19 Ok

UNIT 19
THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS:

REAL TIME AND VERBAL TENSE. ASPECT AND MOOD.
OUTLINE
1.
INTRODUCTION.
1.1. Aims of the unit.
1.2. Notes on bibliography.
2.
A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS.

2.1. Linguistic levels involved in the notion of verb phrase semantics.
2.2. On defining verb phrase semantics: what and how.
2.3. Grammar categories involved: open vs. closed classes.
3.
AN INTRODUCTION TO VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE, ASPECT AND MOOD.

3.1. On defining verb and verb phrase.
3.2. Major verb classes: lexical vs. auxiliary verbs.
3.3.
3.4.
3.5.
3.6.
3.7.
Lexical verbs: main morphological verb forms.

The functions of verb forms: finite vs. nonfinite.
Finite vs. nonfinite verb phrase: structural features.
Major contrasts expressed in verb phrases.
The relevance of semantics: interrelated contrasts.
4.
THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE AND THE VERB.

4.1. Real time vs. verbal tense.
4.2. The present tense.
4.2.1. Definition.
4.2.2. Main types and uses.
4.2.2.1. For present situations.
4.2.2.2. For past situations.
4.2.2.3. For future situations.
4.2.3. Spelling, phonology and syntax.
4.3. The past tense.
4.3.1. Definition.
4.3.2.2. Special uses.
4.3.3. Spelling, phonology and syntax.
4.4. The future time.
5.
THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: ASPECT.

5.1. Definition.
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5.2. Main types and uses.

5.2.1. The perfect aspect and have.
5.2.1.1. The present perfect.
5.2.1.2. The past perfect.
5.2.2. The progressive aspect and be.
5.2.2.1. Static vs. dynamic verb senses.
5.2.2.2. The present and past continuous.
5.3. Spelling, phonology and syntax.
6.
THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: MOOD.

6.1. Definition: mood vs. modality.
6.2. Mood: the grammatical view.
6.2.1. The indicative mood.
6.2.2. The subjunctive mood.
6.2.3. The imperative mood.
6.3. Modality: the semantic view.
6.3.1. The modal operators.
7.
THE VERBAL FEATURE OF VOICE.
8.
THE RELEVANCE OF SEMANTIC COOCURRENCE PATTERNS.
9.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.
10. CONCLUSION.
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
12. APPENDIX.
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1. INTRODUCTION.
1.1. Aims of the unit.
Unit 19 is primarily aimed to examine in English the verb phrase semantics in terms of real time,
verbal tenses, aspect, mood and another relevant verbal feature, voice, namely achieved by means
of verbs, adverbs and other clause structures. In doing so, the study will be divided into eleven
chapters.
Thus, Chapter 2 provides a theoretical framework for the notion of verb phrase semantics, first, by
examining the linguistic levels involved; second, by introducing the notion in terms of how it is
achieved and what it is; and finally, by presenting the grammatical categories involved in it. Once
this key terminology is defined in syntactic terms, the reader is prepared for the descriptive account
in subsequent chapters.
Chapter 3, then, is presented as an introductory chapter for the notion of verb phrase semantics,
which include a review of (1) the definitions of verb and verb phrase ; (2) the major verb classes:
lexical vs. auxiliary verbs; (3) within le xical verbs we shall examine the main morphological verb
forms; and consequently, (4) the functions of verb forms: finite vs. nonfinite. Then, (5) we shall
present finite and nonfinite verb phrases in terms of structural features in order to introduce (6) the
major contrasts expressed in verb phrases out of which the relevance of semantics will be stated in
relation to the interrelated contrasts of our study: time, tense, aspect and mood, and also that of
voice.
Then, Chapters 4, 5 and 6 will offer a descriptive account of the expression of verb phrase
semantics through the paradigms of time, tense, aspect and mood, respectively. So, Chapter 4
presents, first, the distinction between real time vs. verbal tense and then, we shall offer a typology
of the different tenses, that is, (2) present tense and (3) past tense as inflectional tenses, and (4) the
future time as part of the concept of time by other means rather than the simple and past tenses and
aspect. This analysis of tenses includes, namely for the inflectional tenses, definition, types, use and
morphological, phonological and syntactic comments in all of them.
Similarly, Chapter 5 introduces the expression of verb phrase semantics with reference to aspect. In
doing so, we must introduce first (1) a definition of aspect; (2) the different types of aspects, which
be further classified into (a) the perfect aspect, (b) the progressive aspect and (c) a mix of both, the
perfect progressive aspect, which will be examine d in relation to the two types of tenses, the present
tense and the past tense. This analysis of aspect also includes morphological, phonological and
syntactic comments when necessary.
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And Chapter 6 does the same on the expression of verb phrase semantics with reference to mood. In
doing so, we must introduce first (1) a definition of mood in contrast to modality; (2) mood
approached from two different perspectives: (a) the grammatical view and (b) the semantic view,
called respectively mood and modality. This analysis of aspect includes morphological,
phonological and syntactic comments when necessary.
Chapter 7, then, provides an account of the verbal feature of voice as the final verb phrase semantic
element, which offers the distinction between active and passive voice. This verbal paradigm may
be combined with the verbal features of tense, aspect and mood in order to complement the whole
number of verbal form constructions.
Chapter 8 presents the main coocurrence patterns of varying degrees of complexity at lexical level
depending on the semantic feature we intend to express, that is, tense (verbal tense), aspect
(progressive or perfect) or mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative). Hence, thanks to the
combination of all these paradigms, we get all the verbal forms we know today.
Chapter 9, then, provides an educational framework for the expression of verb phrase semantics
within our current school curriculum, and Chapter 10 draws on a summary of all the points
involved in this study. In Chapter 11 bibliography will be listed in alphabetical order and, finally, in
Chapter 12, the only appendix of this study is presented.
1.2. Notes on bibliography.

In order to offer an insightful analysis and survey on the expression of time reference in English, we
shall deal with the most relevant works in the field, both old and current, and in particular,
influential grammar books which have assisted for years students of English as a foreign language
in their study of grammar. For instance, a theoretical framework for the expression of time
localisation is namely drawn from the field of sentence analysis, that is, from the work of Flor Aarts
and Jan Aarts (University of Nijmegen, Holland) in English Syntactic Structures (1988), whose
material has been tested in the classroom and developed over a number of years; also, another
essential work is that of Rodney Huddleston, English Grammar, An Outline (1988).
Other classic references which offer an account of the most important and central grammatical
constructions and categories in English regarding the expression of time localisation, are Quirk &
Greenbaum, A University Grammar of English (1973); Snchez Benedito, Gramtica Inglesa
(19759; Thomson & Martinet, A Practical English Grammar (1986); and Greenbaum & Quirk, A
Students Grammar of the English Language (1990).
More current approaches to notional grammar are David Bolton and Noel Goodey, Grammar
Practice in Context (1997); John Eastwood, Oxford Practice in Grammar (1999); Sidney
Greenbaum, The Oxford Reference Grammar (2000); Gerald Nelson, English: An Essential
Grammar (2001); Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the
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English Language (2002); and. Angela Downing and Philip Locke, A University Course in English
Grammar (2002).
2.
A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS.
Before examining in detail the notion of verb phrase semantics in English, that is, time, tense,
aspect and mood, it is relevant to establish first a theoretical framework for this notion, since it must
be described in grammatical terms. In fact, this theoretical chapter aims at answering questions such
as, first, where this notion is to be found within the linguistic level; second, what it describes and
how and, third, which grammar categories are involved in its description at a functional level.
2.1. Linguistic levels involved in the notion of verb phrase semantics.

In order to offer a linguistic description of the notion of verb phrase semantics, we must confine it
to particular levels of analysis so as to focus our attention on this particular aspect of language. Yet,
although there is no consensus of opinion on the number of levels to be distinguished, the usual
description of a language comprises four major components: phonology, grammar, lexicon, and
semantics, out of which we get five major levels: phonological, morphological and syntactic,
lexical, and semantic (Huddleston, 1988).
First, the phonology describes the sound level, that is, how to pronounced the present and past verb
inflections (i.e. -s/-es third person singular and ed past simple) and so on. Secondly, the
morphological level (i.e. verbal tense formation ) and the syntactic level (i.e. how to place verbal
tenses in a sentence). Third, the lexicon, or lexical level, deals with lists of vocabulary items which,
for our purposes, are different types of verbs: lexical (also called full or ordinary), primary and
modal verbs.
Finally, another dimension between the study of linguistic form and the study of meaning is
semantics, or the semantic level, to which all four of the major components are related in this study.
We must not forget that a linguistic description which ignores meaning is obviously incomplete,
and in particular, when dealing with the notion of verb phrase semantics, since it is from this
linguistic field that we get the core of our study, the expression of time, tense, aspect and mood.
Therefore, we must point out that each of the linguistic levels discussed above has a corresponding
component when analysing the notion under study. Thus, phonology deals with pronunciation of
present and past tenses (i.e. -s/-es third person singular and ed past simple); morphology deals
with verbal tense formation (i.e. s third person singular for present simple; -ed for regular past
simple tenses); and syntax deals with which combinations of words constitute grammatical strings
and which do not (i.e. NOT: Went she to the doctors ).
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On the other hand, lexis deals with the notion of verb phrase semantics regarding the choice
between different types of verbal aspects (i.e. present vs. past forms, finite vs. nonfinite forms,
progressive vs. nonprogressive aspect, etc), and other means such as other formal realizations of
these notions (i.e. a noun phrase, a verbless clause, a finite clause, etc); and finally, semantics deals
with meaning where syntactic and morphological levels do not tell the difference (i.e. He is coming
tomorrow: present continuous with future sense).
2.2. On defining verb phrase semantics: what and how.

On defining the term verb phrase semantics, we must link this notion (what it is) to the grammar
categories which express it (how it is showed). Actually, on answering What is it?, the term verb
phrase semantics is intended to add information about When? a situation has happened in order to
locate it
(1) in real time, common to all mankind and independent from language, which is represented
by one straight line in terms of temporal dimensions (past, present, future );
(2) in the appropriate verbal tense so as to indicate the way grammar marks the time at which
the action takes place (present with future meaning; simple past);
(3) with respect to aspect, it refers to the duration or type of temporal activity denoted by the
verb, thus progressive (continuous) or nonprogressive (perfect/perfective), that is, indicating
whether an action is in progress or is already completed;
(4) and finally, the situation is located in terms of mood, which refers to a set of syntactic and
semantic contrasts signalled by certain paradigms of the verbs such as indicative,
subjunctive, imperative. They follow a theoretical and descriptive study of sentence types,
and in particular, of verbs. Semantically, they convey a wide range of attitudes on the part
of the speaker and syntactically,these contrasts are conveyed by alternative and inflectional
focus of verbs, that is, by using auxiliaries or different verbal inflections.
In fact, the given answers would provide, respectively, details about the exact point of real time in
which the situation happens; grammatically, the appropriate verbal tense form; details about the
duration of the action, that is, in progress or completed; and finally, semantic details about the
attitude of the speakers in their speech together with different ways of expressing these attitudes
syntactically.
Regarding how this type of semantics is expressed, there is no doubt that we shall deal namely with
verbs in order to realize real time and verbal tenses. However, we shall also be helped by lexically
specific and labelled areas and locations which shall indicate when those actions are taking
place, such as noun phrases (i.e. last year, next week ); adjectives which refer to temporal ordering in
terms of previous, simultaneous and subsequent time reference (i.e. former, latter, simultaneous,
next); time adverbs (i.e. yesterday, usually, just, etc); and prepositional phrases (i.e. in the morning,
at night). Moreover, we must not forget specific clause structures, textual markers (conjunctions)
and idiomatic expressions which sha ll indicate temporal dimension as well (i.e. While I was
working, he fainted; First, he gets up and then, he has breakfast; for ages).
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2.3. Grammar categories involved: open vs. closed classes.

