Brain, did you mean that "are sitting" is present progressive aspect rather
than present perfect aspect?
Edith
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Despain [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 11:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Competence-performance distinction and teaching
aboutgrammar
Ann,
I have some strong feelings about the term "tense." My linguistics training
tells me it is a linguistic form (usually on a verb, but sometimes on a
noun) that places the reference of the word in a particular period or at a
point in time. Sometimes the reference is helped by the addition of
particular temporal adverbs. But then the form itself is not always as
important as the adverb. In English this has developed into a quite complex
structure of aspect, voice, mode, and tense. Syntactically speaking, then,
the only "tenses" in English are present and past. These are the two forms
that refer to time and appear on a verb (or copula).
Let me respond to your sentences, and then refer you to my web site, to
which I have recently added a chapter to my grammar covering the structure
of the auxiliary as a part of the predicate.
>>The gardener called, and we are sitting there and she comes in and we
called him back<<
called - past tense of call {reference to past time}
are - present tense of be
are sitting - present perfect aspect {reference is to the same past time as
a concomitant action; this happens in narative to make the action come
alive}
comes - present tense of come {reference is to the same past time but now in
sequence}
called - past tense of call {reference to past time}
>>We were sitting there<<
were - past tense of be
were sitting - past progressive aspect
>>He comes every week<<
comes - present tense of come {reference to a repetitive action over all
time}
>>We must have been sitting there for an hour<<
must - past tense of a modal auxiliary (historically of a word now obsolete)
{reference is to the present relative certainty of the predicate}
have - infinitive of have (perfect aspect marker) following the modal
been - past participle of be (progressive aspect marker) following the
perfect aspect
sitting - present participle of sit following the progressive aspect
>>She used to make the soup, and then would bring it to him in the
bedroom.<<
used - past tense of use {here reference to past customary action}
to make - infinitive following the (periphrastic) customary aspect marker
would - past tense of will (modal auxiliary) {reference to past of customary
action in sequence}
bring - infinitive following the modal auxiliary
It is a difficult thing to separate syntax and semantics. The tendancy is
to discard concern for meaning from the study of semantics, but this is not
possible. With inflected languages, we learn the basics of tense in the
morphology. With analytic languages, like English, we have to admit that
what was tense is now translated into more complex structures - the
auxiliary phrase. Sometimes the temporal relationships are an inflection of
the verb, but more usually they are expressed in the other parts of the
auxiliary phrase. Historically many of these parts were verbs that are now
helping verbs. But now they are markers of one kind or another. Last week
we talked on this list about the phrase >>hadn't ought to<< used with a verb
phrase. What about such long and complex structures of the auxiliary in a
predicate like >>hadn't better be going to have finished by then<<?
Historically we are simply building verb phrase upon verb phrase. Now we
have some more elements of aspect and subjective mode going in to make up
the auxiliary. For a fuller (still sketchy) account of such structures see
the grammar on my web site, chapter 17.
www.burgoyne.com/pages/bdespain/index.html
Bruce
armchair linguist
>>> [log in to unmask] 11/07/01 08:17AM >>>
I have noticed that naming of the tenses is changing as our understanding of
syntax deepens. Would you please tell me what you would call the tenses
used in the following sentences. I feel kind of dumb asking this question,
but find that I often call a tense one thing, only to find there is a more
sophisticated or "modern" word for it.
The gardener called, and we are sitting there and she comes in and we called
him back
We were sitting there
He comes every week
We must have been sitting there for an hour
And what about this sentence:
She used to make the soup, and then would bring it to him in the bedroom.
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