... required to make the situation durative.)
One after the other, the ramblers reached the top ofthe hill. (The idea of repetition
is 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 Phrase
Volume 1:
The Grammarof
the EnglishTense System
A Comprehensive Analysis
by
Renaat ... situation-template denoted by walk .The
denotation of such a complex predicate constituent is determined in the first
instance by the meanings ofthe verb and ofthe other components ofthe predi-
cate constituent...
...
Table of contents
Acknowledgements V
Table of contents VII
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
Chapter 2. Towards a theory oftense and time 91
Chapter 3. The absolute use ofthe present tense 171
Chapter ... ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Declerck, Renaat.
The grammaroftheEnglishtensesystem : a comprehensive
analysis / by Renaat Declerck ... draft of one or more chapters. In alphabetical order they are: Griet
Beheydt, 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 relative
tenses.
1.19 Special uses of tenses
1.19.1 In modal sentences, some ofthe indicative tenses (viz. the past, the
past perfect, the conditional tense and the ... In their
default 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 same
forms 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 ‘John
be in the library’ only applies in the past and not in the present, i. e. that the situation
is 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 present
perfect tense and the present tense differ as to their compatibility ... different from that ofthe present tense or the past tense, we
consider it to be a tense in its own right. The present perfect locates a situation in the
106 2. Towards a theory oftense and time
not ... 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 22
A. Tense 22
1.14 Introduction 22
1.15 The formation ofthe present tense 23
1.16 The formation ofthe past tense 23
1.17 The formation ofthe other tenses 24
1.18 The meanings of tenses: ... over-
view oftense and two other areas of meaning
that can be expressed by the use of verb forms
in English and that interact with tense: the sys-
tem of grammatical aspect and thesystem of
mood ... introductory remarks 5
account for tense in English, rather than a comparative study of other analyses
or 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 a
state, we can say that the clause in question refers to the
actualization ... situation time can be
related by a tense. The elements ofthe framework ofthetense theory used in
this book are outlined here. These include, centrally, the notions of ‘time
spheres’, ‘time zones’,...
... The point is that the time of orientation
to which they relate the time of their situation does not have to be the temporal
zero-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 t
0
(which
is usually the time of speech Ϫ see 2.4), whether that relation is direct (as in
absolute tenses) or indirect ... infinitives are tensed in the same
way 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 and
perfect...
... describe the situation as characteristic ofthe referent of the
subject NP over a certain period of time. English has a special form to express
habituality in the past: the semi-auxiliary used to. The ... Introduction
pairing 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 aspect
does exist, since there is a progressive...
... situation-template denoted by walk .The
denotation of such a complex predicate constituent is determined in the first
instance by the meanings ofthe verb and ofthe other components ofthe predi-
cate constituent ... utterance) a referent.
The meaning (or
denotation) ofthe noun phrase results from a combination
of the lexical meaning of boy and the grammatical meaning ofthe definiteness
marker the. The
referent (which ... irrelevant whether a clause refers to the performance
of an action, the happening of an event, the existence of a state, etc. we can
say that the clause in question refers to the actualization of a situation.
In...