So far, as stated above, in order to confine the notion of verb phrase semantics to particular
grammatical categories, we must review first the difference between open and closed classes since
time, tense, aspect and mood cues involve both. Yet, grammar categories in English can be divided
into two major sets called open and closed classes. The open classes are verbs, nouns, adjectives
and adverbs, and are said to be unrestricted since they allow the addition of new members to their
membership, whereas the closed classes are the rest: prepositions, conjunctions , articles (definite
and indefinite), numerals, pronouns, quantifiers and interjections, which belong to a restricted class
since they do not allow the creation of new members.
Then, as we can see, when taking verb phrase semantics to sentence level, we are dealing with both
classes. Thus open word classes, such as verbs since they refer to present and past actions; along
with open-class nouns, in noun phrase structures (i.e. this century, last decade, in 1978, next week,
tonight, the previous Monday, the following morning, etc); regarding adjectives, they refer to
temporal ordering in terms of previous, simultaneous and subsequent time reference: former,
simultaneous, next. Similarly, adverbs refer to the same time reference: earlier, meanwhile,
afterwards.
Moreover, we also find closed classes such as prepositions and conjunctions among others. Thus,
regarding prepositions, they are classified depending on the time cue they answer, for instance,
position time (in 1950, at midday, on Monday), duration (from five to six, for two hours) or
frequency (in the mornings); regarding conjunctions, which belong to the category of adverbial
conjuncts, they express order from the beginning of a set, middle terms and final markers
(first/firstly/in first place; second/secondly/next/then/later/afterwards; finally/lastly/eventually ).
Finally, it is worth noting that apart from grammatical categories, we may find other specific clause
structures, such as wh- clauses (i.e. I was studying when she came/While I was study ing, she was
cooking); finite forms and which shall establish semantic differences regarding real time and verbal
tense when keeping track of when actions took place (i.e. I forgot closing the door (past reference)
vs. I cant forget to close the door (future reference); textual markers (adverbial conjuncts) such as
First, second, then, later, finally, as I said before, presently, etc which keep coherence and
cohesion within any text; and idiomatic expressions among others, which also indicate time
refere nce (i.e. Once upon a time..., once in a while, once in a lifetime, for a while, for ages,
etc).
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3.
AN INTRODUCTION TO VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE, ASPECT AND

MOOD.
This descriptive section will be devoted to an introduction to verb phrase semantics where we shall
approach key notions involved in the study of time, tense, aspect and mood, from the four main
linguistic levels: morphology, phonology, syntax and namely semantics in order to offer a wider
view on this issue. In fact, we shall particularly focus on the latter one since it is this field that
examines the relationship between time, tense, aspect and mood within verbal forms, and the one
which shall offer us the core of our study with an individual analysis of each verbal feature.
Yet, it should be borne in mind that all the key notions to be presented below are particularly
relevant to the study of time, tense, aspect and mood since they explain where these verbal elements
come from, that is, from the verb and verb phrase as main sources to the influence of semantics on
them. Moreover, these four elements, though examined separately in subsequent sections are
closely interrelated in order to form all the verbal forms we know today.
Therefore, we shall start by (1) defining the notion of verb and verb phrase in order to understand
how verbs are combined at sentence level; (2) we shall approach the major types of verb classes
(lexical and auxiliary ) since the reference to time, tense, aspect and mood is mainly drawn from
their interrelationship. Then, (3) we shall examine the main morphological forms of lexical verbs,
followed by (4) an analysis of their syntactic functions, regarding finite and nonfinite forms.
After that, (5) we shall examine the distinction between finite and nonfinite verb phrases regarding
their structural features since time, tense, aspect and mood are drawn from finite forms; and then,
(6) we shall offer the major contrasts expressed in verb phrases among which we find the ones we
need for our analysis: tense, aspect, mood and also, voice. Finally, in (7) we shall relate the
relevance of semantics to the verb phrase in order to conclude our introductory chapter as a link to
next section.
3.1. On defining verb and verb phrase .

Since the main means to express time, tense, aspect and mood are verbs, we shall start by defining
the notion of verb and verb phrase in order to understand how verbs are combined at sentence level
in relation to the subsequent analysis of verb phrase semantics.
First of all, Quirk and Greenbaum (1990) define a verb as a member of a word class, like a noun
and an adjective, which is one of the elements in clause structure, like the subject and the object.
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Regarding the verb main features, Huddleston (1988) states that, in general terms, the notion of
verb is applied to a grammatically distinct word class in a language having two main properties:
first, that (1) they are morphologically simplest words denoting actions, processes or events which
in clause structure are placed in predicative position and, when functioning as head of the predicate,
will normally belong to the class we call verb; and second, and relevant for our study, that (2) the
members of this class carry inflections of tense, aspect and mood if the language has these as
inflectional categories.
Secondly, Aarts (1988) states that the verb phrase consists of verbal forms only, except in the case
of multi-word verbs (i.e. turn on, look at, etc). Moreover, the verbal phrase may be constituted by a
sequence of one or more verbs where the maximum number of verbal forms is five, that is,
maximum four auxiliaries + a lexical verb (i.e. the e-mail was sent, someone was sending it, anyone
can send it, it may be sent, it has been being sent, it may have been being sent -this latter is rare-)
depending on the semantic feature we intend to express, that is, tense (verbal tense), aspect
(progressive or perfect) or mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative).
3.2. Major verb classes: lexical vs. auxiliary verbs.

According to Greenbaum and Quirk (1973) and Aarts (1988), we may distinguish two major types
of verb classes according to their function within the verb phrase1 : first, lexical verbs (also called
full or ordinary verbs) and second, auxiliary verbs, the former constitute an open class, the latter a
closed class. The latter category, auxiliary verbs, fall into a further distinction: primary auxiliaries
and modal auxiliaries. This distinction in verb class categories is relevant for our study since the
reference to time, tense, aspect and mood is mainly drawn from the three of them (see Appendix 1).
First of all, (1) lexical verbs constitute the principal part of the verb phrase (i.e. come, believe, think,
go, speak, sing, etc). They can be accompanied by auxiliaries (i.e. Sarah may come next week /
Sarah may be coming next week ), but they can also occur in verb phrases that do not contain any
other verbal forms (i.e. Sarah came last week ). There are two ways of classifying lexical verbs: the
first is based on complementatio n (verbs which do not require a complement are intransitive, and
verbs that do are transitive); and the second involves the distinction between one-word and multiword verbs (i.e. put vs. put on; look vs. look into).
Secondly, as a rule an (2) auxiliary verb cannot stand on its own since it must be followed by a
lexical verb, except in cases where the lexical verb (sometimes with other sentence constituents) is
understood, as in Can Anthony come? Yes, he can (come). The first subclassification, (a) modal
auxiliaries comprises the following items: can, may, must, shall, and will. Other marginal members
are dare, need, ought (to) and used (to) because they can be used both as auxiliaries and as lexical
verbs (i.e. He needs to be careful vs. He neednt be careful), and also because unlike the other
1
More recently, Quirk and Greenbaum (1990) substituted the category of auxiliary verbs for the very small closed classes
of primary verbs and modal auxiliary verbs since they both belong to the same class and, therefore, they namely
distinguished three main types (full, primary and modal auxiliary verbs).
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auxiliaries ought and used are followed by a to-infinitive. However, used may co-occur with
do in negative and interrogative sentences (i.e. Did he use(d) to drive a car?)
The second subclassification, (b) primary auxiliaries comprises the items: do, have and be. First,
do differs from have and be in that it usually co-occurs with lexical verbs only. This means that
verb phrases with do contain only two verb forms, since verb phrases cannot have more than one
lexical verb (i.e. Do you believe him?/ Do come, John!). Moreover, it is used as an auxiliary of
periphrasis (i.e. He does not realize what he is doing/Who did he see?/ Only then did he realize his
position) and of emphasis (i.e. He DOES know what he is saying/ I DID lock the door).
On the other hand, have and be co-occur not only with lexical verbs but also with modal
auxiliaries, always following the latter (i.e. He may have escaped). Both function as auxiliaries of
aspect. Thus, have is auxiliary of the perfective aspect when followed by the ed participle of
another verb (i.e. He has written a new article), and be is auxiliary of the progressive aspect when
it combines with the ing participle of another verb (i.e. He is writing a new article ). Moreover,
be is also used as auxiliary of the passive voice when followed by the ed participle of a transitive
(lexical) verb as in The theatre was built in 1909.
Yet, the further distinction of modal auxiliaries and primary auxiliaries (i.e. have, be, do) show
important differences as follows:
1. the former are always finite (when the verb phrase show tense, mood, aspect and voice)
whereas the latter have and be have finite as well as non-finite forms (an infinitive, an
ing participle or an ed participle);
2. the former invariably occur as the first element of the verb phrase (i.e. John will travel to
Paris) whereas the second and may occur in initial as well as in medial position in the verb
phrase (i.e. She has travelled / Has she travelled?);
3. moreover, in English modal auxiliaries are mutually exclusive (i.e. I shall come BUT NOT:
I shall can come) whereas primary auxiliaries are not (i.e. She has been playing).
4. finally, it is worth distinguishing the primary auxiliary do from the primary auxiliaries
have and be since it always occurs initially (i.e. Do you dare to do it?), is invariably
finite, does not generally co-occur with other auxiliaries (i.e. She does her homework ) and
finally, it is used for emphasis (i.e. She does write) and periphrasis (i.e. Do you smoke?)
3.3. Lexical verbs: main morphological verb forms.

In this section, we shall namely focus on lexical verbs since it is from them that we get the four
main morphological verb forms so as to express the semantics of tense, aspect and mood, and in
next section, be able to examine how these inflexional morphemes function at sentence level in
finite and nonfinite verb phrases.
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First of all, we shall follow Aarts (1988) and Quirk and Greenbaums (1973) classification, whereby
we distinguish five morphological forms, among which four are inflexional morphemes: thus (1) the
base form, (2) the s form, (3) the ed past tense, (4) the ed past participle and (5) the -ing
participle. Yet, other authors like Greenbaum and Quirk (1990) later on, reduced the number of
morphological forms to four (i.e. base form, -s form, -ing participle and ed form).
3.4. The functions of verb forms: finite vs. nonfinite.

