A Grammar of the English Tense System

This source offers a comprehensive analysis of the English tense system, focusing on Standard British English while noting occasional differences with American English. It meticulously defines core linguistic concepts like “situation” (action, event, process, or state), “clause,” and “predicate,” providing detailed explanations of grammatical aspect (how verb forms represent a situation’s internal temporal structure) and ontological aspect (lexical features of situation types). The text further distinguishes between absolute and relative tenses, explaining how they establish and expand temporal domains by relating situations to the temporal zero-point (t0) or other orientation times. Finally, it explores the nuanced interplay of tenses with temporal adverbials and conjunctions like “when,” “before,” and “after,” highlighting the complex factors influencing temporal interpretations in various clause structures.

The English Tense System: A Comprehensive Study

The English tense system is a complex and comprehensive area of study that focuses on how verb forms are used to locate situations in time.

Here’s a detailed discussion of the English tense system:

1. Definition of Tense

• Tense is a linguistic concept, referring to the form taken by the verb to locate the actualization of a situation in time. It expresses the temporal relation between the time of the situation in question and an orientation time.
• It is crucial to distinguish tense from ‘time’, as time is an extralinguistic category that exists independently of language. Tense is a grammatical category that combines grammatical form and meaning.
• A tense is the pairing of a morpho-syntactic form with a meaning, which is the specification of the temporal location of a situation.
• Every tense expresses a tense structure, which is a blueprint for locating a situation in time, minimally involving a situation time, an orientation time, and a temporal relation between them.

2. Expression of Tense in English

• In English, only finite verb forms are tensed. They are marked for tense and potentially other grammatical categories like mood, person, and number.
• Many linguists traditionally hold that English has only two tenses (present and past) because this is the only distinction expressed morphologically (by verb endings or substitutive forms for strong verbs). However, the sources argue that tense can also be expressed by auxiliaries.
• Complex tense forms involve one or more auxiliaries, and it is the first auxiliary (the operator) that is marked for tense. Examples include have (for perfect tenses) and will (for future tenses).

3. Key Temporal Concepts

• Temporal Zero-Point (t0): This is the ultimate origin of all temporal relations expressed by a tense, usually speech time. English conceives of t0 as punctual (nondurative).
• Orientation Time: Any time to which the time of a situation can be related by a tense form. Types include t0, situation times, times contained in adverbials, and implicit times in temporal conjunctions.
• Situation Time: This refers to the time of the ‘predicated situation’ – the part of the ‘full situation’ that is actually located in time by the tense used. Tenses locate situation times, not necessarily the entire ‘full situation’.
• Full Situation vs. Predicated Situation: The full situation is the complete situation as it actualized in the world, while the predicated situation is the portion located in time by the tense. The predicated situation may be shorter than the full situation, especially if the situation is homogeneous (nonbounded).

4. Types of Tenses The sources categorize tenses based on how they relate to the temporal zero-point (t0) and other orientation times:

• Absolute Tenses: These tenses relate the time of a situation directly to t0. They also establish a temporal domain.
• Present Tense: Locates the situation time as coinciding with t0.
• Absolute Past Tense (Preterite): Locates the situation time in the past time-sphere.
• Present Perfect: Locates the situation time in the pre-present zone (a period leading up to t0 but not including it).
• Future Tense: Locates a situation time in the post-present zone.
• Relative Tenses: These tenses express a temporal relation between the situation time and an orientation time other than t0. They expand an already established temporal domain.
• Relative Past Tense: Expresses T-simultaneity (strict coincidence) with an orientation time in a past domain.
• Past Perfect (Pluperfect): Expresses that the situation time is anterior to another orientation time in a past temporal domain.
• Conditional Tense: Expresses T-posteriority to an orientation time in a past domain.
• Absolute-Relative Tenses: These tenses both establish a domain and indicate a relation within it. The future perfect (will have V-en) is a primary example.
• Complex Relative Tenses: Involve three or more temporal relations (e.g., was going to have left).
• Pseudo-Absolute Tense Forms: This refers to the special use of absolute tenses (past, present perfect, present, future) to relate a situation time to a ‘pseudo-zero-point’ (a post-present binding orientation time treated as if it were t0) rather than the real t0. They function like relative tenses by expressing a T-relation within an already established domain. The Pseudo-t0-System specifically uses these tenses to expand a post-present domain.

