Time and aspect relations denoted by the english verbal forms

As will be shown below, the English verbal forms denote two kinds of time relations and two aspects: any verbal process is represented both as belonging to the present, past or future, anterior to another process of one of these time-spheres, or else posterior to a process or some situation in the past and at the same time as either relatively static or relatively dynamic. Accordingly, there are the following tenses in English:

Present Static Beforepresent Static

Present Dynamic Beforepresent Dynamic

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Past Static Beforepast Static

Past Dynamic Beforepast Dynamic

Future Static Beforefuture Static

Future Dynamic (Beforefuture Dynamic)

Future Static-in-the-Past Beforefuture Static-in-the-Past

Future Dynamic-in-the- (Beforefuture Dynamic-in-

Past the-Past)¹

Taking into consideration the fact that the Beforefuture Dynamic and the Beforefuture Dynamic-in-the-Past are practically never used, one concludes that there are fourteen finite verb forms in English to represent eight temporal and two aspectual relationships.

Time content of the finite verb forms

Tenses are special verb forms referring to different time-relationships. Verbs refer to processes. Therefore, to understand the time content of the English verb forms one has to understand the nature of time-rela­tionships between the processes of the objective world they refer to.

Logical Time

Time is commonly represented graphically as a line stretching con­tinuously and infinitely from left to right² (Fig. 2). If we mark the objective position of the moving matter along the line of time by a cross

(Fig. 3), we shall divide time into two infinite blocks located to the left and right from it. These blocks are known as logical past and logical future, respectively, the dimensionless point that divides the line of time into the past and future being logical present.

Processes of the Objective World and Time Relationships

Relative to the objective "now" of moving matter (for speech, "the moment of speaking") processes either belong to the sphere of past or future time or take place at it (Fig. 4: Processes 1, 2, 3).

Besides, processes stand in certain time relations to one another. In Fig. 5 processes 2, 2', 2" are simultaneous with, processes 3, 3', 3" anterior to, and processes 4, 4', 4" posterior to processes 1, 1', 1".

The three time relationships of the first kind (Fig. 4) are the basis for the time content of the Absolute Tenses of Static and Dynamic As­pect (the first six forms of the left-hand column on p. 12).

Anteriority of processes to a present-, past-, and future-time pro­cess is the content core of the Anterior Tenses (the forms of the right-hand column on p. 12, except those in brackets which are practically not used), including the Beforefuture Static-in-the-Past which denotes anteriority to a process future relative to past time.

Time relationships of posteriority are represented in English by the Future-in-the-Past Tense, both Static and Dynamic, which denotes posteriority of processes to a process in the past. Posteriority to pres­ent- and future-time processes is not represented by special verb forms and is referred to by the Future Tense.

Simultaneity also remains unexpressed.

Time Content of Present, Past, and Future Tenses (Absolute Tenses)

There is universal agreement among linguists that any process which takes place in a period of time including the moment of speaking, which is the objective "now" of speech, must be considered as belonging to present time. Accordingly, a tense referring to it must be described as a present tense. A process which excludes the moment of speaking and lies to the left or right from it belongs to the past or future time sphere. A corresponding verbal form must be described as a past or future tense.

Tenses actually used in speech do very often indeed agree with these definitions, e. g.:

1. "It's a fact we aren't saving money. But nobody does nowadays" (E. Hemingway); 2. Already she was working at the fire. She worked quickly (W. Faulkner); 3. "I'll be seeing you, Jack. I'll come and see you before I go up the lake" (J. Abridge).

But very often, again, tenses actually used disagree with the defi­nitions of present, past, and future processes given above.

In the first place, the present static and the present dynamic are frequent in sentences where a verbal process actually belongs to the past (a) or future (b), e. g.:

(a) "I cantered for four or five miles... Suddenly somebody fires a volley — twenty shots at least it seems to me. I hear bullets sing in my ear, and my hat jumps to the back of my head. It was a little intrigue, you understand" (J. Conrad); "You see, Mr. Graham, the accused told the police that he was alone. Either you are lying or he is" (G. Gordon);

(b) They talked of hardly anything, except the engagement, and Robin, and the wedding. "I'm taking her out myself, of course, in Sep­tember — and Robin meets us at Colombo, and they'll be married the day after we land — and then he's taking her off for a few days' honey­moon, and I shall go up to the Estate" (E. Delafield).

In the second place, the past static and the past dynamic are frequent in cases where a verbal process objectively includes the moment of speaking, e. g.:

1. 1. "I've known you for years, I think," he said; "from the very first time we met I admired and liked you. I acknowledge your superiority in everything" (Ch. Dickens); 2. "For years I wanted him to move out of that old house there. He knows that he ought to" (Th. Dreiser); З.'Т watched you going up and down these last two weeks" (J. Lindsay);

2. 1. "Going swimming?" — "No. Drowning myself".— "Don't do that, my boy," he said. "I was hoping (and I am still hoping) you would stick around the office awhile as treasurer of the company" (P. Wode-house); 2. "Do you know anything about books?" — "Yes, sir; I'm a good book-keeper." — "Holy Moses! Our job is getting rid of them. My firm are publishers. We were thinking (and are still thinking) of putting on an extra traveller" (J. Galsworthy); 3. "Gee! It's quiet here, isn't it, Miss Garfield!" — "I was wondering (and still am wondering) if you would like to run down and spend the rest of the day with your mother, Ivy" (S. Gibbons).