Once we have stated the main inflexional morphemes dealing with tense, aspect and mood, we must
examine the different syntactic functions of these verb forms at sentence level, that is, in finite vs.
nonfinite phrases. In general, the s form and the past form are always finite whereas the ing
participle and the ed participle are always nonfinite. The base form, which has no inflection, is
sometimes finite (i.e. You go to school everyday) when it takes first position in predication, and
sometimes nonfinite (i.e. You have gone to school twice today) when it takes second position.
Thus, the syntactic functions of the verb forms in finite and nonfinite verb phrases are as follows.
First, (1) the base form (i.e. live) is a finite verb in: (a) the present tense in all persons and numbers
except third person singular (i.e. I/you/we/they live in Leeds), (b) the imperative (i.e. Call him now!)
and (c) the present subjunctive (i.e. Long live the Queen/They demanded that she called and see
them). However, it is a nonfinite verb in (a) the bare infinitive (i.e. He may arrive tonight) and (b)
the to-infinitive (i.e. We want him to arrive soon).
(2) The the base form + s form (i.e. lives) is a finite verb in the third person singular present tense
(i.e. He/she/it lives in the forest); (3) the ing participle (i.e. living) is a nonfinite verb in (a) the
progressive aspect following be (i.e. He is living in California) and (b) in ing participle clauses
(i.e. Calling early, I found her in her office ); (4) the ed past form (i.e. lived/drove) is a finite verb
in the past tense (i.e. He arrived yesterday); and finally, (5) the ed participle (i.e. lived/driven) is a
nonfinite verb in (a) the present perfect aspect following have (i.e. He has lived in Madrid for ten
years), (b) the passive voice following be (i.e. Her sister is called Angie ) and (c) ed participle
clauses (i.e. Called early, he took a hot bath ).
It is worth noting that regular lexical verbs have the same ed inflection for both the past tense and
the ed participle (i.e. He called / He was called). However, irregular verb forms may vary in this
respect, from three forms (i.e. put, puts, putting) to eight (i.e. be, am, is, are, was, were, being,
been). Note that some irregular verbs (i.e. drive; tell) have two ed forms (past and participle) with
distinct syntactic functions (i.e. He drove carefully vs. He has driven carefully/He told the truth/He
has told the truth ). Moreover, the modal auxiliaries are defective in not having infinitive (NOT: to
can), -ing participle (NOT: canning), -ed participle (NOT: canned ), or imperative (NOT: Can!).
3.5. Finite vs. nonfinite verb phrases: main features.
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So, from a structural point of view the verb forms operate in finite and nonfinite verb phrases from
which we shall examine their main structural features, following semantic, morphological and
syntactic guidelines. Thus:
First of all, (1) a nonfinite verb phrase contains a non-finite verb form: an infinitive (speak or to
speak ), an ing participle (speaking) or an ed participle (spoken/called). Yet, any phrase in which
one of these verb forms is the first or only word (disregarding the infinitive marker to) is a
nonfinite verb phrase. Alike finite verb phrases, nonfinite phrases do not normally occur as the verb
phrase of an independent clause. For instance, To dance like that deserves an award, I found him
dancing like crazy or Having been insulted before, he was more sensitive than ever.
Secondly, (2) a finite verb phrase is a verb phrase which contains a finite verbal form, usually
formed by an only word which is able to show tense, mood, aspect and voice (i.e. He always laughs
with me). If this verb is not first in a sequence of more verbs, this would be nonfinite (i.e. He is
always laughing ). The finite verbal forms are morphologically marked for the category of tense and
which may, in addition, be marked for the categories of mood and concord. The form he drives,
for example, is marked for all three categories. It is marked for tense becuase it contrasts with he
drove, for mood because it contrasts with he drive, and for concord because it contrasts with
I/you/we/they write. A form like may, however, is marked for tense only since it merely shows a
morphological contrast with might. Yet, the finite verb phrase features are as follows:
(1) finite verb phrases can occur as the verb phrase of independent clauses;
(2) finite verb phrases have tense distinction (i.e. present: He studies vs. past: He
studied);
(3) as well as mood, which indicates the factual, nonfactual, or counterfactual status of
the predication. We may distinguish between the unmarked indicative mood and
the marked forms of the imperative (commands and directive speech acts) and
subjunctive (wish, recommendation, etc).
(4) generally, there is person concord and number concord between the subject of a
clause and the finite verb phrase. In most lexical verbs, concord is restricted to a
contrast between the third person singular present and other persons or plural
number (i.e. You go/He goes), but particularly clear with the present tense of be
(i.e. I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are). However, there is no overt
concord at all with modal auxiliaries (i.e. You may go/He may go).
But, let us focus on some syntactic features of simple and complex finite verb phrases since this will
be the core of our study. The simple finite verb phrase consists of only one word without ellipsis
whereas the complex one consists of two or more words. When dealing with verb phrase semantics,
we deal with the modal, perfective, progressive and passive auxiliaries which follow a strict order in
the complex verb phrase.
For instance, (a) modal verbs are always followed by an infinitive (i.e. He might go); (b) perfective
forms with the auxiliary have are always followed by an ed form (i.e. He has gone, he must have
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gone); (c) progressive forms with the verb be are always followed by an ing participle (i.e. He
was talking too loud/He would have been visiting us now); and (d) passive forms with the verb be
again are always followed by an ed participle (i.e. He was visited/He must have been being
visited ). However, although the above order is strictly followed, we find some exceptions, such as
with (a) modal + progressive (i.e. may be visiting ); (b) perfect + passive (i.e. has been built); and (c)
modal + passive (i.e. may be visited).
3.6. Major constrasts expressed in verb phrases.

As seen, it is relevant to briefly list in this section all the contrasts which play an important role in
the verb phrase since they will lead us to the core analysis of our study, that is, the semantics of the
verb phrase regarding tense, aspect and mood among others. Hence, eight major contrasts are
distinguished by Greenbaum and Quirk (1990). Thus:
(1) Tense. This contrast requires a choice between present and past in the first or only verb in a
finite verb phrase (i.e. She cooks/She cooked).
(2) Aspect. It establishes the distinctions perfect vs. nonperfect and progressive vs.
nonprogressive.
(3) Mood requires a choice between the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive, (i.e. He
looks/Look at me!/I demand that he look at me, respectively).
(4) Voice, which involves the active-passive relation (i.e. He will read a magazine vs. a
magazine will be read by him) .
(5) Finiteness which requires the choice between the finite and nonfinite forms (i.e. She likes
video games vs. Playing video games is fun).
(6) Questions, which generally require an inversion of subject-operator or the use of an
auxiliary as operator (i.e. He can drive/Can he drive; He drives/Does he drive?).
(7) Negation, which makes a similar use of operators (i.e. I should go with you/I should not go
with you; John escaped/John did not escape).
(8) And finally, emphasis, which is carried out by an operator, usually an auxiliary like do or
a modal auxiliary (i.e. He MUST sing/He DOES sing).
3.7. The relevance of semantics: interrelated contrasts.

As we can see, all these contrasts show the relevance of semantics in the verb phrase since they are
closely interrelated so as to create all the verbal forms we know today in a combination of tense,
aspect and mood as the title indicates. In fact, for our study we shall focus on tense which shows
the correspondence between the form of the verb and our concept of time; aspect which concerns
the manner in which the verbal action is experienced or regarded (completed or in progress)
whereas mood relates the verbal action to such conditions as certainty, necessity, possibility,
ability, obligation and so on. So, to a great extent we can observe how these three categories overlap
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each other and how, for example, the expression of time present and past cannot be considered
separately from aspect, and the expression of the future is closely bound up with mood.
However, according to Aarts (1988), we must include in our study another verb feature which is not
found in any other phrase type, that of voice. Of these, as stated before, tense and mood are typical
features of finite verb phrases only whereas aspect and voice can occur in finite as well as non finite
verb phrases. Another feature of the finite verb phrase is that ti often exhibits concord, that is,
agreement in person and/or number between the verb phrase and the subject.
As seen, morphological and syntactic levels offer important information for the analysis of relations
in a time line, but in fact, the relationship between semantics and time reference is the most relevant
for an appropriate classification of figurative time dimensions. Mainly based on the category of
verbs, according to Huddleston (1988), the semantic time reference may be drawn from verbal
tenses, since the field of semantics will approach this dimension in terms of tense inflections and of
certain aspectual and modal catenatives.
In addition we will consider, in the light of this semantic discussion not only the nature of tense,
aspect and mood/modality as general linguistic categories, but also that of voice. So, in next
sections, we shall discuss the contrasts of these verb phrase paradigms and, in doing so, we shall
start by reviewing the difference between real time and verbal tense, and then we shall examine
mood, aspect, and voice.
4. THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE AND THE VERB.

In this section, then, we shall analyse the verb phrase semantics with reference to time, tense and
the verb. In doing so, we must establish first (1) a distinction between real time and verbal tense;
second, we shall offer a typology of the different tenses, that is, (2) present tense and (3) past tense
as inflectional tenses, and (4) the future time as part of the concept of time by other means rather
than the simple and past tenses and aspect. This analysis of tenses includes, namely for the
inflectional tenses, definition, types, use and morphological, phonological and syntactic comments
in all of them.
4.1. Real time vs. verbal tense.

Although both temporal dimensions, real time and verbal tense answer to the questions When? or
How long...? they show important differences and just a low percent of similarities. First of all, they
are similar in that they are expressed by means of verbal tenses, which belong to the open-class
category of lexical verbs (i.e. go, come, drink, listen) for present and past tenses (inflectional), and
modal operators (shall, will) for the future (pro-forms). Secondly, we must distinguish clearly
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between the grammatical category of tense and the semantic category of time, since the fairly
complex relation between them shows the importance of distinguishing between real time as a time
line and, second, time as a grammatical category, which is then called tense.
Real time is thought of as a universal abstraction from any given language with three temporal
divisions: past, present and future. This non-linguistic concept is conceived as a line on which the
present moment is located as a continuously moving point from which anything behind of that
present moment is in the past, and anything ahead is the future. It is when we relate this semantic
view of time to the grammatical field that we reformulate it and then, we talk about present, past
and future in terms of tenses.
Then, by verbal tense we understand the corresponding tenses regarding our concept of time, for
instance, the term present moment becomes the present time (including now); the past becomes
the past time (in relation to the preceding now); and the future becomes the future time (in
relation to the following now). Hence, tense, in opposition to time, is considered to be a
grammatical category that is realized by verb inflection.
Huddleston (1988) states that a language has tense if it has a set of systematically contrasting verb
inflections where the primary semantic function is to relate the time of the situation to the time of
the utterance. Tense thus involves the grammaticalisation of time relations when situation is
understood as a general term covering states, actions, processes or whatever is described in the
clause by means of the inflectional category of tense. Following Greenbaum & Quirk (1990), since
English has no future inflected form of the verb, the threefold semantic opposition is reduced to two
tenses: the present tense and the past tense, which typically refer to present and past time
respectively 2 .
Tense is particularly relevant when we address to its functional role. For instance, Palmer (1981)
distinguishes three main functions. First, as a purely marker for temporal relations of past and
present time (i.e. My dad left home early; I like cats); secondly, as a marker of reported speech (i.e.
from Daniel is writing a novel to He said that Daniel is writing a novel / He said that Daniel
was writing a novel, meaning respectively the statement is still valid or is just a deictic tense);
and finally, as a marker of unreality, especially in conditional clauses to express wishes (i.e. I wish
you had luck/If I were you...).
Therefore, we shall examine in turn the various uses of the present and past tenses in English only
as simple inflectional form since the complex forms (perfect and progressive) are to be analysed
within the analysis of aspect and mood. Moreover, the analysis of future time will be enclosed as a
part of our concept of time in opposition to tenses, though some aspects are included in the present
tense with future meaning. Yet, it will be fully included in the analysis of mood.
We must bear in mind, however, that future meaning may be conveyed by various means, including the present tense
(i.e. Tomorrow is Wednesday).
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4.2. The present tense.

The present tense is usually introduced together with the contrast of aspect since the contrast of
tense usually show simple forms (i.e. I speak ) in opposition to aspect which shows complex
forms (i.e. I am speaking/I have spoken, corresponding to progressive and perfective, respectively).
However, as stated before, in this section we shall only approach simple forms. So, we shall start
(1) by defining the present tense; second, (2) by analysing the main types and uses of the present
tense for (a) present, (b) past and (c) future situations; and third, (3) by offering some comments on
spelling, phonology and syntax.
4.2.1.
Definition.
The present tense refers to present time situations, where the primary use of the present tense is,
according to Huddleston (1988), to locate the situation in present time, where the term situation
must be understood as the time of the utterance describing states, actions, processes or any other
situation in the clause, that is, simple or progressive.
4.2.2.
Main types and uses.
Within the inflectional category of present tense, the following uses may be distinguished: (1)
simple present tense for present time situations, (2) simple present tense for past situations and (3)
simple present tense for future situations.