5. Temporal Domains and Time-Spheres

• Time-Spheres: The English tense system implies a mental division of time into two ‘time-spheres’: the past time-sphere and the present time-sphere (also called nonpast). This distinction is reflected in the presence of either a past or nonpast (present) tense morpheme in all tenses; there is no future tense morpheme.
• The past time-sphere lies wholly before t0 and is disconnected from it.
• The present time-sphere includes t0 and extends indefinitely on either side.
• Time-Zones: The present time-sphere is further divided into three zones:
• Present Zone: Coincides with t0.
• Pre-Present Zone: Leads up to t0 but does not include it. The present perfect locates situations in this zone.
• Post-Present Zone: Begins immediately after t0. The future tense and futurish forms locate situations here.
• Absolute Zones: These are the four zones (past, pre-present, present, post-present) that are defined in direct relation to t0. Tenses that locate situations in these zones are absolute tenses.
• Temporal Domain: A set of orientation times that are temporally related to each other by tenses. A domain is typically established by an absolute tense and can be expanded by one or more relative tenses.
• Temporal Subdomain: When a temporal domain is expanded, each new situation time introduced can become the central orientation time of a domain-within-a-domain, called a temporal subdomain. Rules for expanding a past domain apply recursively to subdomains.

6. Distinctions from Aspect and Mood

• Aspect: Focuses on how the speaker views the internal temporal structure of a situation (e.g., as a whole, ongoing, repetitive).
• Grammatical Aspect: Systematically expressed by special verb markers (e.g., progressive form be + V-ing for progressive meaning, and auxiliaries will, would, used to for habituality).
• Lexical Aspect (Aktionsart): Inherent characteristics of a situation determined by the verb phrase’s lexical material (e.g., durative vs. punctual, telic vs. atelic, static vs. dynamic).
• Actualization Aspect: Distinction between bounded and nonbounded representations of actualizing situations.
• Tense is distinct from aspect: There are no progressive tenses; progressivity is a matter of aspect that combines with tensed forms. The “perfect” is a category of tense, while “perfective” is a category of aspect, and they should not be confused.
• Mood and Modality: Modality refers to the semantic category expressing the speaker’s assessment of likelihood or factors affecting actualization (e.g., volition, possibility). Mood is a grammatical category referring to the systematic use of lexical verb forms (indicative, imperative, subjunctive) to express modal meaning. Tenses can have modal uses, where they do not express their usual temporal relations.

7. Temporal Relations and Interpretation

• T-relations (Tense relations): Temporal relations explicitly expressed by tense forms. These include T-simultaneity (strict coincidence), T-anteriority, and T-posteriority.
• W-relations (World relations): Temporal relations that are inferred pragmatically from the linguistic and nonlinguistic context, rather than being explicitly expressed by tenses. W-simultaneity, unlike T-simultaneity, is a less rigid relation and can include overlap or inclusion.
• Adv-time-relations: Relations between an adverbially specified time interval (Adv-time) and an orientation time, characterized by ‘containment’ (inclusion or coincidence).

8. Special Uses and Complexities

• Shift of Temporal Perspective: A marked use of tense where a situation is represented as if it were in a different time-zone than its actual location, often for dramatic effect or to convey specific connotations (e.g., historic present, “They leave tomorrow” for a pre-determined future event).
• Temporal Focus: The time a speaker chooses to emphasize through tense choice. This can be unmarked (fitting discourse context or highlighting present relevance) or marked (shifting focus for specific purposes).
• Interaction with Temporal Adverbials: Temporal adverbials specify Adv-times that contain situation times or other orientation times, influencing tense choice and interpretation. The choice between the past tense and present perfect often depends on whether the speaker is concerned with ‘NOW’ (present perfect) or ‘THEN’ (past tense) in relation to adverbials.

This comprehensive analysis provides the conceptual groundwork for understanding the workings of the English tense system.

Temporal Relations in English: Tense, World, and Adverbials

The English tense system is fundamentally concerned with establishing temporal relations to locate situations in time. These relations are crucial for understanding how verb forms map the actualization of situations onto a conceptual timeline. The sources distinguish three primary kinds of temporal relations that contribute to the overall temporal interpretation of a sentence or discourse: T-relations (Tense-relations), W-relations (World-relations), and Adv-time-relations (Adverbially indicated time relations).

