Tenses and Aspects

1. Tenses and Aspects Ed McCorduck English 402--Grammar SUNY Cortland http://mccorduck.cortland.edu

2. slide 2: present tense Recall from slide 7 of my chapter 2 “Form Classes” lecture the two forms of verbs called the “base form” and the “-s form” (or “third person singular form”). When used, both forms can express what is traditionally called the present tense (a.k.a. the “simple present tense”). For example, we can say that the base form of the verb play—namely play—is what is traditionally the first person, second person and third person plural present tense of the verb play. And we can say that the -s form of the verb play—namely plays—is what is traditionally the third person singular present tense of this verb. English 402: Grammar

3. slide 3: past tense Similarly, the –ed form expresses what is traditionally called the past tense (a.k.a. the “simple past tense” or the “preterit”): base form-ed form play played study studied spend spent (irregular) know knew (irregular) put put (irregular) English 402: Grammar

4. slide 4: future tense In addition to the present tense and the past tense, the third traditional verb tense in English is the future tense which is expressed by the following expansion: pres + will + MV That is, will play would be the “future tense” of play, will cry the future tense of cry, and so on. English 402: Grammar

5. slide 5: aspect Besides the tenses of English—present, past and future—another verbal category that is involved in the description of verb phrases is aspect. In a nutshell, the choice of an aspect indicates whether an action or state is continuing or is completed. We say that there are two main aspectual categories in English: progressive (a.k.a. “continuous”) aspect – continuing perfect (a.k.a. “perfective”) aspect – completed The following slides will present the “formulae” and names of the traditional combinations of tense and aspect for English verbs. English 402: Grammar

6. slide 6: present progressive pres + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the present progressive (a.k.a. “present continuous”). example present progressive of play: pres + be = am/is/are (’m/’s/’re) -ing + MV = playing English 402: Grammar

7. slide 7: past progressive past + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the past progressive (a.k.a. “past continuous”). example past progressive of play: past + be = was/were -ing + MV = playing English 402: Grammar

8. slide 8: future progressive pres + will + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the future progressive (a.k.a. “future continuous”). example future progressive of play: pres + will = will be -ing + MV = playing English 402: Grammar

9. slide 9: present perfect pres + have + -en + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the present perfect. example present perfect of play: pres + have = has/have (’s/’ve) -en + MV = played English 402: Grammar

10. slide 10: past perfect past + have + -en + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the past perfect. example past perfect of play: past + have = had (’d) -en + MV = played English 402: Grammar

11. slide 11: future perfect pres + will + have + -en + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the future perfect. example future perfect of play: pres + will = will have -en + MV = played English 402: Grammar

12. slide 12: present perfect progressive pres + have + -en + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the present perfect progressive. example present perfect progressive of play: pres + have = has/have (’s/’ve) -en + be = been -ing+ MV = playing English 402: Grammar

13. slide 13: past perfect progressive past + have + -en + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the past perfect progressive. example past perfect progressive of play: past + have = had (’d) -en + be = been -ing+ MV = playing English 402: Grammar

14. slide 14: future perfect progressive pres + will + have + -en + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the future perfect progressive. example future perfect progressive of play: pres + will = will have -en + be = been -ing+ MV = playing English 402: Grammar

15. slide 15: summary of simple tenses Here is a summary of all these tenses and aspects along with examples: present: I/They play the xylophone. He plays the xylophone. past: I/He/They played the xylophone. future: I will/I’ll play the xylophone. English 402: Grammar

16. slide 16: summary of progressive aspects present progressive: I am/I’mplaying the xylophone. She is/She’splaying the xylophone. They are/They’replaying the xylophone. past progressive: I/He was playing the xylophone. They are/They’replaying the xylophone. future progressive: I will/I’ll be playing the xylophone. English 402: Grammar

17. slide 17: summary of perfect aspects present perfect: I have/I’veplayed the xylophone. She has/She’splayed the xylophone. past perfect: I had/I’d played the xylophone. future perfect: I will/I’ll have played the xylophone. English 402: Grammar

18. slide 18: summary of perfect/progressive aspects present perfect progressive: I have/I’vebeen playing the xylophone. She has/She’sbeen playing the xylophone. past perfect progressive: I had/I’d been playing the xylophone. future perfect progressive: I will/I’ll have been playing the xylophone. English 402: Grammar