Regarding the simple present tense for present time situations, the primary use of the present tense
is, according to Huddleston (1988), to locate the situation in present time, where the term
situation must be understood as the time of the utterance describing states, actions, processes or
any other situation in the clause. The mentioned situations may be classified as either static or
dynamic. Thus:
(1) Static situations (or according to Greenbaum & Quirk (1990), the state present) refer to states
of affairs which continue over periods of time with a non-defined beginning or end, that is, with no
definite time reference (i.e. He is an architect/She is tall/This soup tastes delicious) or relations (i.e.
She is married).
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In this type, habitual actions, that is, actions that are regularly repeated and indicate routine (i.e. He
always works at night/My dog barks a lot) are to be included 3 since they are understood as a state of
affairs characterised by the repeated or habitual behaviour, and again this state of affairs extends
beyond the time of utterance, just like the more obviously static situation (i.e. Kim washes her hair
with Clarins shampoo). This type of present tense is often used with adverbs or adverb phrases,
referring to time and frequency (i.e. always, never, occasionally, often, sometimes, usually, every
week, on Sundays, twice a year, as a rule, etc ) and also with time clauses (i.e. Whenever it rains the
roof leaks/When you open the door a light goes on).
Moreover, following Eastwood (1999), this type also includes references to thoughts and feelings
which cannot be expressed with the present continuous (i.e. I think so, I like it, I believe it, I see,
etc) and universal statements, that is, facts and things that are true for a long time (i.e. Dogs hate
dogs/Whales are mammals) and which usually refer to scientific facts (i.e. Water boils at 100C/The
sun sets in the west).
(2) On the other hand, dynamic situations (or according to Greenbaum & Quirk (1990), the
instantaneous present) refer to actions or events happening as a single occurrence with a definite
beginning and end (i.e. Nicole Kidman is on a new project at the moment). This type of situations
are by contrast understood to be effectively simultaneous with the utterance.
Its use is fairly restricted to dramatic narrative when describing a single event with little or no
duration that occurs at the time of speaking or writing, for instance, the action of an opera, play or
any sport (football, tennis, basketball). For instance, in running commentaries on a play (i.e. When
the curtains rise, Cristine is walking in the forest and suddenly, ...) and particulary in radio
commentaries at sports events or public functions (i.e. ...and now, Ronaldo passes the ball to
Figo...), demonstrations (i.e. I add a pinch of sugar in a cookery demonstration) and for certain
kinds of act performed precisely by virtue of uttering a sentence that describes the act (i.e. I promise
to be back before ten) or performative declarations (i.e. I name this ship Cocoa).

Regarding the simple present tense for past time situations, the primary use of the present tense is,
to locate the situation in past time , where the term situation must be understood as the time of the
utterance describing states, actions, processes or any other situation in the clause. Following
Greenbaum & Quirk (1990), there are two main types of situations in the past with present
reference: the historic present and the reference to past with verbs of communication.
Huddleston (1988) classifies the present tense for present situation into two types (static and dynamic)
which, according to the classification proposed by Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) would be the state present
and the instantaneous present respectively. However, Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) distinguish a further third
type called the habitual presentwhich is included into Huddlestons static type.
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(1) First of all, the historic present refers to past time, and is characteristic of popular narrative
style. It conveys the dramatic immediacy of an event happening at the time of the narration (i.e. Just
as we arrived, up comes Sarah and says hello as if nothing has happened). This type is namely used
in fictional narrative as a stylistic marker device for imaginary events in the past (i.e. Everybody
waits at the city gate, excitement grows, and suddenly, the hero appears on a black horse with seven
knights following him...).
(2) Secondly, the simple present tense is optionally used to refer to the past with verbs of
communication or reception of communication to suggest that the information commun icated is still
valid (i.e. The French Prime Minister states that ...). Moreover, it is used namely with the verb say
in order to ask about or quote from books, notices or letters (i.e. What does she say in her
letter?/Hamlet says, To be or not to be, thats the question) and also, with other verbs of
communication (i.e. Spanish Health Care Authorities advise not to swim in Atlantic waters) and in
newspaper headlines (i.e. Mass murderer escapes/The Prestige finally sinks in the Atlantic Ocean).
4.2.2. 3. For future situations.

Regarding the simple present tense for future time situations , the primary use of the present tense is,
to locate the situation in future time, where the term situation must be understood as the time of
the utterance describing states, actions, processes or any other situation in the clause. Following
Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) future situations are related to time-position adverbials and subordinate
clauses which, in Huddlestons words (1988), would be expressed by present time schedules of
future situations and futurity in subordinate clauses, respectively.
(1) Regarding present time for future time situations, they express (a) a planned future action or
series of actions, particularly when they refer to a journey (i.e. The train leaves at 10.00 in two
hours time ) and (b) present time schedules of future situations (i.e. The match starts tomorrow)
where a dynamic situation is presented in future time, not present time. There is nevertheless a
present time element in the meaning, in that we are concerned with what is presently arranged.
Moreover, in main clauses like the ones above, the simple present typically occurs with time position adverbials (i.e. in two hours time, tomorrow) to suggest that the future event is certain to
take place.
(2) Regarding futurity in subordinate clauses, we find it when a present tense verb refers to a future
situation (i.e. I want to arrive before the baby wakes up). This use of present tense occurs most
often after such temporal expressions as after, before, until, etc (a) when there is an idea of routine
(i.e. She always takes the boy to school before she goes to work ); (b) when the main verb is in a
future form (i.e. I will stop raining soon. Then well set out); and (c) with conditional expressions
like if, unless, provided, etc (i.e. They will buy you a bike if you pass your exam).
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4.2.3.
Spelling, phonology and syntax.
We shall make some comments on spelling, phonology and syntax related to the simple present
tense.
Thus, first of all, regarding morphology, the regular spelling of the present tense suffix is s or es.
The latter spelling is found in: (a) verbs ending in s (his-s-es), -ss (kiss-es), -ch (watch-es), -sh
(fish-es) and -x (tax-es) in order to form the third person singular; (b) verbs ending in a consonant
symbol + o (echoes, goes, vetoes); and (c) verbs ending in a consonant symbol + -y, by means of
which y changes into i (cries, fancies, tries).
On the one hand, the corresponding phonological realizations of the present tense morpheme s are
regularly realized in two ways: first, /s/ after bases ending in voiceless sounds except sibilants (i.e.
walks, coughs, stops, prints) and second, /z/ after bases ending in voiced sounds except sibilants
(i.e. frees, mars, chews, purrs, snores, destroys, dries, pays, glows, rubs, begs, clims, grins, settles,
breathes).
On the other hand, the corresponding phonological realization of the present tense morpheme es is
regularly realized by /iz/ after bases ending in a sibilant /s/ (i.e. mixes, promises, tosses), /z/ (i.e.
freezes, loses, seizes), the voiceless palato alveolar fricative (i.e. fishes, rushes, washes ), the voiced
palato alveolar fricative (i.e. camouflages, rouges), the voiceless palato alveolar affricate (i.e.
catches, screeches, touches), and the voiced palato alveolar affricate (i.e. alleges, budges, lodges).
Yet, similar spelling but different phonetic realization is given with those verbs ending in a
consonant symbol + o, for instance, note the pronounciation of does /d^z/ and goes /schwa+u/.
4.3. The past tense.

Similarly to the present tense, the past tense is usually introduced together with the contrast of
aspect since the contrast of tense usually show simple forms (i.e. I spoke) in opposition to
aspect which shows complex forms (i.e. I was speaking/I have spoken, corresponding to
progressive and perfective, respectively). Again, as stated before, in this section we shall only
approach simple forms since complex forms shall be addressed in the analysis of aspect. So, we
shall start (1) by defining the past tense; second, (2) by analysing the main types and uses of the
past tense as (a) simple past tense for past time situations and (b) special uses of the simple past
tense; and third, (3) by offering some comments on spelling, phonology and syntax.
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4.3.1.
Definition.
The past tense refers to past time situations, where the primary use of the past tense is, according to
Huddleston (1988), to locate the situation in past time, where the term situation must be
understood as the time of the utterance describing states, actions, processes or any other situation in
the clause, that is, simple or progressive.
4.3.2.
Main types and uses.
Within the inflectional category of past tense, the following uses may be distinguished: (1) simple
past tense for present time situations, (2) simple past tense for past situations, (3) simple past tense
for future situations and (4) special cases.

As seen above, the historic past refers to past time with present tense forms and it is fairly common
in vivid narrative (i.e. At that moment, in comes a doctor and orders to examine the wounded man ).
However, it has no journalistic overtones with verbs of communicating (i.e. John tells me that there
was a robbery in the neighbourhood last night).

Regarding the simple past tense for past time situations, compare the sentences: Kim lived in
Frankfurt, Kim played defensively forward, and Kim used to eat spaguetti carbonara. The past
tense serves straightforwardly to locate the situation in past time. Static situations may again extend
beyond the time at which they are said to obtain (first sentence) whereas dynamic situations will be
wholly in the past, although the past can accommodate longer situations than the present (second
sentence), and can be as salient as the habitual situations (third sentence).
Yet, we must distinguish between actions which were completed in the past at a definite time (i.e.
Pasteur died in 1895 ) and those where the time of the action is not given (i.e. Pasteur helped
medicine improve). With this duality in mind between a definite and indefinite time setting, we
move on to present the three main types of situations in the past with past reference following
Greenbaum & Quirk (1973, 1990): the event past, the habitual past and the state past.
(1) First of all, the event past is used with dynamic verb senses to refer to a single definite
event in the past. This means that the action was completed in the past (a) at a definite time ,
that is, when the time is given (i.e. The first Viking raid took place in Kent in 787 A.D.); (b)
over an extended period (i.e. The Vikings invaded England in the eighth century ) or (c)
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when the action clearly took place at a definite time even though this time is not mentioned
(i.e. How did they manage to invade England?).
(2) Secondly, the habitual past is used with actions which refer to past events that repeatedly
occur at a certain moment in the past as habitual or routinary activities (i.e. He always
arrived on time), but since, unlike the simple present, this is not implied without a suitable
adverb, used to or less commonly would may be needed to bring out this sense by
paraphrasing (i.e. He used to/would arrive on time). We may find (a) actions whose time is
not given but which occupied a period of time now terminated (i.e. He worked in a bank for
ten years) and (b) actions whose time occurred at a moment in a period of time now
terminated (i.e. She lived in New York for a long time).
(3) Finally, the state past is used with stative verb senses to refer to a single unbroken state of
affairs in the past (i.e. I once wrote a novel). Here we may also convey the meaning of the
past by paraphrasing with used to (i.e. Once I used to write novels).
4.3.2.3. For future situations.

The primary use of the past tense is to locate the situation in future time where there is no change in
the time of the starting: what has changed is the time at which the arrangement/schedule is said to
hold (i.e. The party started tomorrow). This use of the past tense is vastly less frequent than the
corresponding use of the present tense. Yet, most of the future constructions describe something
which is in the future when seen from a viewpoint in the past (i.e. He said he was going to give me
his address) by means of five different structures, for instance: modal verbs, be going to +
infinitive, past progressive, be to + infinitive and finally, be about to + infinitive.
(1) Modal verb constructions include the use of would, which is quite rare and only used in
literary narrative style (i.e. We knew that sooner or later he would come back).
(2) Be going to + infinitive constructions often have the sense of unfulfilled intentions (i.e.
He said he was going to give me his address but he didnt).
(3) The past progressive indicates a plan which was arranged in the past (i.e. Laura was
meeting her husband in York the next day ).
(4) Be to + infinitive is a quite formal construction which indicates either was unavoidable to
happen or arrangement (i.e. We were meant to meet each other/The party was to be held
on Saturday, respectively).
(5) And finally, the be about to + infinitive construction, which conveys the meaning of on
the point of, often with the sense of an unfulfilled intention (i.e. He was just about to fall
down).
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4.3.2.4. Special uses.

Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) distinguish three special uses of the simple past: (1) backshifting in
indirect reported speech, (2) the attitudinal past and (3) factual remoteness with the hypothetical
past.
(1) First of all, backshifting is what is known as indirect reported speech, indirect in that one
gives only the content expressed, not the actual words used. Compare Jane said that James
had two cats vs. Jane said that James has two cats. In the first sentence, we have a past
tense instead of the original present tense: this shift from present tense to past tense is
known as backshifting.
In the second sentence, by contrast, there no backshifting. The difference is then that in the
first sentence the state of Jamess having two cats is temporally related to a point in the past
whereas in the second sentence, it is temporally related to a point in the present, the time of
ones utterance. The term indirect reported speech is actually too narrow, for backshifting
occurs equally in the report of feelings, beliefs, knowledge, etc.
(2) Secondly the attitudinal past is optionally used to refer more politely to a present state of
mind (i.e. Did you mind to talk to me?).
(3) And finally, the hypothetic al past (or actual remoteness according to Huddleston) which
makes reference to subordinate clauses, especially conditional clauses (second type)
introduced by if, as if, as though, it is time, if only, wish, would sooner/rather, etc so as to
convey the idea of an unreal past and the opposite to the belief, expectation or wish of the
speaker (i.e. If you knew him, you would be surprised/I wish I had more money).
The tense difference thus signals a difference not in time, but in the speakers assessment of
the likelihood of the conditions being fulfilled: the past tense presents it as a relatively
remote possibility in contrast with the present tense which shows an open possibility, that
is, past vs. present tenses have a contrast between unreal vs. real conditional constructions.
The factual remoteness meaning of the past tense is not restricted to unreal conditional
constructions. It is also found in subordinate clauses after wish or it + be time (i.e. I wish/It
is time they were here). In main clauses it occurs only with modal operators.
4.3.3.
Spelling, phonology and syntax.
We shall make some comments on spelling, phonology and syntax related to the simple past tense.
Thus, first of all, regarding morphology, the regular spelling of the past tense and ed participle
suffixes is ed or d. The latter spelling is found when the verb ends in mute e (i.e. bake-d, love-d,
move-d).
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In four cases the spelling of the base is affected before the ending ed, for instance, (1) in verbs
ending in a consonant symbol + y, where y changes into i (i.e. denied, fancied, pitied, tried); (2) in
verbs ending in a consonant symbol preceded by a single vowel symbol. Then, the final consonant
symbol is doubled if the verb is monosyllabic or ends in a stressed syllable (i.e. hugged, nodded,
rubbed, stopped, admitted, occurred, preferred, regretted) Note the following exceptions to this rule
(i.e. humbugged, handicapped, kidnapped, worshipped); (3) in verbs ending in l, preceded by a
single vowel symbol, l is doubled (i.e. cancelled, travelled, quarrelled, rebelled, signalled); and
(4) the final c is changed into ck (i.e. trafficked, bivouacked, picnicked).
Only in three verbs final y is changed into i before the ending d (i.e. lay-laid, pay-paid, say-said).
Note that the latter one (say-said) does not follow the same pronunciation rules that the preceding
forms, thus said /sed/.
Regarding pronunciation, the past tense morpheme ed of regular verbs are realized in three ways:
first, /t/ after bases ending in voiceless sounds except /t/ (i.e. walked, stopped, kissed); second, /d/
after bases ending in voiced sounds except /d/ (i.e. played, sinned, loved); and /id/ after bases
ending in /t/ or /d/ (i.e. demanded, parted, decided).
4.4. The future time.

The analysis of future time will not be examined as the previous paradigms since there is no
obvious future tense in English corresponding to the time and tense relation for present and past.
Instead we find several possibilities to express future, for instance, by means of futurity (with such
constructions as be going to + infinitive, be about to + infinitive and be about to + infinitive),
modality (by means of modal verbs) and aspect, which are closely related, by means of modal
auxiliaries or semi-auxiliaries (be, have, do), or by the simple or progressive forms, as already seen
in the simple present and past tense in future situations.

Having seen the future time within the simple present and past tense and, very soon reviewed by
the paradigm of aspect, we shall briefly present how future time is expressed by means of modal
verbs (since other structures have been already presented in the past tense with future meaning) in
order to close the complete the time line (present, past, future) in the discussion time vs. tense.
Within the category of future time , the most common way of expressing futurity is the construction
of will/shall + infinitive. On the one hand, will (or ll) with the infinitive to express futurity in the
long run (i.e. They will be here in one hour/Hell be my husband) and, on the other hand, with
shall with the infinitive (i.e. No doubt that I shall fulfill all my wishes). This latter option is
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sometimes used with the infinitive (especially in Southern Britain) to indicate futurity with a first
person subject (i.e. No doubt I shall see you next week).
Note that these constructions are the closest approximations to a colourless, neutral future which
cover a range of modal meanings, for instance, possibility in the future (i.e. You may pass your
driving test), obligation (i.e. You will have to talk to her as soon as she comes), permission (i.e. You
will be able to enter this room next time) and so on.
We may also distinguish four types of future, one within simple constructions regarding tense, that
is, Future Simple (i.e. I will go) and two within the complex constructions regarding the perfect
aspect: (a) the Future Perfect (i.e. I will have done it) and (b) the Future Perfect Continuous (i.e. I
will be studying by then), the latter one has to do with the perfect and progressive aspects since it is
a combination of both. Moreover, when dealing with the verbal feature of voice, we find other
combinations, such as those of the passive voice: simple future tense in the passive (i.e. The
building will be finished by the year 2005), the progressive future (i.e. The children will be being
taught by the best teacher) and the Perfect Future in the passive (i.e. The children will have been
taught).
All these possible combinations are coocurrence verbal patterns which, in combination with all the
forms we shall approach in this study, will complete our study on the verb phrase semantics.
5. THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: ASPECT.

In this section, then, we shall analyse the verb phrase semantics with reference to aspect. In doing
so, we must introduce first (1) a definition of aspect; (2) the different types of aspects, which be
further classified into (a) the perfect aspect, (b) the progressive aspect and (c) a mix of both, the
perfect progressive aspect, which will be examined in relation to the two types of tenses, the present
tense and the past tense. This analysis of aspect includes morphological, phonological and syntactic
comments when necessary.
5.1. Definition.
The term aspect is defined as a grammatical category that reflects the way in which the meaning
of a verb is viewed with respect to time (Greenbaum & Quirk, 1990). Yet, since the terminological
distinction between tense and time has no well-established analogue in the domain of aspect, the
term aspect as we know it, refers to the manner in which a situation is experienced, that is, as a
completed action or in progress.
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The term aspect then is widely used both for a grammatical category of the verb (present, past,
present perfect) and for the type of meaning characteristically expressed by that category (action in
progress vs. completed action). We recognize two aspects in English, the perfect and the
progressive, which This is what Huddleston defines it as the grammatical and semantic aspect:
progressive and perfect aspects,
5.2. Main types and uses.

We namely recognize two aspects in English, the perfect and the progressive, which may combine
in a complex verb phrase, and are marked for present or past tense4 and which are realized
respectively, by the perfect have, the progressive be and a combination of both. Therefore, we
shall examine the perfect and the progressive aspects in relation to the two types of tenses, the
present tense and the past tense.
According to Huddleston (1988), English does not have grammatical aspect since, for a language to
have grammatical aspect, it must have a system of the verb, marked inflectionally or by such
analytic devices as auxiliaries, where the primary semantic contrast between the terms is a matter of
aspectual meaning. We can talk of aspectual verbs but they do not form a grammatically distinct
class and are not dependents of the verbs with which they enter into construction. We talk about the
two most frequent and diffic ult ones: progressive be and perfect have.
5.2.1. The perfect aspect and have.

Regarding the aspectual meaning of perfect have, we must point out that the verb have enters
into a variety of catenative constructions, under the perfect construction of the single complement
(have/has/had) + the form of a past-participial clause (-ed/written). such as She had written the
letter, She had to write the letter, She had her daughter write the letter, She had her daughter
writing the letter, She had the letter written by her daughter. As we shall see, it cannot head the
complement of various other aspectual verbs, such as begin, stop, progressive be, etc. Thus we
cannot reverse the direction of dependency in She has begun/stopped/been reading the letter.
We need to distinguish two cases of the perfect construction: the present perfect where have
carries a present tense inflection (has gone, have gone, etc ) and the non-present perfect, that is, the
past perfect, where have either carries the past tense inflection or else is non-tensed (i.e. had
gone, to have gone, may have gone, having gone, etc).
Perfective and progressive forms are presented in complex verb phrases in present and past tenses, for
instance, present perfect (has seen) vs. past perfect (had seen); present progressive (is working) vs. past
progressive (was working); and present perfect progressive (has been working) vs. past perfect progressive
(had been working ).
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5.2.1.1. The present perfect.

Like the past tense in its primary use, the present perfect locates the situation in past time but with a
certain connection to the present, that is, it refers to a situation set at some indefinite time within a
period beginning in the past and leading up to the present. Compare Kate is ill vs. Kate was ill
vs. Kate has been ill. The difference is that the simple past involves a point or period in the past
that is exclusive of the present, whereas the present perfect involves a period that is inclusive of the
present as well as as the past.
This is why certain types of temporal expressions cannot occur with one or other of them. For
instance, yesterday, last night, four weeks ago and the like indicate times that are entirely in the past
and are hence incompatible with the present perfect, which is complemented by at present, as yet,
so far, since my birthday. Some adverbials cooccur with the present perfect and not with the simple
past. They include the adverb since (I havent seen her since 1989 ); prepositional phrases and
clauses introduced by since (since Monday; since I met you ); and the phrases till/up to now and so
far.
Greenbaum & Quirk distinguish three main types of present perfect uses: first, the state present
perfect, second, the event present perfect and third, the habitual present perfect.
(1) First of all, the state present is related to stative verb senses which, often, have no
definite time reference (i.e. Ive always liked Jane) but lasts throughout an incomplete
period by means of time expressions such as for, since, all day/night/week, all my life,
all the time, always, lately, never, recently. It involves a past inclusive of the present
which is well suited to situations beginning in the past and lasting through to the present
(i.e. Markus has lived in Madrid since 1980 = He is still living there ). Moreover, these
actions usually continue past the time of speaking in the present (i.e. He has lived here
all his life=and is likely to continue living).
But this explanation is not restricted to such cases but many others. For instance, recent
actions in the present perfect often have results in the present (i.e. Tom has had an
accident=Hes probably in the hospital). Thus, in the sentences I have lost my car
keys and The lift has broken down the loosing of the keys and the lift failure took
place in the past but the sentence refers to a present state of affairs resulting from it, that
is, someone is still looking for the car keys and other people have to use the stairs.
However, note that sometimes the action finishes at the time of speaking. For instance,
on meeting someone: Hi, Ann! - Hi, Lenna! I havent seen you for ages (=but I see
you now).
(2) The event present perfect is related to dynamic verb senses to refer to one or more
events that have occurred at some time within the period leading up to the present, that
is, actions occurring in an incomplete period of time (i.e. today, this morning, this year,
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lately, recently, etc) which imply that the action happened or didnt happen at some
undefined time during this period (i.e. Have you seen him today?=at any time today).
Two main cases are distinguished:
(a) first, when the implicit time period (occurred at some more remote time in the
past) leads the events up to the present (i.e. She has never eaten oysters/Have
you ever seen any live concert?). Similarly, we may also convey the same
meaning by using always, occasionally, often, several times, since + a point in
time (i.e. since 1978), since + clause (i.e. since I was born), or since as adverb
(i.e. I havent seen her since).
(b) Second, when the events are reported as news, usually when they have occurred
shortly before the present time (i.e. The Democrats have won the elections=
recently). These past events are related to the present by their recency and
current news value (i.e. The euro has been devalued by 30%). However, in
most cases the time is not mentioned ( i.e. this year).
(3) The habitual present perfect is also used with dynamic verb senses and refer to past
events that repeatedly occur up to and including the present. This type of present perfect
refers to actions which occur further back in the past, provided the connexion with the
present is still maintained, that is that the action could be repeated in the present, for
instance My grandfather has seen wolves in the forest (=He used to see wolves there
and it is still possible to see the m), Ive been reading only horror novels (=till now),
The magazine has been published every two weeks (=since a specific point in time).
Unlike the simple past, the present perfect does not normally cooccur with adverbials
that indicate a specific point or period of time in the past. Compare John wrote a novel
last year (right) vs. John has written a novel last year (wrong).
5.2.1.2. The past perfect.

