... required to make the situation durative.)One after the other, the ramblers reached the top ofthe hill. (The idea of repetitionis induced by the plurality ofthe subject NP and the duration-implying ... between the adverbial clause situation and the head clause situation. The Grammarof the English Verb PhraseVolume 1: The Grammarof the EnglishTense System A Comprehensive AnalysisbyRenaat ... situation-template denoted by walk .The denotation of such a complex predicate constituent is determined in the firstinstance by the meanings ofthe verb and ofthe other components ofthe predi-cate constituent...
... Table of contentsAcknowledgements VTable of contents VIIChapter 1. Introduction 1Chapter 2. Towards a theory oftense and time 91Chapter 3. The absolute use ofthe present tense 171Chapter ... ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataDeclerck, Renaat. The grammaroftheEnglishtensesystem : a comprehensiveanalysis / by Renaat Declerck ... draft of one or more chapters. In alphabetical order they are: GrietBeheydt, Ilse Depraetere, Raphael Salkie, Elizabeth Traugott, Naoaki Wada,and Christopher Williams. The Grammarof the English...
... would, which is the past tense form of will.)1.15 The formation ofthe present tense The forms ofthe present tenseof all verbs except be and have are homopho-nous with the stem ofthe verb (e. ... absolute tenses but the function of relativetenses.1.19 Special uses of tenses1.19.1 In modal sentences, some ofthe indicative tenses (viz. the past, the past perfect, the conditional tense and the ... In theirdefault use these tense forms are absolute tense forms: they relate the time of the situation referred to directly to the temporal zero-point. However, the sameforms can also relate the...
... implicature ofthe past tense is due to the Gricean Maxim of Relation(better known as the Maxim of Relevance). Other things being equal Ϫ more specifically:if the clause is not couched in a piece of ... allow both readings: The miner walked through the tunnel inspecting the seam.This sentence may or may not be taken to mean that the miner reached the end ofthe tunnel. The interpretation is ... was in the library suggests that the proposition ‘Johnbe in the library’ only applies in the past and not in the present, i. e. that the situationis no longer actualizing at the time of speech.74...
... different from the semantic structure of any other tense. The above view is consistent with the fact that the past tense, the presentperfect tense and the present tense differ as to their compatibility ... different from that ofthe present tense or the past tense, weconsider it to be a tense in its own right. The present perfect locates a situation in the 106 2. Towards a theory oftense and timenot ... realizations ofthe future tense. However,110 2. Towards a theory oftense and time The choice between locating a situation in the past and locating it in the pre-present is determined by whether the...
... forms 22A. Tense 221.14 Introduction 221.15 The formation ofthe present tense 231.16 The formation ofthe past tense 231.17 The formation ofthe other tenses 241.18 The meanings of tenses: ... over-view oftense and two other areas of meaningthat can be expressed by the use of verb formsin English and that interact with tense: the sys-tem of grammatical aspect and thesystem of mood ... introductory remarks 5account for tense in English, rather than a comparative study of other analysesor a comparison of our analysis with the analyses of other authors. Because of this, unless a particular...
... the foundation proper of our description oftense in English. There is a brief discussion of what is meant by tense , with reference to the main issues surrounding the number and nature of tenses ... whether a clause refers to the performance of an action, the happening of an event, the development of a process or the existence of astate, we can say that the clause in question refers to the actualization ... situation time can berelated by a tense. The elements ofthe framework ofthetense theory used inthis book are outlined here. These include, centrally, the notions of ‘timespheres’, ‘time zones’,...
... The point is that the time of orientationto which they relate the time of their situation does not have to be the temporalzero-point. It is criterial of tensed forms that they encode information ... concern-ing the relation ofthe time of a situation to the temporal zero-point t0(whichis usually the time of speech Ϫ see 2.4), whether that relation is direct (as inabsolute tenses) or indirect ... infinitives are tensed in the sameway as the present tense, the present perfect, the past perfect etc. are tensed:infinitives are tenseless Ϫ see 1.10.4. However, it is true that the present andperfect...
... describe the situation as characteristic ofthe referent of the subject NP over a certain period of time. English has a special form to expresshabituality in the past: the semi-auxiliary used to. The ... Introductionpairing of a meaning and a particular form ofthe verb. In Englishthe second of these two elements is lacking when ingressive meaning is expressed.1.22.3 The same is true where the expression of egressive’ ... meaning, i. e. to focus on the middle ofthe situation or on some (punc-tual or durative) part ofthe middle ofthe situation. In English, progressive aspectdoes exist, since there is a progressive...
... situation-template denoted by walk .The denotation of such a complex predicate constituent is determined in the firstinstance by the meanings ofthe verb and ofthe other components ofthe predi-cate constituent ... utterance) a referent. The meaning (ordenotation) ofthe noun phrase results from a combination of the lexical meaning of boy and the grammatical meaning ofthe definitenessmarker the. Thereferent (which ... irrelevant whether a clause refers to the performance of an action, the happening of an event, the existence of a state, etc. we cansay that the clause in question refers to the actualization of a situation.In...