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Билет №12 Tense and Aspect. Indefinite and Continuous
THE PLAN:
Definition of the category of tense and aspect
The Use of the Present Indefinite Tense
The Use of the Present Progressive Tense
The Use of the Past Indefinite Tense
The Use of Past Progressive Tense
The Use of Future Indefinite Tense
The Use of Future Progressive Tense
Tense is a grammatical category that indicates the location of an event or situation in time. It is expressed in verbal morphology or with the help of auxiliary verbs (be and have) in combination with the non-finite forms of main verbs.
Aspectconcerns the manner in which the situation denoted by a sentence is seen to develop in time. English distinguishes the progressive (continuous) aspect and the perfect aspect. However, one can refer to the time of a situation without formally indicating how the verbal action is developing. In this case the internal temporal structure of the situation is conveyed by the lexical meaning of the verb.
Tense and aspect are expressed in one and the same verbal form. The English verb has only two tenses proper — the present and the past, either simple (work(s), worked) or combined with the progressive (is/was working) or perfect (have/had worked) aspect. There are many ways of expressing future time in English. The most common is with the help of the modal auxiliaries will/ shall attached to a simple or complex (aspectual) form of the main verb.
(C) ESP
The Present Indefinite Tense
The Pr.Ind. is used to denote
I Habitual Actions (the core uses of the Pr. Ind.)
a) a regularly repeated action:
I normally go to bed around midnight.
b) an action characterizing a person, their skills, habits and abilities (with adverbial modifiers of frequency often, always, usually):
John smokes a lot. You speak very good English.
c) universal truths
Water freezes at 0 degrees Centigrade.
NB The sequence of tenses is not observed with this use:
The science teacher explained that water freezes at 0 degrees Centigrade.
II Actions going on at the moment of speaking (“momentary present”)
a) with verbs not normally found in the Continuous form:
I see what you mean.
b) with performative verbs – describing what the speaker is doing by uttering the sentence:
I declare the meeting open. I apologize.
c) if an action is not viewed in its progress; when the occurrence itself is named
How time flies!
Why do you talk back?
d) in particular types of discourse:
(1) in demonstrations:
I take a large apple. Now I peel it. Now I slice it with a sharp knife [NB The Present Continuous is also possible]
(2) in running commentaries:
The crowd moves closer to the building. Brown passes to Jones.
(3) in stage directions:
Sir Henry picks up his umbrella and leaves.
(4) In comic and cartoon strips:
The Wolf sings a song in a small voice [Present Cont. Possible]
(e) In set expressions:
Here he comes. There she goes. There goes the last bus. Here comes Mary.
III Future actions