The past perfect (or also know as pluperfect) is defined as the past equivalent of the present
perfect which represents the past of the simple past, and refers to a time earlier than that indicated
by the simple past (i.e. They had arrived before we realized it was too late). In general, we
distinguish three main general uses:
(1) First, the past perfect can be used similarly for an action which began before the time of
speaking in the past, and (a) was still continuing at that time (i.e. Ann had worked in that
factory for sixty years); (b) stopped at that time or just before it (i.e. Ann, who had worked
in that factory for sixty years, suddenly disappeared); and (c) for an action which stopped
some time before the time of speaking (i.e. She had studied Law in Salamanca for ten years
and then she retired and married).
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(2) Second, the past perfect is also the past equivalent of the simple past tense, and is used
when the narrator or subject looks back on earlier action from a certain point in the past
(Thomson & Martinet, 1986), as in Sarah was eighteen when our story begins. Her father
had served in the army for twenty years and her mother had died two years before and
since then she had lived alone. Note that if we merely give the events in the order in which
they occurred, no past perfect is necessary (i.e. Sarahs father served in the army and her
mother died two years ago) as well as if if the time relationship between the given
situations is clear (the simple past and the past perfect) in such cases, as in the previous
example.
(3) Yet, there is another special use analogous to that of the simple past: when the past perfect
also represents the past of the present perfect, for instance, compare She has lived in
London since she was born vs. She had lived in London since she was born. Note that
whereas the former sentence implies that she still lives in London, the latter entails that she
Moreover, Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) distinguish three special uses of the past perfect: (1)
backshifting in indirect reported speech, (2) the attitudinal past perfect and (3) the hypothetical past
perfect:
(4) Next, the use of past perfect in backshifting within indirect speech constructions which
gives only the content expressed, not the actual words used. Compare Jane said: James
had two cats vs. Jane said that James had had two cats where it indicates a backshift into
the more remote past.
(5) Then, the attitudinal past perfect refers more politely than the simple past to a present state
of mind (i.e. I had wondered who you are ). And finally, the hypotheticl past makes
reference to subordinate clauses, especially conditio nal clauses (second type) introduced by
if, as if, as though, it is time, if only, wish, would sooner/rather, etc so as to convey the idea
of an unreal past and the opposite to the belief, expectation or wish of the speaker (i.e. If
you knew him, you would be surprised/I wish I had more money).
(6) The hypothetical past (or actual remoteness according to Huddleston) is given by
conditional sentences where we find past perfect tenses (third conditional) to imply that the
situation did not occur (i.e. If I had been there, you would not have left).
5.2.2.
The progressive aspect and be.
Regarding the aspectual meaning of progressive be, we must point out that the verb be takes a
present-participial complement when it is catenative (i.e. writing a letter: she is writing a letter), by
means of the structure of progressive construction be + present participle inflection (-ing).
According to Quirk & Greenbaums classification of present tense types (1973), the progressive
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aspect is to be presented in opposition to the present simple as a limited present tense which
indicates that the action is viewed as in progress and has a limited duration (i.e. He is singing now/
at the moment/ today).
Progressive be is so called because its basic meaning is that it presents the situation as being in
progress at a particular time. This implies that it is conceived of as taking place, thus as having a
more or less dynamic character, rather than being wholly static. The situation is seen not in its
temporal totality, but at some point or period within it, that is, that the situation has limited duration,
and that it is not necessarily complete.
Following Huddleston (1988), in English there are quite a number of items that express the
aspectual meanings of progressive which, unlike the perfect aspect of have, can head the
complement of various other aspectual verbs, such as begin, stop, etc. Most of them are catenative
verbs, that is, lexical verbs which express beginning or end such as begin, finish, commence, start,
stop, cease, use, start, continue, be, have, carry on and keep on. Aspectual meaning involves not the
temporal location of the situation, but rather its temporal flow or segmentation, in other words,
focusing in the initial and final segments: beginning (begin) and end (stop). With some other verbs
indicate the situation is presented as ongoing, usually with repetition (keep, be, carry on, keep on,
etc).
Now let us move on to an analysis of the progressive aspect regarding the present and past tenses.
This analysis will be carried out simultaneously since the two constructions only differ, first, in
using different tense inflections (present: am, is, are, being; past: was being, were being) and,
secondly, in their semantic meaning, that is, referring to present and past actions which are taking
place at the moment of speaking. But before, we shall review an important point, the verb senses in
relation to the progressive aspect.
5.2.2.1. Static vs. dynamic verb senses.

This static or dynamic character is found in special cases which are related to verb senses and the
progressive aspect by means of which verbs are namely classified into stative, dynamic and stance
senses, being the latter a mix of the two former ones. Thus,
(a) we should note that certain verbs denoting clearly static situation are virtually
excluded from heading the complement of progressive be, such as belong, consist,
contain, possess, etc. Thus while It belongs to me is perfectly natural, It is
belonging to me is not, and so on.
So, stative verbs refer to (i) states of being and having (i.e. be, contain, have,
resemble, etc); (ii) intellectual states (i.e. know, realize, think, understand, believe,
etc); (iii) states of emotion or attitude (i.e. disagree, dislike, like, want, etc ); (iv)
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states of perception (i.e. taste, see, smell, hear, feel); and (v) states of bodily
sensation (i.e. feel sick, ache, hurt, itch, etc).
(b) Secondly, dynamic verbs are classified into two main types: durative and punctual.
On the one hand, (1) dynamic durative verbs are usually taking place over a period
of time as in (i) activities performed by inanimate forces (i.e. wind:blow,
engine:run, rain:fall down, etc); or (ii) by animate agents (i.e. sing, dance, eat,
drink, play, etc); (iii) processes denoting change of state which are taking place
over a period (i.e. change, widen, grow, etc ); and (iv) accomplishments as actions
or activities that have the goal or endpoint (i.e. finish a book, read the newspaper,
write an essay, etc).
On the other hand, (2) dynamic punctual verbs have little or no duration in (i)
momentary events and acts (i.e. jump, knock, tap, nod, etc) which indicate repetition
when expressed by the progressive aspect (i.e. He was nodding); and (ii)
transitional events an acts (i.e. land, leave, stop , arrive, etc) which, again, when
expressed in the progressive, refer to a period leading up to the change of state (i.e.
the bus is arriving at the station).
(c) Third, stance verbs may be used with either the progressive or the nonprogressive
forms, often with little to choose between the variants (i.e. lie, live, sit, stand, etc).
When used with the nonprogressive (i.e. He lives in Oslo ) it expresses a permanent
state whereas when used with the progressive (i.e. He is living in Oslo), it denotes a
temporary state.
(d) And finally, just mention some special cases. Note that certain verbs, although the
verb is non-progressive, as in rain (i.e. It rained), denote a dynamic situation and
is presented in its totality, as an event.
5.2.2.2. The present and past continuous.

Since the past tense can be used as a past equivalent of the present continuous in order to describe
actions which continued or continues for some time, we shall analyse them following the general
classification of progressive aspect that Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) propose. Then, we shall
distinguish three main types of progressive: the event progressive and the habitual progressive, and
stative verbs which become dynamic in the progressive since the stative sense does not occur (i.e. I
am/was liking your brother).
(1) First of all, we shall refer to those verbs which are normally stative but become
dynamic when used in the progressive. They may indicate a type of behaviour with
limited duration (i.e. They were being quite rude). Note that verb expressing emotion or
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attitude, which are ordinarily stative, denote tentativeness when they occur in the
progressive (i.e. I am/was wondering whether you would come).
(2) The event progressive is related to dynamic verb senses to refer to events or situations
that have duration and are not completed (i.e. I am/was dancing like cracy last night).
Whereas the simple past cannot replace the past progressive (danced-was dancing)
because they are not compatible in meaning, the present progressive is more commonly
used than the simple present for situations in present time, because present events are
usually considered to have some duration (i.e. What is he doing? He is writing an email).
(3) The habitual progressive is also used with dynamic verb senses and refer to events that
repeatedly occur and take place over a limited period of time (i.e. My grandma is/was
telling some ghost stories ) in contrast with the simple present and past tenses (i.e. My
grandma tells/told some ghost stories). Again, whereas the progressive implies
temporariness, the simple tense implies permanence.
5.3. The perfect progressive aspect.

The perfect progressive aspect is namely drawn by the combination, in the same verb phrase of the
perfect and progressive aspects (i.e. He has been working) and, at the same time, the features of
meaning features associated with each aspect are also combined in order to refer to a temporary
situation leading up to the present when the perfect auxiliary is present tense has or have (i.e.
She has been studying up to now-). This combination also conveys the sense of a situation in
progress with limited duration (i.e. I have been listening to music with my cousin) in contrast to
those which have nonprogressive sense (i.e. I have listened to music with my cousin ).
If the perfect progressive sense is combined with accomplishment predications or process
predications, that is, actions or activities that have an endpoint, then the verb phrase conveys the
possibility of incompleteness (i.e. I have been cleaning my car=the job may not be finished) in
contrast to the present perfect simple (i.e. I have cleaned my car=completed action near the
present).
Moreover, the present perfect progressive may be used with dynamic verb senses to refer to a
temporary habit up to the present, occurring repeatedly and with possible continuity into the future
(i.e. Ronaldo has been scoring many goals=this season, but he will probably score more).
Note the possibility for the perfect progressive to combine with the past tense and with modals.
When combined wigh the past tense (i.e. The children had been swimming for over a week ), the
temporary event leads up to some point in the past. However, when combined with modals (i.e. By
Sunday, we will have been dancing for three days at the danc e contest), the temporary state is
earlier than the time in the future indicated by Sunday. It is important to note that these
combinations need not presupose an earlier time, and it can therefore be acompanied by an
adverbial of position (i.e. He had been dancing last Sunday).
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First, with respect to (1) the progressive aspect in the constructions of progressive forms, both
present and past, the most relevant comments on spelling are for the ing participle morpheme
which is always realized as /i+nasal n/ (i.e. playing, nodding, kissing). Moreover, before the ending
ing, the base undergoes the following changes: (1) doubling of final consonant (i.e. hugging,
nodding, admitting); (2) doubling of final l (i.e. travelling, quarrelling, , expelling); and (3) the
final c is changed into ck (i.e. trafficking, bivouacking, picnicking).
In addition, the spelling of the base is affected in the following cases: (1) when mute e is dropped
in final position (i.e. change -changing, have-having, take-taking). In this case we must bear in mind
the following exceptions: age-ageing, dye-dyeing, hoe-hoeing, singe-singeing; and (2) when the
final ie changes into y (i.e. die-dying, lie-lying, tie -tying, vie -vying).
Regarding pronunciation, we must pay special attention to contracted forms, for instance, is and
are which become isnt /iznt/ and arent /a:nt/, this latter one causing pronunciation problems
especially for Spanish students, who tend to pronounce the r as well.
On the other hand, with respect to (2) the perfect aspect in the constructions of perfect forms, both
present and past, the most relevant comments on spelling are analogous to those made on the simple
past tense since we have the construction has/have/had + participle forms (either regular, -ed, or
irregular). Thus, first of all, regarding morphology, the regular spelling of the past tense and ed
participle suffixes is ed or d, the latter spelling being found when the verb ends in mute e (i.e.
bake-d, love-d, move-d).
Again, in four cases the spelling of the base is affected before the ending ed, for instance, (a) in
verbs ending in a consonant symbol + y, where y changes into i (i.e. denied, fancied, pitied, tried);
(b) in verbs ending in a consonant symbol preceded by a single vowel symbol. Then, the final
consonant symbol is doubled if the verb is monosyllabic or ends in a stressed syllable (i.e. hugged,
nodded, rubbed, stopped, admitted, occurred, preferred, regretted) Note the following exceptions to
this rule (i.e. humbugged, handicapped, kidnapped, worshipped); (c) in verbs ending in l, preceded
by a single vowel symbol, l is doubled (i.e. cancelled, travelled, quarrelled, rebelled, signalled);
and (d) the final c is changed into ck (i.e. trafficked, bivouacked, picnicked ).
Only in three verbs final y is changed into i before the ending d (i.e. lay-laid, pay-paid, say-said).
Note that the latter one (say-said) does not follow the same pronunciation rules that the preceding
forms, thus said /sed/.
Regarding pronunciation, the past tense morpheme ed of regular verbs are realized in three ways:
first, /t/ after bases ending in voiceless sounds except /t/ (i.e. walked, stopped, kissed); second, /d/
after bases ending in voiced sounds except /d/ (i.e. played, sinned, loved); and /id/ after bases
ending in /t/ or /d/ (i.e. demanded, parted, decided).
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Moreover, and similar to the comments on the progressive forms, we must pay special attention to
contracted forms of has, have, had which become almost inaudible in colloquial speech (i.e. Hes
driven too fast/Youve got a headache/Youd better stop). This feature is not especially problematic
for Spanish students when producing oral speech, but when detecting it in others oral speech.
6. THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: MOOD.