Finally verbal processes including the moment of speaking are also referred to by a future tense, e. g.:

1. It is a mistery. It always will be (F. Norris); 2. "I'll love you forever, my darling" (A. Maltz); 3. "You won't be doing that much lon­ger," Ron remarked. "Another month, isn't it?" (H. Smith).

In the first set of examples the speaker represents the processes which objectively belong to the past (a) and future (b) as if they were just taking place before his and his listener's or reader's eyes, i. e. in the pres­ent. In other words, he makes the о b j e с t і v e past and future be his mental present.

The second and third sets of examples contain verbal processes which include the moment of speaking. In accordance with the accepted defi­nition of present, past, and future time they must be considered as belonging to the present and be denoted by present tenses. Actually, however, past and future tenses are used to refer to them. This is explain­ed by the fact that the speaker associates the processes with certain particular circumstances and, thus, is m e n t a 1 1 у in the past or future. Being mentally in the past or future, he uses past or fu­ture tenses

Thus, the English past, present, and future tenses are signs for the speaker's mental time which may but does frequently not coincide with the objective time to which the process belongs.

This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that man can transfer him­self into the past and future only mentally (mental past and fu-

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ture), physically being always in the present. It is also evident that any present time to which a process referred to in speech belongs is a mental construction because it never coincides with the dimensionless point of the objective or logical time (see Fig. 3 and 4 on pages 13—14), as for instance in:

1. "Do you swear not to betray secrets entrusted to you?" —"I swear" (S. Kennedy); 2. "It's raining" (K. Mansfield); 3. Each manifestation of life is coming up and then going back (Th. Dreiser).

Time Content of Anterior Tenses

Beforepast and Beforefuture Tenses. For the Beforepast Static (a) and Dynamic (b) as well as for the Beforefuture Static (c) the meaning of anteriority of a process denoted by a verb in these tenses to another process is evident:

1. 1. At last she turned round to him and asked him what she had asked before (H. Walpole); 2. "I believed that, sir. I still do. It was true that he had once believed it: it was a lie that he believed it now (A. Maltz); 3. He sat motionless as he had sat in the old waiting-room (E. James);

2. 1. As she approached the doorway the baby appeared therein. She was crying or had been crying (A. Bennett); 2. There came a night when he confessed to Carrie that the business was not doing as well this month as it had the month before (Th. Dreiser); 3. She was sitting on a high chair, staring in front of her. She had been sitting here now for a long time (H. Walpole);

3. 1. It may be of interest to note that by 1965, as a clean air measure, gas will have replaced coal for heating in Moscow (D. Worker); 2. "When you get back you will have developed a taste for being a father" (M. Wil­son); 3. I shall finish my life's work on my way back; and then I shall have lived long enough (B. Shaw).

The Beforepresent Tenses. The beforepresent tenses are never used in the pattern consisting of the verb remember plus a verb expressing a single-act process located in the past, e. g.:

1. 1. "I remember that the curtains of one house weren't fully drawn (J. Braine); 2. "I remember I laughed just as big as you please" (Th. Wolfe); 3. "I remember Edgar said he played around Wall Street" (Th. Dreiser);

2. 1. "Frank, where's your Bible?" — "Oh, I remember. I was killing a cockroach with it. It's on top of your wardrobe" (S. Lewis); 2. 'By the way. You remember that argument we were having about aggression?" (Th. White); 3. "The president, old Quarels — 'member I was teljing you about him?" (S. Lewis).

In such cases the speaker who has a mental image of something he has perceived before and preserved in his memory is mentally in the past.

Another case where the beforepresent tenses are never used is the so-called "narration" whose function is to reproduce in speech what has been perceived before and preserved in the speaker's mind, e. g.:

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1. The man with the scarred face leant over the table and looked at my bundle. "Orchids?" he asked (H. G. Wells);

2. Jeremy went on to the study vaguely uncomfortable and dis­turbed. Five minutes later he had forgotten it all. Everything was sud­denly jolly. He and Gauntlet were, all in a moment, as they used to be, forgetting grudges, suspicions, accusations, inviting Ball and Hindlip in to tea; then making toasts, digging a thin spoon that bent at the waist deep into the blackberryjam pot, bringing it out with the handle sticky and licking the jam off the handle; talking and never listening to anybody (H. Walpole).

On the other hand, only beforepresent tenses are used in sentences in which the verbal process cannot be associated in the speaker's mind with any particular circumstances in the past.

