II. Temporal adverbials and the choice between past tense and present perfect 623 I have never heard such nonsense {in my life / before}. I still haven’t seen him. (in a period up to t 0 ) (At the time) I still did not want to live in London. 12.16.2 With actualization adverbials implying a period up to t 0 , Am. E. often uses the past tense, especially in spoken language. In colloquial Br. E. too, the past tense is sometimes used with always, ever, and (less frequently) with never: I already did that. (Am. E.) (Br. E. uses I’ve already done that instead.) 5 I (have) always said he was not to be trusted. Graham {has always been / always was} a brilliant scientist. {Have you ever seen / Did you ever see} such a beauty? [One day he pulled me apart in front of the staff.] I never felt so small in my life. [I could hardly speak.] (www) 12.17 Tense choice with adverbials indicating a recent indefinite bygone time Four adverbials that indicate a ‘recent indefinite bygone time’ (viz. recently, just, this minute, lately) can co-occur with an indefinite present perfect. However, there are cases in which the past tense can be used too. This use is investigated here for each of the four adverbials. 12.17.1 On an indefinite interpretation, the present perfect co-occurs with four adverbials that indicate a recent indefinite bygone time, viz. recently, just, this minute, lately. This telegram has just arrived. I have this minute heard that the deal is off. I have recently met him. There haven’t been any burglaries here lately. However, there are cases in which the past tense can be used too. In the next subsections we investigate this use for each of the four adverbials. 5. The British National Corpus does contain a couple of examples, though, in which al- ready combines with the past tense where the present perfect would normally be used: [“Perhaps we’d better think seriously about getting you away from here, after all.” Ϫ “I ain’t going,” said Dolly.] “I already told you so.” “Very useful advice. Shame I already got it from Cowley.” 624 12. Preterite vs present perfect in clauses with temporal adverbials 12.17.2 Br. E. normally uses the present perfect with this minute. 6 I’ve this minute seen her in the street. However, the past tense is occasionally found when the ‘closeness to now’ (recency) is sufficiently clear: Excellent timing Ϫ I just this minute stepped into the garden [to be greeted by a frantic shrieking noise and noticed a Peregrine Falcon with an unfortunate starling in its talons]. (www) I just this minute telephoned them [and thankfully, Sundays are fine for them, so Ϫ despite a little initial panic Ϫ it needn’t disrupt my planned moving]. (www) I only heard about it this minute. [Well then. You haven’t heard?] Sergeant Archer and his mates just left this minute; [I would have thought you’d have passed them in the hall.] (www) 12.17.3 Recently combines with the present perfect if it is interpreted as indi- cating a period leading up to now or when it functions as an adverbial specify- ing a ‘recent indefinite bygone time’. It combines with the past tense if it func- tions as an indefinite specifier of a time which is treated as past. They’ve recently bought a second car. (Recently indicates a ‘recent indefinite bygone time’, i. e. it is an indefinite specification of a bygone time in a period leading up to now. The present perfect receives an indefinite interpretation.) They recently bought a second car. (Recently is used as an indefinite specification of a time which is treated as past. There is no clear difference of meaning between this example and the previous one.) I {have recently seen / recently saw} a picture of him in the paper. I haven’t seen Jim recently. (Recently indicates a period leading up to now. What is said is that the situation of the speaker seeing Jim has not actualized in that pre- present period. The present perfect thus receives an indefinite interpretation.) It’s only recently that I’ve had time to read newspapers. (Recently indicates a period leading up to now. The present perfect receives a continuative interpretation.) He has been considering changing his job recently. (continuative) 12.17.4 Lately is similar to recently, except that it does not combine with the past tense in Standard Br. E. I haven’t seen Jim lately. (Lately indicates a period leading up to now. What is said is that the situation of the speaker seeing Jim has not actualized in that pre-present period. The present perfect thus receives an indefinite interpretation.) Have you been to the dentist lately? (The speaker asks if a particular situation has actualized in a pre-present period. The present perfect receives an indefinite inter- pretation.) 6. Of course, we disregard those cases in which this minute means ‘right now’: You put that chain saw away this minute! (www) II. Temporal adverbials and the choice between past tense and present perfect 625 He’s only lately begun working here. (Lately is an indefinite specification of a bygone time in a period leading up to now. The present perfect receives an indefinite inter- pretation.) The petrochemical market has lately started recovering [after having experienced a quite sharp recession in 1998.] (similar) It’s only lately that I’ve had time to read the newspaper. (Lately indicates a period leading up to now. The present perfect receives a continuative interpretation.) She has lately been concentrating on writing and recording other genres of music. (continuative) (Examples like these sound rather old-fashioned. It is only with only lately that a continuative interpretation sounds quite natural, as in the preceding ex- ample.) 