... clauses they introduceand for the temporal relationship between the adverbial clause situation and the head clause situation. The Grammar of theEnglishVerb PhraseVolume 1: The Grammar of theEnglish ... 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 ... with the past tense and the present perfect. Chapters 13 and 14look at the semantics ofthe temporal adverbs when, before and after and the consequences of these semantics both for the adverbial...
... 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 ... 171Chapter 4. The absolute past tense 193Chapter 5. The absolute use ofthe present perfect 209Chapter 6. The present perfect vs the preterite in clauseswithout temporal adverbials 315Chapter ... Traugott, Naoaki Wada,and Christopher Williams. The Grammar of theEnglishVerb PhraseVolume 1: The Grammar of theEnglishTense System A Comprehensive AnalysisbyRenaat Declerckin collaboration...
... verb 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 ... over-view oftense and two other areas of meaningthat can be expressed by the use ofverb formsin English and that interact with tense: the sys-tem of grammatical aspect and thesystem of mood ... subsequent volumes dealingwith theEnglishverb phrase. (The definitions of the terms and concepts used in the book arebrought together in an extensive glossary at the end ofthe book.)Part I (ϭ sections...
... 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 ... with the past tense and the present perfect. Chapters 13 and 14look at the semantics ofthe temporal adverbs when, before and after and the consequences of these semantics both for the adverbial ... may make to the interpretation ofthe discourse.Chapters 12 to 14, as mentioned above, deal with the interaction of tempo-ral adverbials and thetenseofthe clause in which the adverbial functions.Chapter...
... 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 ... consisting ofthe initialletters ofthe terms negation, inversion, code and emphasis. The reference is to the four cases in which theEnglish VP requires an auxiliary. If there is noauxiliary, the ... 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...
... 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 oftheverb (e. g. ... to them as ‘pseudo-absolute’ tense forms.Such tense forms have the form of absolute tenses but the function of relativetenses.1.19 Special uses of tenses1.19.1 In modal sentences, some ofthe ... unravelled,unravelling.) The stem oftheverb can also be used as a present infinitive(which is the citation form oftheverb used as an entry in dictionaries).1.16 The formation ofthe past tense The regular...
... 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’ ... 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 ... expressed by means of the form oftheverb (viz . the use of a special auxiliary and / or suffix). Moreover,repetitive habitual aspect is a form of grammatical aspect in that it means that the speaker...
... situation-template denoted by walk .The denotation of such a complex predicate constituent is determined in the firstinstance by the meanings oftheverb and ofthe other components ofthe predi-cate constituent ... as consisting of a subject NP and a predicateconstituent. The latter consists oftheverb phrase (VP) and the optional adverbial(s), if any.T he VP consists oftheverb form (ϭ verb ϩ auxiliaries, ... 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...
... (and to the clauses denotingthem), the literature also applies these labels to the verbs or verb phrases whichtypically refer to a particular group of situations. We read of ‘punctual verbs’,‘durative ... normally simplified to one ofthe following: The past tense locates the time ofthe situation referred to at a specific pasttime (specified by last night.) The past tense locates the situation referred ... less refer to actualizations of situations.IV. The precise meanings and uses of ‘situation’ and ‘actualization’ 43 The past tense locates the time of actualization ofthe situation referred toat...
... of situation that is characteristic ofthe referent ofthe subjectNP over an extended period of time Ϫ see 1.23). This static interpretation isdue to the use ofthe nonprogressive form ofthe ... understand the meaning and use of certain tenses and of (non)progressive forms, it is necessary to classify templates for describing situa-tions on the basis of whether or not they represent the situation ... example, the features [( dynamic] and [( agentive] help to deter-mine the possibility of using theverb phrase in the progressive form. The distinction [( telic] is relevant to the use of temporal...
... 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 ... ashes.] The fact that the transition cannot form part ofthe ‘middle part’ ofthe situa-tion referred to by the progressive form is due to the fact that the transitionitself is the possible end of ... atelic verb phrases isto try using the gerund form oftheverb phrase as direct object of complete orfinish, which refer to the natural point of completion of an action. Only telic verb phrases...
... according to the length of the book or the size ofthe wall and is unspecified when theverb phrasewrite a book or build a wall is used). The other kind of measuring VP consists of verb phrases ... on the level ofthe clause (which refersto actualization), the indication ofthe full length of a situation can also be the result of measuring the situation when the endpoint ofthe actualization ... characteristic of sen-tences (since the nature ofthe subject does not play a part in making the distinction)20but of verbs and verb phrases. In fact, various constituents of the verb phrase...
... 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...
... because of the indefiniteness of many more, the duration adverbial for many more years indi-cates a period of indefinite length and therefore does not specify the terminal point of the period ... saw that tenses(as individual realizations ofthe abstract category tense) express the temporalrelation between the time of a situation and an orientation time which may beeither the temporal ... run a marathon.)Until a couple of years ago I knew the answer to that question. (L-bounded: the until-adverbial specifies the endpoint ofthe actualization ofthe situation.)[Melissa drove,...
... from the fact that the nature ofthe subject NP may affect the interpretation ofthe actualization of asituation as homogeneous or not, it is often not possible to decide on the homogeneity of ... though the expression of grammaticalizedhabituality is restricted to verb forms involving one ofthe auxiliaries will,would or used to.1.51.3 The third systemoftheverb phrase introduced ... differentfrom the whole (for example drink a glass of beer, in which no single part of the situation constitutes a full instance of drinking a glass of beer).Some ofthe information which determines the...