One of such cases are sentences in which a verbal process is anterior to any moment (not only the moment of speaking) of the period of time to which another process of general validity belongs:

1. 1. No fox likes to eat an animal that he himself has not killed (W. S. Gray); 2. The Times' advice is like telling a man whose wallet has been stolen that he is really very fortunate, because his neighbour has his watch stolen as well (D. Worker); 3. The drops of blood fell very slowly, as they fall from an icicle after the sun has gone (E. Hemingway);

2. 1. Harry says that that's how things happen. We seem to be dead as doornails for years, then in a couple of weeks we grow yards and yards, but it's really the sudden effect of what's been accumulating under­neath (J. Lindsay); 2. Vegetables should never be refrozen. They should be boiled without delay or used in cooking. If they have been standing at temperatures higher than 10 to 15° C, they should not be used at all (G. Stewart); 3. H о d s о n: Usually when you've been enjoying your­self, you're a bit hearty like (B. Shaw).

The other case is the use of the beforepresent tenses in purely logical conclusions made by the speaker from some situation in the present and his experience in life, e. g.:

1. 1. "What's the time? My watch has stopped" (G. Greene); 2. He looked at her hard. "Say, you haven't been sick, have you?" — Carrie nodded (Th. Dreiser); 3. "Look at yourself. A woman. You've had a baby? No? To look at you, you're married my girl" (D. Carter);

2. 1. Suddenly he started sniffing vigorously. "You've been drinking," he snarled (G. Gordon); 2. "Hello," he exclaimed, "You have been crying." Her eyes were still wet with a few vague tears (Th. Dreiser); 3. "There's a sad loveliness in that faint hollow of your cheek, but it means you've been neglecting your butter and milk" (A. Cronin).

When, however, the speaker, starting from some situation in the present, associates the verbal process with some particular cirsumstances in the past, he uses a past tense. Compare:

The brother and sister descended the staircase. "Stay, Miss Ross! Agnes! You have forgotten your flowers» (Ch. Dickens)//Before long the stagecoach returned for the passengers. After many thank you's and good-bye's, they were ready to start. Suddenly Ben shouted, "Polly! Tom! You forgot your snowshoes" (G. Stewart); A little plump woman

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came up to the bar and took Laura's arm. "Laura, darling" she said, "I've been looking for you" (I. Shaw) // "Oh, there you are, Mike", she said, "I was looking for you" (A. Berkley).

It should be pointed out that the context in these oppositions con­tains no formal signs which would have made the choice of the past or the beforepresent tense necessary — its use wholly depends on whether or not the speaker is mentally in the past. In the first example of the first opposition the speaker sees Miss Ross and Agnes' flowers. Miss Ross and Agnes are leaving home. Logical conclusion: "You have for­gotten your flowers." The situation in the second example is about the same: Polly and Tom who have been staying for some time at Ben's place are leaving; suddenly Ben remembers that the snowshoes are in the house. Being mentally in the past, Ben uses a past tense. In the first example of the second opposition the speaker does not 'associate the verbal process with any particular circumstances in the past; in the second he does so (implied is "when I met you").

The following examples make it still more evident:

"Have you seen Mr. Whitford this morning?" — "He passed me (G. Meredith); "How old is he?" — "About nineteen, I fancy; He must have had a very odd sort of education; but he is a nice lad, it will be a great pleasure to John to have something young about the house."— "I was thinking that Mr. Dusatoy hardly wanted more cares." — "So have I" (Miss Yonge).

Thus, whereas the beforepast and beforefuture tenses denote the ob­jective anteriority of one verbal process to another, the beforepresent tenses are signs for the anteriority of the objective time of a process to the mental present of the speaker.

In the following oppositions the speaker, starting with some sit­uation in the present, uses the beforepresent tense when there are no associations in his mind of the verbal process he refers to with any partic­ular circumstances in the past, i. e. when mentally he remains in the present, and a past tense in cases such associations do exist in his mind, when a situation in the present has caused him to go mentally back into the past:

1. "Does she love this man?" — "I dorit knom. She hasn't told me" (R. Macaulay) // "Well, what does that machine do?" — "17/ be damned if I know: They didn't tell me" (R. Gehman); 2. Elliot, besides being fond of his sister, had, as I have said, a strong strain of family feeling" (W. S. Maugham) // "So the old gentleman, as I said, harnessed Johnny" (J. Joyce); "Well, as I was saying, your grandfather came home one night and said — Look here. Who do you suppose I saw today?" (Th. Wolfe); 3. "Dad! How lovely! Where have you sprung from?"(J. Gals­worthy) // "Hallo, Rose! Where did you spring from?" (J. Lindsay).

Since both Absolute Past (Static and Dynamic) and Beforepresent (Static and Dynamic) Tenses refer to p a s t time processes and since they are used, respectively, when the speaker does and does not associate the processes in his mind with particular (definite) cir­cumstances in the past, they can be called, in that sense, the Past Def­inite and the Past Indefinite Tense, respectively.