In this section, then, we shall analyse the verb phrase semantics with reference to mood. In doing
so, we must introduce first (1) a definition of mood in contrast to modality; (2) mood approached
from two different perspectives: (a) the grammatical view and (b) the semantic view, called
respectively mood and modality. This analysis of aspect includes morphological, phonological and
syntactic comments when necessary.
6.1. Definition: mood vs. modality.

Following Huddle ston (1988), as we must distinguish between tense, a category of grammatical
form, and time, a category of meaning, it is relevant as well to distinguish grammatical mood from
semantic modality . Mood is defined as the grammatical term used to denote the forms that a verb
takes to show the manner in which the action is thought by the speaker, that is, as ordinary
statements or questions (the indicative mood as factual predication), as wishes or recommendations
(the subjunctive mood as nonfactual predication) and finally, as commands and other directive
speech acts (the imperative mood as counterfactual predication).
Mood will approach the speakers attitudes from a grammatical point of vie w which, undoubtely,
needs of a semantic feature in order to amplify the forms that a verb can take to show the manner in
which an action is conceived in terms of attitudes, that is, it needs of a variety of linguistic devices,
lexical, grammatical and prosodic , which are the modal operators. Then, we shall approach the
notion of mood from a grammatical and a semantic point of view in order to review the relationship
between mood and time, tense and aspect.
6.2. Mood: the grammatical view.

As stated before, mood is a verbal paradigm represented by the oppositions indicative vs.
subjunctive vs. imperative within finite verb phrases. Since finite verb phrases have mood to
indicate the speakers attitude in his speech, for instance, facts, wishes or commands, we distinguish
three main moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative, respectively. Whereas the indicative
mood is defined as unmarked, the imperative and subjunctive mood are defined as marked.
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These three moods are not so clear-cut in English as they are in other languages such as Spanish,
French or Italian. For instance, in English the indicative and the subjunctive forms in the present
share the same spelling (i.e. It is true vs. I hope it is true, respectively) whereas in the past forms,
only the verb be has distinct forms for the indicative and the subjunctive (i.e. He was a sensible
man vs. He would not go if he were a sensible man), although this trend has recently changed into
the duality of usage between was and were. But let us examine the three types of mood.
6.2.1. The indicative mood.

The indic ative mood indicates facts and states concerned with the truth-value of the speakerss
speech, that is, with their attitude . It is mainly conveyed by factual verbs which express the action
as a real fact (i.e. admit, agree, answer, believe, declare, deny, expect, hope, insist, know, report,
say, see, suggest, suppose, think, and understand among others).
The indicative mood can be distinguished by the following features: (1) it can occur as the verb
phrase of independent clauses (i.e. She will cook if he washes up ); (2) it has tense contrast, that is,
distinction between present and past tenses (i.e. He is a doctor vs. He was a doctor); (3) it shows
person and number concord between the subject of a clause and the finite verb phrase, especially
with the third person singular in the present tense (i.e. I/You love but he/she/it loves). Note that
concord is particularly clear with the present tense of be (i.e. I am, you/we/they are, he/she/it is)
and no concord at all with modal auxiliaries (i.e. I/You/He can swim).
6.2.2. The subjunctive mood.

The subjunctive mood is used to express the actions from as subjective point of view, not as a real
fact but as volition or wish and, hence, it is common to find it in subordinate clauses. Traditionally,
we find two forms of the subjunctive mood: the present and past subjunctive, although the
distinction relates more to mood than to tense.
The present subjunctive is namely expressed by the base form of the verb, for instance, be in
contrast to the indicative forms am, is, are. For other verbs, the subjunctive is distinctive only in
the third person singular, for instance, I insist that we talk about it (indicative or subjunctive) vs. I
insist that Ann talk about it. On the other hand, the past subjunctive (or were-subjunctive) survives
nowadays in the forms was and were, so it is not distinguishable from the indicative form any
more (Nelson, 2001).
Greenbaum & Quirk (1990) distinguish two main types of subjunctive: the present and the past
subjunctive. First, (1) the present subjunctive expresses a necessity, plan or intention in the future
and is classified into two main types: the mandative subjunctive and the formulaic subjunctive: (a)
The former one is namely used in that-clauses after expressions denoting demand, recommendation,
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proposal, intention and so on (i.e. I prefer/recommend/propose/it is desirable/etc). Note that this use
is more characteristic of American English than British English. Secondly, (b) the formulaic (or
optative) subjunctive mood is used in certain expressions such as God save the Queen, Long live the
King, Come what may,...;Heaven forbid that, Be that as it may,...; Suffice it to say that... and so on.
On the other hand, (2) the past subjunctive is used in formal style and is hypothetical in meaning. It
is namely used in conditional and concessive clauses and in subordinate clauses after wish ,
suppose and imagine (i.e. If I were rich, I would.../I wish you were here/Just suppose everybody
were rich for one day). In nonformal styles, the hypothetical past (second conditional) replaces
subjunctive were (i.e. I wish she was not married).
6.2.3. The imperative mood.

The imperative mood is the last element in finite verb clauses which expresses commands, orders
and requests. The imperative verb, however, is restricted as to tense, aspect, voice, and modality.
There is no tense distinction or perfect aspect, and only very rarely does the progressive form occur
(i.e. Be preparing lunch when he comes in). Similarly, a passive is quite rare (i.e. Get washed). Note
that modal auxiliaries do not occur at all in imperative sentences.
One of its main characteristic is that it appears in sentences which have no overt grammatical
subject (i.e. Call Tom for dinner!) but makes implic it reference to the second singular and plural
person (you, we). Another relevant feature is that commands may sound abrupt unless toned down
by markers of politeness such as please (i.e. Please, sign here). Even this achieves a minimum
degree of ceremony or a more tactful form of request (i.e. I wonder if you would kindly sign here).
Quirk & Greenbaum (1973) distinguish five main types of commands: (a) commands without a
subject, (b) with subject, (c) commands with let, (d) negative commands and (e) persuasive
imperatives. First, (a) commands without a subject is the most common category of imperatives (i.e.
Come here!); (b) commands with a subject are confirmed when the second person pronoun you,
usually omitted, appears as a tag-question (i.e. Be quiet, will you? ).
(c) Moreover, commands with let are formed by let + us/me/you + bare infinitive to indicate an
objective point of view (i.e. Let us examine this point); (d) negative commands are used to negate
the second and third person imperatives, simply adding Dont (i.e. Open your book vs. Dont open
your book); and finally, (e) the persuasive imperative, which is created to express persuasion or
insistence by the addition of do (with a nuclear tone) before the main verb (i.e. Do lets go to the
cinema ).
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6.3. Modality: the semantic view.

It should be borne in mind that in the relationship of time and tense regarding modality, we are
dealing with just two tenses in English: past and present by means of modal operators. Note that
unlike such languages as French and Latin, English has no future tense. This means that in English
there is no verbal category so as to locate any situation in future time. Yet, futurity is of course very
often indicated by the modal operator will (i.e. He will see her tomorrow).
It is worth mentioning that the will construction, however, does not satisfy the conditions for
analysis as a future tense. Grammatically will is a catenative, not an auxiliary, hence not the marker
of a verbal category. Moreover, will would belong grammatically to the category of modal
operators, which would be mood markers. Like them, it has no non-tensed forms and shows no
person-number agreement with the subject, but carries either the past tense inflection (would) or the
present (will).
And finally, from a semantic point of view, will involves elements of both futurity and modality,
and has the sense of remoteness from the present, thus not immediately accesible. This association
is reflected in the use of the past tense to indicate factual remoteness as well as past time. Now lets
move on to examine the main means to express modality, the modal operators and their main
features.
6.3.1. The modal operators.

Yet, there are a considerable number of lexical items with modal meanings, among which we
include the class of modal operators: may, must, can, will, shall, should, ought, need, and also be
and have in some of their uses (i.e. You are to be back by ten or Youll have to work harder). These
modal operators are used to convey a considerable range and variety of meanings which will
provide a basis for the general semantic category of modality and the grammatical category of
mood.
Modal operators are to be grouped under three headings although we must bear in mind that in the
three uses, lots of sentences out of context, allow more than one interpretation: (1) epistemic uses,
(2) deontic uses and (3) subject-oriented uses:
(1) First, regarding the term epistemic, it derives from the Greek word knowledge and
therefore, its use involves implications concerning the speakers knowledge of the situation
in question: possibility (He may come tonight), certainty (She must be his girlfriend) and
prediction (He will have finished by ten).
(2) The term deontic derives from the Greek word for binding, and in these uses we are
concerned with obligation (must, have to ), prohibition (mustnt, dont have to), permission
(can) and the like. Thus, those most typically used to give permission are can/may (i.e.
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You can have a chocolate); we have must to impose an obligation (i.e. You must be in bed
before midnight); and we have shall to put oneself under an obligation (i.e. You shall have
your money back).
(3) Subject-oriented uses involve some property, disposition or the like on the part of whoever
or whatever is referred to by the subject, as in She can run faster than me , concerning her
physical capabilities, and She wouldnt lend me the money I need, concerning her
willingness.

We shall point out the most relevant features of the three types of mood. (1) First, regarding
morphological features, the indicative mood shows specific morphological markers such as the
distinction between present and past tenses, person and number concord between the subject of a
clause and the finite verb phrase, especially with the third person singular in the present tense and
no concord at all with modal auxiliarie s. The subjunctive mood shares similar features with the
indicative mood except in certain clauses where the s third person singular is omitted. Finally, the
imperative mood shows an absence of subject, except in tag-questions.
(2) Secondly, regarding pronunciation, the indicative mood presents special rules when
pronouncing the third person singular in the simple present tense. With respect to the subjunctive
form, no special mention is done and finally, take into account the pronunciation of the imperative
forms which, for instance, in the persuasive type, do is pronounced with a nuclear tone before the
main verb. Another relevant feature is that commands may sound abrupt unless toned down by
markers of politeness such as please (i.e. Please, sign here).
(3) Regarding syntax, we must point out certain specific structures in the formulaic subjunctive in
certain expressions such as God save the Queen, Long live the King and so on. Moreover, one of the
most relevant syntactic characteristic of the imperative form is that it appears in sentences which
have no overt grammatical subject (i.e. Call Tom for dinner!) and this achieves a minimum degree
of ceremony and a more tactful form of request (i.e. I wonder if you would kindly sign here).
7. THE VERBAL FEATURE OF VOICE.