T-relations (Tense-relations)

T-relations are temporal relations explicitly expressed by tense forms. They form the core semantic structure of a tense.

There are three fundamental types of T-relations:

• T-simultaneity: This relation represents the situation time (the time of the predicated situation) as strictly coinciding with an orientation time. It is a unidirectional relation, meaning the bound situation time derives its temporal specification from the binding orientation time, not vice-versa. For instance, in “Meg said that she was feeling ill,” “was feeling” expresses T-simultaneity with “said,” meaning the punctual situation time of “feeling ill” coincides with the punctual situation time of “saying,” even if the full situation of feeling ill is much longer. T-simultaneity is considered the unmarked T-relation.
• T-anteriority: This represents the situation time as preceding the orientation time. This can be either:
• The situation time lies at some distance before the orientation time (e.g., “I knew I had locked the door”).
• The situation time begins before the orientation time and leads right up to it (e.g., “We had been friends for years [before Gertie and I went to Iceland]”).
• T-posteriority: This represents the situation time as following the orientation time. This can also be in two ways:
• The situation time lies completely after the binding orientation time (e.g., “I promised I would do it the next day”).
• The situation time begins immediately after the binding orientation time (e.g., “He said that from then onwards he would call me Jim”).

T-relations are crucial for expanding temporal domains, where a relative tense relates a situation time to an orientation time other than the temporal zero-point (t0) within an already established domain.

W-relations (World-relations)

W-relations are temporal relations that are inferred pragmatically from contextual information and general knowledge of the world, rather than being explicitly expressed by tense forms or temporal adverbials.

• Unlike T-simultaneity, W-simultaneity is a less rigid relation and can involve coincidence, overlap, or inclusion. For example, in “Meg went to the doctor. She felt ill,” the past tenses don’t express a temporal relation between the two situations, but our world knowledge suggests the feeling ill preceded and continued during the doctor’s visit (overlap/inclusion).
• W-relations typically hold between the times of full situations, which encompass the complete actualization of a situation, as opposed to the more abstract “situation time” that tenses locate.
• W-relations include W-anteriority, W-posteriority, and W-simultaneity. An example of W-anteriority is inferring that “John’s accident” must have been “W-anterior to his telling me about it” in “John told me he was involved in an accident in France”. Similarly, the conditional tense can refer to a situation that is “W-posterior to t0” even though the tense morphology reflects a past domain.

Adv-time-relations

Adv-time-relations are temporal relations expressed by temporal adverbials (e.g., “at six o’clock,” “yesterday”).

• These relations are always a type of “containment,” meaning the adverbially specified time interval (Adv-time) either includes or coincides with the orientation time (which can be a situation time or another orientation time) it specifies.
• This containment relation is referred to as Adv-time-simultaneity.
• Adv-time-simultaneity is distinct from T-simultaneity (as it’s not expressed by a tense) and W-simultaneity (as it allows for proper inclusion, not just overlap or coincidence). If there are multiple Adv-times in a clause, their relation is also Adv-time-simultaneity, typically inclusion, with the shortest Adv-time containing the situation time.
• Unlike T-relations, there is no “Adv-time-anteriority” or “Adv-time-posteriority”; only containment is expressed.

Interaction and Special Cases

The overall temporal interpretation of a clause or discourse is a result of the intricate interplay between T-relations, W-relations, and Adv-time-relations, as well as factors like aspect and pragmatic considerations. For example, the (non)boundedness of situations, which refers to whether an actualization is represented as reaching a terminal point, heavily influences the “unmarked temporal interpretation” of sequences of clauses without explicit temporal links. Bounded clauses tend to be interpreted sequentially, nonbounded ones as simultaneous, and a mix often implies inclusion.

