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IA901 2012 Session Five The English Verb. Tense, Aspect, Mood. “This is going to sound really stupid, but is a verb a doing word?” (a question asked by an English Literature undergraduate in a writing class, Autumn 2011). Link to last week…. Collocations. Frequency . What do you think?.
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IA901 2012 Session FiveThe English Verb • Tense, Aspect, Mood
“This is going to sound really stupid, but is a verb a doing word?” (a question asked by an English Literature undergraduate in a writing class, Autumn 2011)
Identify the verbs in the following sentences: • Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper. • I just text her five minutes ago. • Our father, which art in heaven. • Prodromou argues very persuasively that core chunks such as sort of and you know membership speakers within cultural communities and project a ‘deep commonality’ amongst interlocutors which the learner or even the highly successful non-native user may not wish to claim nor has any reason to claim. • Closed like confessionals they thread loud noons of cities • Twasbrillig, and the slithytoves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves, And the momerathsoutgrabe[5]
Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper. • I just text her five minutes ago. • Our father, which art in heaven… • Prodromouargues very persuasively that core chunks such as sort of and you knowmembership speakers within cultural communities and project a ‘deep commonality’ amongst interlocutors which the learner or even the highly successful non-native user may not wish to claim nor has any reason to claim. • Closed like confessionals they thread loud noons of cities • Twasbrillig, and the slithytovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsywere the borogoves, And the momerathsoutgrabe[5] • Culpepper et al (2009 : 115) in classifying a word (as a verb or otherwise), FUNCTION comes before FORM and MEANING.
Consider the following examples taken from writing produced by international students on an EAP course. How would you describe the underlined errors? How would explain the problem to the writer? • In fact, in my childhood, I enjoyed such trips to the full because I could experience various things I could not do in daily life such as long driving, getting on bullet trains, and seeing scenes I have never seen. • For example, in Japan family structure has changed dramatically for 25 years. • This problem is existed for many years. • Something strange was happened before I could open to door.
Finally, how would you explain the difference in meaning between the following pair of sentences? • I have lived in Essex for 2 months. • I have been living in Essex for 2 months. • Can you think of any other tricky questions you’ve been asked relating to English verbs?
Tense: True or false? There are only two tenses in English. “Present continuous” is not the name of a tense. In English, there is no relationship between time and tense.
3. In English, there is no relationship between time and tense. Melody makes the best soup in Colchester. Term ends on the 14th of December. Christie’s train leaves at 4.30. Would you mind if I opened the window? Have you been beyond the fifth floor in the paternoster lift?
TENSE Briefly, tense is the representation in grammar of the distinction that we make between past, present and future in our view of time. In English we encode the distinction between present and past tense in different forms of verbs. (Jackson, 1990) To the linguist tense is a technical term. It means that there is a morphological change in the base form of the verb. A verb form which is made with an auxiliary is not, in this technical meaning, a “tense”. (Lewis, 1986) ASPECT Aspect, typically, expresses whether actions or events are finished or unfinished, temporary or protracted. (Parrot, 2010) Aspect indicates the speaker’s perspective on time as indicated in a verb phrase, particularly whether an action is treated as finished or is still in progress or still relevant to the moment of speaking. English has two aspects: perfect and progressive (sometimes known as continuous). (Carter and McCarthy, 2006)
In your opinion, does the low frequency of a particular tense/aspect combination mean that we should not teach it?
It’s raining. It was raining. I propose a toast. I live in Oxford. Wood floats on water. I play tennis most weekends. I’m taking the car every day this week. I lived in Cambridge for 4 years. I was living in Cambridge for 4 years. I swear it wasn’t me. I’ve seen him already. I’m going to see him tomorrow. I saw him yesterday. I’d seen him before. I was going to see him in the afternoon. I’ll see him tomorrow. I’ll have seen him before Saturday. I’ll be going to see him when I get to London.
from Lewis (1986: 173-4) A1. I swear it wasn’t me. A2. I’ve seen him already. A3. I’m going to see him tomorrow. B1. I saw him yesterday. B2. I’d seen him before. B3. I was going to see him in the afternoon. C1. I’ll see him tomorrow. C2. I’ll have seen him before Saturday. C3. I’ll be going to see him when I get to London
A complication… What do the verb tense and aspect combinations tell us about the difference between the following statements? I live in Colchester. I lived in London for 10 years. I’ve lived in Colchester for 2 years. I’ve been living in Colchester for 2 years.
They’ve painted their house or They’ve been painting their house?
But… I’ve lived in Colchester for 2 years. I’ve been living in Colchester for 2 years. They’ve painted their house. They’ve been painting their house. Shouldn’t the distinctions be the same?
