) (This is called perfective aspect, using perfect tenses.)

the action or state referred to by the verb is in progress or continuing (that is, uncom We are eating. (This is called progressive aspect, using progressive [continuous] tenses.)

Tense & Time

The Simple Aspect (Indefinite Aspect) simple past tense simple present tense simple future tense The Perfect Aspect (Completed Aspect) past perfect tense present perfect tense future perfect tense The Progressive Aspect (Continuing Aspect) past progressive tense I went I go I will go Example I had gone I have gone I will have gone Example I was going Example

present progressive tense future progressive tense The Perfect Progressive Aspect past perfect progressive tense present perfect progressive tense future perfect progressive tense

I am going I will be going Example I had been going I have been going I will have been going

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Abbreviation - Buzzword 7. aspect - definition and examples of aspect - verbs

n the carThe aspect of a verb is determined by whether the action is on-going or

completed. Although all verbs in the past have already happened, aspect is used to emphasise whether the action was on-going or completed at the time. The four aspects are: simple aspect (also known as the indefinite aspect), perfect aspect (or complete aspect), progressive aspect(or continuing aspect) and perfect progressive aspect. Examples: He took the photos. (simple aspect - no emphasis of completed or on-going action) He had taken the photos by the time the owner arrived. (perfect aspect - action completed) He was taking the photos when the owner arrived. (progressive aspect - action on-going) He had been taking the photos before the owner arrived. (perfect progressive aspect - action on-going but then finished) These are all in the past tense, but aspect applies equally to

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the present and future tenses: The Simple Aspect (Indefinite Aspect) simple past tense simple present tense simple future tense I went I go I will go Example

5. Susan's leaving today

Perfecti ve Progres sive