A notable complexity is “pseudo-sloppy simultaneity” in when-clauses. This occurs when a present tense form expresses T-simultaneity, but the “when-clause situation” is not truly W-simultaneous with the “head clause situation” (e.g., “When John receives your letter, he will phone the police”). This is explained by the intricate temporal structure of “when,” which involves a “common Adv-time” containing both the head clause and when-clause orientation times, rather than a direct T-relation between the two situations. It differs from “sloppy simultaneity” (where a T-simultaneity tense is used metaphorically for a logical link despite non-simultaneous W-relations, as in some conditionals) because it arises from the specific semantic structure of “when” rather than a purely metaphorical use of the tense itself.

English Verb Phrases: Situation Types and Actualization

In the study of English verb phrases, “situation type” refers to the classification of what can be expressed by a clause. More precisely, a “situation” is a cover term for anything that can be expressed by a sentence or clause, such as an action, an event, a process, or a state. The “actualization” of a situation refers to its taking place or being in place.

It’s important to distinguish between “situation-templates” and “situation types.”

• A situation-template is a more abstract entity denoted by a verb, verb phrase (VP), or predicate constituent, representing a schematic sort of situation without reference to a concrete actualization.
• A finite clause (containing a subject and a predicate constituent) denotes a fully-fledged situation and, when uttered, refers to a particular actualization of that situation in the real or an extralinguistic world.

While these distinctions are precise, the sources often use “situation” and “refer to” in a simplified, “sloppy” way, allowing clauses and even verb phrases to be described as “referring to situations”.

Ontological Aspect (Lexical Aspect or Aktionsart)

Situation types are classified based on ontological features, which are inherent characteristics of a kind of situation as linguistically represented by a verb phrase. These features are often binary (e.g., static vs. dynamic) and are inherent in the lexical meaning of the verb or verb phrase. They are crucial for understanding the meaning and use of tenses and (non)progressive forms.

Key ontological features include:

• Static vs. Dynamic:
• A static situation (state) is conceived of as existing, unchanging, and homogeneous throughout its duration, not requiring a continuous input of energy. Examples include “Bill was a rich man” or “I believe he is right”. Verbs that only refer to states are called static situation verbs or state verbs (e.g., seem, contain, know, consist of). Habits are also considered states.
• A dynamic situation (nonstatic) involves change and typically requires an input of energy to actualize or continue. It can be punctual or durative. Examples include “John is walking” or “Bill will write a novel”.
• Agentive vs. Nonagentive:
• An agentive situation-template requires an agent (animate entity responsible for the actualization, usually intentionally). For example, “Sylvia shouted” is agentive, whereas “Sylvia looks determined” is nonagentive.
• A nonagentive situation does not involve an agent.
• Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous:
• A durative situation is homogeneous if all its parts are of the same kind as the whole. For example, “John drank beer” is homogeneous because any portion of the drinking can also be described as “drinking beer”. Homogeneous clauses can refer to the situation as a whole or to any representative part. Static situations are inherently homogeneous.
• A heterogeneous (nonhomogeneous) situation consists of parts that are each different from the whole. For example, “John drank five glasses of beer” is heterogeneous because no portion of it is itself an instance of drinking five glasses of beer. This feature can be determined by lexical information, the subject NP, or grammatical aspect (e.g., progressive form).
• Durative vs. Punctual:
• A durative situation is conceived of as having a certain duration (e.g., “They’re printing my book”).
• A punctual (nondurative, momentary) situation needs no more than a moment to actualize (e.g., “I knocked at the door”). Punctual situation verbs can be used in clauses referring to durative situations through repetition, creating a “durative hypersituation” (e.g., “Sylvia smashed twenty windows” implying multiple smashings).
• Transitional: A situation-template is transitional if it consists of a single, punctual change from one state to another (e.g., die, kill, open the window).
• Telic vs. Atelic:
• A situation-template is telic if it implies a natural point of completion, without which the situation is not complete (e.g., “write a letter,” “drink a glass of whisky”).
• It is atelic if it does not imply such a point of completion (e.g., “write,” “drink beer”). The (a)telicity of a situation-template is distinct from the boundedness of an actualizing situation. Only durative situations can be telic.
• Evolving: An evolving situation involves a gradual, nonagentive process of change, typically implying movement on an implicit scale (e.g., grow, get dark, diminish, deteriorate).

These ontological features are grammatically relevant, influencing possibilities like the use of progressive forms or temporal adverbials.

