Grammatical categories of the verb: the Aspect.

 

Structurally, the grammatical category of aspect is represented by the opposition of the continuous forms (continuous aspect) to the non-continuous forms of the verb (Common aspect). The English tenses are grouped on the aspectual ground: the action is perceived going on continuously during a period of time, or not limited by any time but occurring repeatedly or everlasting. Grammatical meaning of aspect is the inherent mode of performing an action. So, the aspectual meaning can be expressed by grammatical forms (continuous and indefinite forms).

- Temporal interpretation (H. Sweet and O. Jespersen) - the continuous expresses a simultaneous action. This shows the time of the action, not the mode of its performing. The continuous shows an action in progress, cf. They arrived while we were having dinner. She was writing a letter at 5 o’clock (progress) / She wrote a letter at 5 o’clock (fact).

- Temporal and aspectual interpretation (I.P.Ivanova) – connection of tense and aspect in the semantics of the verb

- A.I. Smirnitsky, V.N. Yartseva and B.A. Ilyish – opposition of continuous and perfect / indefinite.

- Guillaume, A.V.Bondarko, Shelyakin, and others – an action in the Continuous form is not perceived as a whole action (не представляется в его целостности), and not internally (intrinsically, inherently) limited (не ограничено внутренним пределом). An action in the Indefinite form is perceived in its total. Cf. She was writing a letter at 5 o’clock (one part of the action has been performed, another is being performed) / She wrote a letter at 5 o’clock (the action has been totally performed). The invariant meaning of the common aspect is the whole performance of the action. The invariant meaning of the continuous aspect is the opposite of the common aspect.

 

The continuous expresses:

1. Action in progress during a limited period of time or continuity (duration); 2. Repeated action (You’re always complaining) – neutralization of limits of time for the action: the adverbial modifier always shows that the action is constant, not restricted to any particular moment. 3. Non- terminated action

The indefinite and the perfect express:

1. everlasting, repeated (iterative) , terminated (come or brought to an end), instantaneous (momentary), ingressive (starting), etc.

 

- On the other hand, the aspectual meaning can be in – built in the semantic structure of the verb. Traditionally, there are two subclasses of limited (предельные) and unlimited (непредельные) sets. The meanings cited above can be shown by these subclasses: ingression (begin, start, get to).

Dr Aarons will be seeing the patient this morning, and I wish to be ready for him (A.Haily) – unlimited verb. The action will be going on in a certain period of time, may be not once. Limited verbs are not used in the continuous form, basically. However, if the speaker intends to show a specific meaning he can modify the semantics of the verb (and sentence on the whole).

English marks both tense, the location of an event in time (Comrie, 1985), and grammatical aspect, ways of viewing the make-up of a situation (Comrie, 1976). For example, John sang and John was singing are both past, but show a contrast in grammatical aspect. The Present Perfect, John has sung, has been labeled both a tense and an aspect, and is known as a ‘phase’ by some British linguists. The pluperfect, John had sung, is called a relative tense because it takes its point of reference from another tense - the time reference established by the simple past. What ever the precise relationship between them, it is clear that the meaning of present perfect is not primarily a present tense equivalent of the past perfect. This has led some linguists to use the term pluperfect rather than past perfect to dissociate the two.

Learners apparently have more difficulty with the meaning and use of tense/perfect inflections than with the form (Bardovi-Harlig, 1992). In fact, Bardovi-Harlig and Bofman (1989) found the learners made 7.5 times more errors in tense/aspect use than in form. One way for teachers to help learners is to use texts for comprehension to highlight form-meaning-use associations, which provides communicative input lacking in traditional presentations of tense/aspect.

 

Narrative text

 

Larry Massett: Through a friend of ours we came across the story of a man who lives in Washington and who’s become something of a saint in the eyes of many of the homeless. His name is Michael Kervin and his story begins 10 years ago.

1. Kervin: I was walking one night. It was bitterly cold, around Christmas 1978, and I was walking. I think I was walking down to the river just to clear my head or to go for a walk. I love to walk. There was a man on the heating vent across the street from the State Department at 21st and E which was only a block from my apartment, and he called out to me. … So, I went up to my apartment, got him a bowl of soup, got him a sandwich and a cup of tea, and brought it down. I set it down and walked away.

 

Narratives illustrate the sequentiality associated with the simple past. In lines (12-14), for example, the order of the verbs reflects the chronological order. In lines 75-76, the events are not presented in order (hence the use of pluperfect).

 

Using a text also helps learners contextualize the contrast between tense/aspect inflections.

 

Past Progressive Simple Past Line   Was walking (lines 1-2) ----------------------- 13 Was taking (line 57) _________________ 61 Were coming (line 104) _________________ 75 Were going (line 106) _________________ 91

 

 

The text contrasts the meaning and use of Past Simple and Past Progressive. The choice of reflection relates to ‘point of view.’ If the event is viewed as a whole or single point, Past Simple is used. If the event is viewed as filling an interval or period of time, the Past Progressive is used.

 

Expanding Meaning

 

Lines 104 – 106 illustrate the use of the past progressive for repeated activities (its iterative function). The simultaneous use is illustrated on the left, the iterative use on the right.

 

 

was │they

Listening │ ■ I came came & went came & went came & went

│home ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

───────────────────

They were coming and going

 

 

Text structure

 

Tense/aspect contributes to the structure of narratives. The simple past tense carries the main story line, or foreground.Foreground events occur in chronological order. In contrast, other tense/aspect forms populate the background. The background provides information which elaborates or evaluates events in the foreground. The background is not in chronological order and can be used to set the scene or to make comments about events in the foreground, or to predict future events. These diverse functions result in the use of diverse tense/aspect forms. Simple past also occurs in the background. The important point is that the other forms generally do not occur in the foreground.

The following illustrates how this works in Kevin’s narrative.

 

Foreground Background

 

Kervin: I was walking one night. It was bitterly cold, around Christmas 1978, and I was walking. I think I was walking down to the river just to clear my head or to go for a walk. I love to walk. There was a man on the heating vent across the street from the State Department at 21st and E which was only a block from my apartment, and he called out to me. ….

1.and he called out to me. [this is what he called:]

He saidhewanteda buck to buy something to eat.

 

2.I thought, “well he just wants

to get something to drink,” and I

thought to myself, “…”

 

I was very irritated with him for calling out after me. I didn’t want to be bothered and I didn’t believe him either.

 

3. So, I went up to my apartment,

4. got him a bowl of soup, got him

a sandwich and a cup of tea, and

5. brought it down.

6. I set it down and

7. walked away. I

8. continued my walk

[several lines deleted]

9. and the next morning

I went to work

Because I was working too.

 

10. I came home

 

and he had made lunch.

He had straightened the apartment out

and he was listening to the Ring Cycle.

 

 

In this narrative we see only past simple in the foreground, but in the background we find simple past (he said, I was), simple present (I love to walk), past progressive (I was walking, he was listening), and pluperfect (He had straightened the apartment).

 

Conclusion

 

By aspect we mean the various ways in which the speaker represents the degree of completion of a process with respect to some reference point. Since selecting a reference point and using it to evaluate the degree of completion of a process are discursive strategies, and not features of referential world, it follows that the various aspectual markers of English (have + en, be + ing, and their combined form) to be found in an utterance are traces of the speaker’s involvement in the utterance and not a feature of the situation being represented. For example,

 

1. The prime Minister X is visiting Zambia.

2. Gale-force winds have caused havoc all across the continent.

3. High winds and heavy seas have been causing further problems in the southern part of Britain.