12.17.5 When it specifies a time lying immediately before t 0 , just usually com- bines with the present perfect in Br. E., but (under Am. E. influence) the past tense is also occasionally heard. I have just had a long talk with the man at the centre of the crisis. (LOB) She has just made her first record for Philips, called ‘Kiss Me’. (LOB) I just met a friend of yours, Andy Wilson. 12.17.6 With just now, the choice of tense depends on its interpretation, which is related to its accentuation pattern and position in the clause: (a) Just now can be used as a synonym of temporal just. In that case now is accented while just is not, and just now follows the verb or takes final position in the clause. This kind of just now normally combines with the past tense rather than the present perfect: I heard just now that the deal is off. I{found /*have found} the missing papers just now. What was that you were singing just now? Examples with the present perfect are extremely rare. The BNC only contains the following two: 7 I have said just now they must try and stop this coming in because … Once you’ve got your objectives then you select those themes or ideas from what you’ve done just now to support that objective. 7. The following are www examples: Martin Sixsmith was trying to approach it [ϭ the question] from the point of view of the Civil Service and he, of course, as we have heard just now from Mr Baume, met a very vigorous specialist adviser who was prepared, on media matters, to put another case forward. I’ve been thinking just now about how scared I was, even as a child, to fail to live up to others’ standards. I’ve said a prayer just now for you and your Bill. ( ) Please take good care. 626 12. Preterite vs present perfect in clauses with temporal adverbials (b) When just now means ‘only just’ (in the sense of ‘only a very short time ago’), just is more accented than now and just now is normally placed in pre-verb position, i. e. before the verb if there are no auxiliaries and other- wise after the first auxiliary. In this use, just now combines with the present perfect and not with the past tense. I{have just now heard /*have heard just now} that the deal is off. (The emphasis is more strongly on recency.) I have just now noticed that every time I post on blogger, it always shows my previous post instead of the new one. (www) July 27. I’ve just now transferred everything over to our brand new flat. (www) Oh my god, it has just now dawned on me that I will be eighteen soon! (www) I have just now returned from seeing the new E. T. Special Edition! (www) (c) Just now can also mean ‘right now’, with now referring to t 0 . In that case it combines with the present tense. I’m busy just now. [Can’t you come back tomorrow?] “He’s staying at my flat just now,” said Celia. (LOB) No, Mr Martin, he’s out just now. (LOB) No doubt there will be many readers with new gardens who just now are thinking of making a vegetable garden for the first time. (LOB) 12.18 Tense choice with once (a) When the adverb once means ‘once upon a time’, it normally collocates with the preterite, not with the present perfect: There were once three squaws. [One sat on a leopard skin. One sat on a doe skin. ] (www) (The present perfect cannot be used.) (b) The past tense is also the rule when once means ‘in the past, but not now’: TV sets are much cheaper now than they {once were / were once / *have once been}. Guns were once common in schools. [Until 1969, virtually every public high school in New York City had a shooting club.] (www) “What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits” is my favourite Doobies album. (www) (c) Once can also mean ‘at a certain time’. Since it is a matter of conceptual- ization whether ‘at a certain time’ means ‘at a certain time in the past’ or ‘at a certain time in the pre-present’, both the past tense and the present perfect can then be found: He {once promised / has once promised} to help me. II. Temporal adverbials and the choice between past tense and present perfect 627 All grownups {were once / have once been} children Ϫ although few of them remember it. It’s amazing how things that were once important are no longer as important. [It can be a gradual change Ϫ or sometimes overnight.] (www) By daylight the bower of Oak’s newfound mistress (…) presented itself as a hoary building of the Jacobean stage of Classical Renaissance as regards its architecture, and of a proportion which tells at glance that, as is frequently the case, it has once been the manorial hall on a small estate. (BNC) Peat is a soil-like material made up of partly rotted organic matter (things that have once lived). [It is still used in many composts.] (www) (d) When once is used in pre-verb position (i. e. after the first auxiliary or before the only verb form) and means ‘there has been an occasion when …’, the present perfect is used: [John is somebody who spies on his neighbours.] I’ve once seen him opening their dustbins and searching the contents. [Don’t be afraid to ask.] The chances are these people have once been in a similar situation themselves. (www) I’m sure you have once posted something, then regretted it! [Think About it!] (www) It pains me to say that I have once booed one of my team’s players. (www) All our members have once been in the same position, in fact that’s why we started! (www) (e) The present perfect is used when the sentence with once can be para- phrased ‘once X has happened, Y’: What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. (www) (ϭ ‘Once we have enjoyed something, we can never lose it.’) And if you have once demonstrated your skill at copying chairs, you can get on with meeting all the requests you will surely have from family and friends. (BNC) Hence we find those who have once quarrelled carry themselves distantly, and are ever ready to break the truce. (www) (f) If once means ‘one single time’ (as against twice, three times, etc.) it may collocate with any tense, including the present perfect. In that case it does not normally fill the pre-verb position. My late Uncle Harry saw the sea only once in his lifetime. (ϭ ‘only once in a past period’) I have read the book only once. (ϭ ‘only once in my life, which is a period leading up to now’) (quantificational constitution reading) I’ve slept here once only. (quantificational constitution reading) 628 12. Preterite vs present perfect in clauses with temporal adverbials [I don’t think any of the others caused the injury.] I have once before heard of this happening to a Lionhead belonging to a friend of my son. (www) (g) Once again and once more can similarly combine with any tense, including the present perfect. Relations were once more worsening between them. We had once again had a busy year. (www) Abbeydale and Sheffield have once again shown their commitment to developing world class facilities with this development. (www) His tales of wedding plans have once again focused me on the event. (www) All praise the mighty Wharf, for they have once again tried something new, exciting and may I say better. (www) Relations have once more seriously worsened between Iraq and the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) investigating Iraq’s weapons-of-mass-destruction. (www) III. Summary 629 III. Summary 12.19 Types of temporal adverbials 12.19.1 Temporal adverbials can be categorized as deictic (e. g. yesterday, the day before)ornondeictic (e. g. at some time or other, at five o’clock) depending on whether or not they are related to a temporal ‘anchor’. The former can be further categorized as either absolute deictics (e. g. yesterday)orrelative deic- tics (e. g. the day before) depending on whether the temporal anchor is t 0 or another time, and as either single-zone adverbials (e. g. yesterday)ormulti- zone adverbials (e. g. today) depending on whether they refer to only one abso- lute zone (e. g. the past zone) or to a time span which includes the present zone plus the post-present and the pre-present or the past. Nondeictic adverbials are automatically zone-independent. 12.19.2 Temporal adverbials can also be categorized as homogeneous (e. g. in 1983)orheterogeneous (e. g. from 1983 to 1986) depending on whether or not they can refer to the time interval (Adv-time) in its entirety as well as to any subpart of it. Within the latter class, we can formally distinguish between inclu- sive adverbials, introduced by (with)in, and noninclusive ones. 12.20 Tense choice with temporal adverbials 12.20.1 Nondeictic adverbials, by virtue of being unanchored, are compatible both with the past tense and with the present perfect (on an indefinite, often repetitive reading). Compare: (a) I got up at two a.m. (b) [You don’t believe I’ve ever got up at two a.m.? I can assure you.] I have got up at two a.m. [Several times.] (a) I worked until three in the morning. (b) [“You’re a lazy bastard. You’ve never worked until three in the morning.” Ϫ “That’s not true!] I have (already) worked until three in the morning. [Several times, in fact!]” (a) I got up before 5 o’clock. (b) You think I’ve never got up before 5 o’clock? I can assure you I have got up before 5 o’clock. Many times. 12.20.2 Past-zone adverbials are only compatible with the past tense, not with the present perfect (not even when there is a clear idea of present relevance or resultativeness): . the day before) depending on whether the temporal anchor is t 0 or another time, and as either single-zone adverbials (e. g. yesterday)ormulti- zone adverbials (e. g. today) depending on whether. support that objective. 7. The following are www examples: Martin Sixsmith was trying to approach it [ϭ the question] from the point of view of the Civil Service and he, of course, as we have heard. position, i. e. before the verb if there are no auxiliaries and other- wise after the first auxiliary. In this use, just now combines with the present perfect and not with the past tense. I{have