Classifications of Situation Types

Based on these ontological features, two main classifications are discussed:

1. Lyons’ (1977) Classification: Distinguishes four types of situations:

• States: Static, nonagentive, nonevolving (e.g., “Bill was a teacher,” “I need more money”).
• Actions: Dynamic, agentive, nonevolving (e.g., “John walked in the wood,” “John dug a hole”).
• Events: Dynamic, nonagentive, nonevolving, they “just happen” (e.g., bursting, exploding, falling off a ladder).
• Processes: Dynamic, nonagentive, evolving, involving incremental change on a scale (e.g., changing, getting dark, diminishing).
• This classification uses the features static, evolving, and agentive as primary distinctions.

1. Vendler’s (1967) Taxonomy: Distinguishes ‘states’, ‘activities’, ‘accomplishments’, and ‘achievements’ based on whether they are durative and telic.

• States: Nondurative, atelic (e.g., “know the answer”).
• Activities: Durative, atelic (e.g., “dance,” “walk”).
• Accomplishments: Durative, telic (e.g., “build a house”).
• Achievements: Nondurative, telic (e.g., “win the game,” “die”).
• The sources express disagreement with Vendler’s definitions, particularly that states are nondurative (they are defined as durative and homogeneous) and that achievements are punctual and telic (as telicity applies only to durative situations). Due to these problems, the source primarily uses Lyons’ classification.

Situation Types and Actualization Aspect

The concept of “actualization aspect” focuses on whether a particular instance of an actualizing situation is represented or interpreted as bounded (reaching a terminal point) or nonbounded. This is distinct from ontological aspect (which concerns inherent lexical properties) and grammatical aspect (how internal temporal structure is grammatically represented, e.g., progressive).

• The actualization of a situation is not inherently bounded or nonbounded; it is represented as such by a clause.
• Bounded clauses represent the situation as reaching a terminal point (e.g., “Tonight I will drink five glasses of champagne!”). Bounded situations are always heterogeneous.
• Nonbounded clauses do not refer to a terminal point (e.g., “Tonight I will drink champagne!”). Nonbounded situations are always homogeneous.
• The (non)boundedness of a situation influences how it combines with duration adverbials.

Situation Types and Tense

The categorization of situation types and their inherent features significantly impacts how tenses are used to locate situations in time:

• Tenses locate the “situation time” (the time of the predicated situation), not necessarily the “time of the full situation”. For instance, “John was in the library” refers to a predicated situation coinciding with a specific past time, but the full situation of his being in the library might have been much longer.
• The homogeneity of a situation is crucial: only homogeneous situations allow the predicated situation to be a shorter subpart of the full situation. If a situation is bounded (heterogeneous), the predicated situation and full situation coincide in length.
• The choice of tense can reflect “temporal focus”, which is the speaker’s concern with a particular time-zone (e.g., present perfect focuses on NOW, past tense on THEN).
• The (non)boundedness of situations also guides the interpretation of temporal relationships between consecutive clauses without explicit temporal links, influencing whether they are interpreted as sequential or simultaneous. For example, bounded clauses often imply succession, while nonbounded ones imply simultaneity.
• The progressive aspect, regardless of the telicity of the verb phrase, consistently produces a nonbounded interpretation of the actualization. This is because the progressive focuses on a “middle part” of the situation, making it homogeneous and representative of the whole. This allows a durative situation to be “T-simultaneous” (strictly coincidental) with a punctual orientation time (like speech time), as only a punctual part of the ongoing situation needs to coincide.
• In specific contexts like reported speech, the tense system may adapt (e.g., backshifting) to maintain the appropriate temporal relations within the established temporal domain. Similarly, in post-present domains, “pseudo-absolute” tenses are used, treating a future orientation time as if it were the temporal zero-point (pseudo-t0), and their distribution depends on the relationship between the main and subordinate clauses.

Adverbial Clauses: Time, Tense, and Contextual Relations

Adverbial clauses are a fundamental component of English verb phrases, serving to provide temporal, causal, or other contextual information to the main clause. In the context of English grammar, they are a type of subclause, meaning they are syntactically dependent on a head clause (or superordinate clause).

Here’s a detailed discussion of adverbial clauses, their functions, and their interactions with other linguistic categories:

I. Definition and Function

• Definition: An adverbial clause is a subclause whose function is typically associated with that of an adverb or adverbial phrase.
• Purpose: They provide additional information, often regarding time, but also other relations like cause (e.g., because-clauses), condition (e.g., if-clauses), or concession. This discussion will primarily focus on their temporal function, as detailed in the sources.

II. Adverbial Clauses and Temporal Information

Adverbial clauses often function as time-specifying adverbials, specifying an “Adv-time” (adverbially indicated time). This Adv-time “contains” an orientation time from the main clause, either by inclusion or coincidence.

Temporal adverbials are categorized in several ways relevant to their use and meaning:

• Deictic vs. Nondeictic: Deictic time-specifying adverbials relate the Adv-time to a temporal anchor (e.g., yesterday, anchored to speech time t0). Nondeictic time-specifying adverbials do not link to an anchor time (e.g., at some time or other).
• Single-zone vs. Multi-zone: Deictic adverbials can refer to a single absolute time-zone (e.g., yesterday for the past zone) or span multiple zones (e.g., today, covering pre-present, present, and post-present).
• Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous: A homogeneous Adv-time is durative and uniform throughout (e.g., in 1983), while a heterogeneous Adv-time (or nonhomogeneous) indicates a period as a whole, not any smaller portion of it (e.g., from 1983 to 1986).
• Inclusive vs. Noninclusive: Within heterogeneous adverbials, inclusive adverbials (e.g., within or in meaning within) can only combine with clauses whose verb phrase is telic (implying a natural point of completion). Noninclusive duration adverbials (e.g., for hours) specify the length but do not imply a completion point, typically combining only with nonbounded clauses (unless there’s a repetitive interpretation).

Adverbial clauses can function in relation to the head clause as:

• Situation-time adverbials: The Adv-time contains the situation time (the time of the predicated situation) of the head clause.
• Orientation-time adverbials: The Adv-time contains an orientation time other than the head clause’s situation time, to which the head clause’s situation time is related by tense (e.g., At five o’clock John had already left the office, where “at five o’clock” contains the orientation time for “had left,” not the leaving itself).
• Multiple-orientation-time adverbials: The Adv-time contains two or more orientation times (usually situation times).

III. Specific Types of Adverbial Clauses

The sources discuss several specific types of adverbial clauses, highlighting their unique temporal structures and interactions with tense:

1. When-clauses:

• Temporal Structure: The semantics of when can be paraphrased as “at a/the time at which”. This structure implies a “common Adv-time” that contains both an orientation time from the head clause and an orientation time from the when-clause itself.
• Function: When-clauses can act as either situation-time adverbials or orientation-time adverbials for the head clause.
• Tense Use: In both cases, the when-clause typically uses a relative tense, representing its situation time as anterior, simultaneous, or posterior to its own contained orientation time.
• Pseudo-t0-System: For future time reference, when-clauses generally use the Pseudo-t0-System (e.g., present tense), treating a future orientation time as a pseudo-zero-point, rather than the Absolute Future System. This is because the subclause is fully integrated and logically related to the head clause.
• Pseudo-sloppy simultaneity: This occurs when a when-clause uses a tense expressing T-simultaneity, even if the situations are not W-simultaneous (world-simultaneous). This is due to the inherent temporal structure of when, which does not require the two contained orientation times to coincide.
• Direct and Indirect Binding: In when-clauses, direct binding means the when-clause’s situation time is bound by its own contained orientation time. Indirect binding occurs when it’s bound by a syntactically higher clause, a less common and more restricted pattern.
• Irrealis/Tentativeness: When-clauses can use the conditional perfect to express counterfactual or tentative situations.
• “Narrative” when-clauses: These are distinguished from adverbial when-clauses and are disregarded, as they “push forward” the action rather than specifying time.

1. Before-clauses:

• Temporal Structure: Before-clauses are interpreted as “before the time at which”. The “Anchor time” is the terminal point of the Adv-time they establish.
• Function: They can function as either situation-time adverbials or orientation-time adverbials for the head clause.
• Not-yet-factual at t: Before-clauses often imply that the situation referred to is “not-yet-factual at the binding time”, meaning it has not yet happened at the time of the head clause situation. This is distinct from “counterfactual”.
• Tense Configurations: They allow various tense combinations between the head clause and before-clause, which can subtly change the meaning and the degree of factuality (e.g., Jim left before Bill arrived vs. Jim left before Bill had arrived vs. Jim had left before Bill arrived).
• Pseudo-t0-System: Similar to when-clauses, before-clauses referring to the post-present typically use the Pseudo-t0-System, as the head clause often creates an intensional domain.

1. After-clauses:

• Temporal Structure: After-clauses are interpreted as “after the time at which”. The “Anchor time” is the starting point of the Adv-time they establish.
• Function: They can serve as either situation-time adverbials or orientation-time adverbials.
• Pseudo-t0-System: When both the head clause and the after-clause refer to the post-present, the after-clause typically uses a Pseudo-t0-System form.

1. Conditional Clauses (if-clauses):

• Open Condition: These refer to a condition that may or may not be fulfilled in the future. For future reference in open conditionals, the Pseudo-t0-System is obligatory in the if-clause (e.g., If it rains, I will stay home vs. If it will rain). This is because the clauses form a single intensional domain, and the logical dependence is expressed as if it were a temporal one, often leading to “sloppy simultaneity”.
• Closed Condition: These conditions are assumed by the speaker to be fulfilled in the actual or a future possible world.

1. Because-clauses:

• The choice of tense system in because-clauses (especially for future reference) depends on their discourse function: whether they are actualization-explaining (reason for the head clause situation’s actualization), utterance-explaining (reason for the speaker’s utterance), or evidential.

1. Since-clauses:

• When since functions as an adverb, preposition, or conjunction referring to a period up to t0, the present perfect is the unmarked tense in the head clause. Since-clauses can also be part of specificational “since-clefts”.

1. Until-clauses:

• These are similar to before-clauses but are bifunctional temporal adverbials, meaning they specify both duration and time. For example, until now typically collocates with the present perfect.

IV. Interaction with Tense Systems

Adverbial clauses play a crucial role in how tenses locate situations in time and manage temporal relations within and across clauses:

• Temporal Domains and Subordination: Absolute tenses establish a temporal domain, and relative tenses express a temporal relation (e.g., anteriority, simultaneity, posteriority) within that domain. Adverbial clauses often involve these temporal binding relationships.
• Pseudo-t0-System vs. Absolute Future System: For situations located in the post-present (future), there are two main tense systems: the Absolute Future System (tenses that relate the situation time directly to t0) and the Pseudo-t0-System (tenses that relate the situation time to a post-present “basic orientation time,” treating it as a “pseudo-t0“). Many adverbial time clauses, particularly conditional and when-clauses, generally require the Pseudo-t0-System for future reference, indicating a close logical and temporal integration with the head clause.
• Temporal Focus: The speaker’s choice of tense in adverbial clauses, as in other clauses, can reflect their temporal focus – whether they are concerned with “NOW” or “THEN” or with a specific evaluation time.

In summary, adverbial clauses are critical for expressing complex temporal and logical relationships in English, with their specific forms and tense choices being determined by a rich interplay of lexical meaning, grammatical aspect, and contextual factors, particularly within the framework of temporal domains and the speaker’s temporal focus.

Grammatical Aspect in English Verbs

Grammatical aspect is a linguistic category that concerns how a speaker chooses to represent the internal temporal structure of a situation. It involves the use of special grammatical forms, such as verb forms, suffixes, or auxiliaries, to express various meanings related to this internal structure. In English, while many aspectual meanings can be expressed, only a few are formally grammaticalized by special verb markers.

Here’s a detailed discussion:

I. Definition and Core Concept

• Grammatical aspect refers to the use of specific verb forms or auxiliaries to convey how the speaker views the internal temporal constitution of an actualizing situation. This distinguishes it from tense, which primarily locates situations in time relative to a point of orientation, and from ontological aspect (also known as lexical aspect or Aktionsart), which deals with the inherent characteristics of a situation type as determined by the lexical meaning of the verb phrase itself (e.g., whether it’s static, dynamic, durative, punctual, telic, or atelic).
• While ontological aspect refers to inherent features of a situation-template, grammatical aspect is about the speaker’s choice in representing a situation’s internal structure. This choice can sometimes override ontological aspect.

II. Grammaticalized Aspects in English

English has two main types of grammatical aspect that are systematically expressed by special verb markers:

1. Progressive Aspect

• Form: Built with the auxiliary “be” followed by the present participle (V-ing), e.g., I’m writing a book, John was walking home.
• Meaning: It focuses on the middle part of the situation, representing it as “ongoing” or “in progress at or throughout a given vantage time”.
• Effect on Actualization Aspect: The use of the progressive form automatically results in a homogeneous representation of the situation. This means that the situation is represented as uniform throughout its duration, and any portion of it can be described in the same way as the whole. Consequently, progressive meaning (whether grammatically expressed or not) always leads to nonboundedness in the actualization aspect, meaning the situation is not represented as reaching a terminal point. For instance, “Bill was running five miles” is nonbounded, even though “run five miles” is a telic verb phrase.
• Tense Combination: The progressive form can combine with any tensed form, leading to terms like “progressive past tense form” (e.g., She was climbing). The sources emphasize that there are no progressive tenses; rather, progressivity is a matter of aspect that combines with tensed forms.

1. Habitual Aspect

• Form: Expressed in the past by the semi-auxiliary “used to” (e.g., Karen used to like toads), and by the auxiliaries “will” and “would” (e.g., She {will / would} often go to church).
• Meaning: It represents a situation as “characteristic of the referent of the subject NP over an extended period of time”. A habit, being a characteristic, is fundamentally a state.
• Types: Habitual aspect can involve repeated actualizations of a dynamic situation, and when it involves repetitions, it is a form of grammatical aspect because it concerns the internal temporal structure of the situation.

III. Non-Grammaticalized Aspects in English

While other aspectual meanings exist, English expresses them by means other than specific grammatical verb forms or auxiliaries:

• Ingressive Aspect (or Inchoative/Inceptive Aspect): Focuses on the beginning of a situation. English uses “aspectualizers” (lexical verbs like begin, start, commence) followed by a nonfinite clause, rather than a special verb form.
• Egressive Aspect (or Terminative Aspect): Focuses on the end of a situation. Similar to ingressive aspect, English uses aspectualizers like stop, finish, cease.
• Perfective Aspect: Refers to the “actualization of a situation in its entirety,” viewing it as a “temporally unstructured whole” without focusing on its internal structure. While nonprogressive forms often convey perfective meaning (e.g., I wrote an essay last night), they are not exclusively “perfective verb forms” because they don’t always receive a perfective interpretation. The distinction between “perfective” (aspect) and “perfect” (tense) is crucial to avoid confusion.
• Repetitive Aspect (or Iterative Aspect): Describes a situation as repeating itself. English lacks special verb markings for this meaning; instead, it uses repetitive or frequency adverbials (e.g., repeatedly, sometimes) or plural/collective subject/complement NPs. While an iterative verb is one that inherently represents a rapid repetition of subsituations (an ontological feature), grammatically marked repetitive aspect does not exist in English.
• Semelfactive Aspect: Represents a situation as actualizing only once. This is the opposite of repetitive aspect and is not grammatically marked in English.

IV. Interaction with Other Meaning Categories

Grammatical aspect interacts significantly with ontological aspect and actualization aspect to determine the overall aspectual interpretation of a clause. For example:

• When a normally static verb like “be” is used in the progressive form (He is being a fool), the progressive grammatical aspect overrides the static ontological aspect, resulting in a dynamic interpretation.
• The combination of a telic verb phrase (ontological aspect) and progressive aspect (grammatical aspect) results in a linguistically nonbounded (L-nonbounded) clause (actualization aspect), even if the situation inherently tends towards a completion point. This means the clause focuses on the ongoing nature, leaving whether the completion point was reached vague.
• Similarly, the choice of tense and adverbials interacts with aspect. For example, “until now” typically collocates with the present perfect, and the progressive or nonprogressive form can influence whether an indefinite, continuative, or up-to-now W-reading is available for a present perfect clause.

In essence, grammatical aspect provides a layer of meaning that reflects the speaker’s perspective on the internal progression of an event, and its presence or absence in English forms a complex system that shapes how temporal information is conveyed.

By Amjad Izhar
Contact: amjad.izhar@gmail.com
https://amjadizhar.blog

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