The verbal feature of voice makes reference to the final verb phrase semantics element, the
distinction between active and passive voice, only applied to sentences whose verb is transitive. The
main difference between the active voice and the passive voice involves both the verb phrase and
the clause as a whole. This verbal paradigm may be combined with the verbal features of tense,
aspect and mood in order to complement the whole number of verbal form constructions.
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In the verb phrase, the passive follows the structure auxiliary be + the ed participle of the main
verb (i.e. takes-is taken, has taken-has been taken, may be taking -may be being taken). At a clause
level, changing from active to passive has the following results: first, the active subject becomes the
passive agent; second, the active object becomes the passive subject; and finally, the preposition
by is to be placed before the agent (i.e. Picasso painted the Guernica=the Guernica was painted
by Picasso).
Note that this prepositional phrase (agent by-phrase) is an optional element and is commonly
omitted when it is an indefinite pronoun (somebody), personal pronouns (I, you, he) or general
nouns (people, everybody). Moreover, sometimes the agent is implicitly understood in the verb
(arrest=the police; correct=the teacher; report=a journalist, etc).
Moreover, in sentences where there is a choice between active and passive, speakers or writers use
the passive for the following reasons: (1) they do not know the identity of the agent of the action
(i.e. A nice advert was launched yesterday); (2) they want to avoid identifying the agent because
they do not want to assign or accept responsability (i.e. The TV has been broken this morning); (3)
they feel that there is no reason for mentioning the agent since the identification is unimportant or
obvious from the context (i.e. The murderer was arrested); and (4) in scientific and technical
writing so as to avoid constant repetition of the subject I and we, and to put emphasis on
processes and experimental procedures (i.e. The report was folded and placed on the table ). Other
uses are (5) to put emphasis on the agent of the action; and finally (6) to avoid a long active subject;
(7) to retain the same subject in later parts of teh sentence.
8. THE RELEVANCE OF SEMANTIC COOCURRENCE PATTERNS.

So, as we have seen, the principal part of the verb phrase is the lexical or main verb. Since the
lexical verb can occur on its own, but it may also co-occur with auxiliary verbs in patterns of
varying degrees of complexity depending on the semantic feature we intend to express, that is, tense
(verbal tense), aspect (progressive or perfect) or mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative). Hence,
thanks to the combination of all these paradigms, we get all the verbal forms we know today.
We may find two co-occurrence patterns in the English verb phrase, thus a lexical verb + one or a
lexical verb + two or more auxiliaries, out of which many grammarians distinguish a high number
of tenses when grammatically examined (up to thirty two tenses). Thus, the possibility lexical verb
+ one auxiliary mainly depends on the meaning of the second element and from which we may find
six main possibilities. For instance, it may be (a) a modal auxiliary (i.e. John can swim); (b) an
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auxiliary with do 5 which may convey periphrasis (i.e. Does John swim?) or (c) an auxiliary with
do which conveys emphasis (i.e. John does swim); (d) the auxiliary have for the perfective
aspect (i.e. John has swum); (e) the auxiliary be for the progressive aspect (i.e. John is swimming);
and again (f) the auxiliary be for the use of passive voice (i.e. A car was bought by John).
Regarding the second possibility, a lexical verb + two or more auxiliaries, it can range in
complexity from three to maximally five verbal forms, including the lexical verb. Thus, with two
auxiliaries (i.e. may have bought, may be buying, may be bought, has been buying, has been
bought, is being bought); with three auxiliaries (i.e. may have been buying, may have been bought,
may be being bought, has been being bought); and finally, with four auxiliaries + lexical verb (i.e.
may have been being bought) although this type is quite rare.
In those verb phrases which contain a combination of these categories, the suffix is invariably
attached to the verb immediately following the auxiliary which, together with the suffix, realizes the
category in question. It is worth remembering at this point that if there is only one verb in the verb
phrase, it is the main verb (i.e. He believes in ghosts). On the other hand, if there is more than one
verb, the final one is the main verb, and the one or more verbs that come before it are auxiliaries
(i.e. The e-mail has been being (auxiliaries) written (main verb)).
9. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.
The different verbal paradigms dealt with in this study are so relevant to the learning of a foreign
language since differences between the vocabulary of the learner's native language (L1) and that of
the foreign language (L2) may lead to several problems, such as the incorrect use of verbal tenses,
especially because of the syntactic, morphological, and semantic processes implied in these
categories.
This study has looked at the expression of the main verb phrase semantics: time, tense, aspect and
mood, and also to another verbal feature which complements the previous ones, voice, within
lexical semantics, morphology, phonology and syntax in order to help Spanish-speaking students
establish a relative similarity between the two languages that would find it useful for learning
English.
According to Thomson & Martinet (1986), a European student may find especially troublesome the
use of verbal tenses when communicating in English since, first, he has to know whether in any
construction a verb is required or not (i.e. I saw him two days ago I have seen him recently) and,
This structure with do cannot contain a modal auxiliary nor an auxiliary of the perfective aspect, the progressive aspect
or the passive voice. However, negative imperatives are an exception (i.e. Dont be taken in).
39/ 43
second, whic h verbal form to use when certain time adverbs are nearby (i.e. He hasnt arrived/has
been arriving yet).
This choice becomes problematic for our Spanish students when they deal with the wide range of
verbal forms which verb phrase semantics offer. For instance, the most common mistake for
Spanish students, both at ESO and Bachillerato level, is to construct a certain verbal form in English
(i.e. She was studying when I arrived) with serious grammatical mistakes (i.e. Does she be studying
when I arrived?) or sometimes by omitting certain elements (i.e. She working at the office). Often,
they do not correspond literally to the translation the students make.
It has been suggested that a methodology grounded in part in the application of explicit linguistic
knowledge enhances the second language learning process. In the Spanish curriculum (B.O.E.
2002), the expression of time by means of verbal forms is envisaged from earlier stages of ESO in
the use of simple tenses (simple present, present continuous, past simple, past continuous) to talk
about their everyday life or any specific topic, up to higher stages of Bachillerato, towards more
complex verbal forms, such as present perfect progressive, the three types of conditional, modal
verbs and nonfinite constructions (infinitive, -ing forms), and above all, idiomatic expressions in
certain verbal forms (If I were you, I wish I was..., It is said that..., etc).
So, the importance of how to handle these verbal forms cannot be understated since you can
communicate but not successfully, for instance, the intonation in imperative forms may sound rude
if not well toned. Current communicative methods foster the teaching of this kind of specific
linguistic information to help students recognize the main differences with the L2 words. Learners
cannot do it all on their own. Language learners, even 2nd year Bachillerato students, do not
automatically recognize similiarities which seem obvious to teachers; learners need to have these
associations brought to their attention.
So far, we have attempted in this discussion to provide a broad account of the expression of time by
means of verbal forms within verb phrase semantics in order to set it up within the linguistic theory,
going through the localization of verbal forms in syntactic structures, to a broad presentation of the
main grammatical categories involved in it. We hope students are able to understand the relevance
of handling correctly the expression of verbal time, tense, aspect, mood and voice successfully in
everyday life communication.
9. CONCLUSION .
All in all, although the question What is a verbal form? may appear simple and straightforward, it
implies a broad description of the verb phrase in terms of semantics so as to get to the paradigms of
time, tense, aspect, mood and voice which, combined, give way to the whole set of verbal forms we
40/ 43
know. The appropriate answer suitable for students and teachers, may be so simple if we are dealing
with ESO students, using simple grammatical verb structures or so complex if we are dealing with
Bachillerato students, who must be able to handle more complex verb structures.
So far, in this study we have attempted to take a fairly broad view of verb phrase semantics since
we are also assuming that there is an intrinsic connexion between its learning and successful
communication. Yet, we have provided a descriptive account of Unit 19 dealing with The verb
phrase semantics, whose main aim was to introduce the student to the different paradigms that
shape the whole set of verbal forms in English.
In doing so, the study provided a broad account these notions, starting by a theoretical framework in
order to get some key terminology on the issue, and further developed within a grammar linguistic
theory, described in morphological, syntactic and semantic terms. Once presented, we discussed
each paradigm individually but always in relation to each other not to lose track of it.
In fact, the correct expression of verbal forms, is currently considered to be a central element in
communicative competence and in the acquisition of a second language since students must be able
to use these forms in their everyday life in many different situations. As stated before, the teaching
of them comprises four major components in our educational curriculum: phonology, grammar,
lexicon, and semantics, out of which we get five major levels: phonological, morphological and
syntactic, lexical, and semantic.
In fact, for our students to use the verbal forms properly, they must have a good know ledge at all
those five levels. First, on phonology which describes the sound level. Secondly, since the two most
basic units of grammar are the word and the sentence, they must have good grammatical
knowledge, which involves the morphological level (i.e. the third person singular s/-es,,
inflectional morphemes of past forms ed or progressive aspect -ing, etc) and the syntactic level
(i.e. where time adverbs are placed at sentence level). Third, the lexicon, or lexical level, lists
vocabulary items, that is, different verbs (static, dynamic). Finally, another dimension between the
study of linguistic form and the study of meaning is semantics, or the semantic level, in which
students must be able to distinguish the differences in use of the different verbal forms.
Therefore, it is a fact that students must be able to handle the four levels in communicative
competence in order to be effectively and highly communicative in the classroom and in real life
situations. The expression of these verbal paradigms in form and function, proves highly frequent in
our everyday speech, and consequently, we must encourage our students to have a good managing
of it.
41/ 43
10. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
- Aarts, F., and J. Aarts. 1988. English Syntactic Structures. Functions & Categories in Sentence
Analysis. Prentice Hall Europe.
- B.O.E. RD N 112/2002, de 13 de septiembre por el que se establece el currculo de la Educacin
Secundaria Obligatoria/Bachillerato en la Comunidad Autnoma de la Regin de Murcia.
- Bolton, D. And N. Goodey. 1997. Grammar Practice in Context. Richmond Publishing.
- Council of Europe (1998) Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common
European Framework of reference.
- Downing, A. and P. Locke. 2002. A University Course in English Grammar. London: Routledge.
- Eastwood, J. 1999. Oxford Practice in Grammar. Oxford University Press.
- Greenbaum, S. and R. Quirk. 1990. A Students Grammar of the English Language. Longman
Group UK Limited.
- Greenbaum, S. 2000. The Oxford Reference Grammar. Edited by Edmund Weiner. Oxford
University Press.
- Hymes, D. 1972. On communicative competence. In
Sociolinguistics, pp. 269-93. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
J. B. Pride and J. Holmes (eds.),
- Huddleston, R. 1988. English Grammar, An Outline. Cambridge University Press.

- Huddleston, R. and G.K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.
Cambridge University Press.
- Nelson, G. 2001. English: An Essential Grammar. London. Routledge.
- Palmer, Frank R. 1981. Semantics: A New Outline, 2nd edn. New York: Cambridge University
Press. (1st edn, 1976).
- Quirk, R & S. Greenbaum. 1973. A University Grammar of English. Longman.
- Snchez Benedito, F. 1975. Gramtica Inglesa. Editorial Alhambra.
- Thomson, A.J. and A.V. Martinet. 1986. A Prac tical English Grammar. Oxford University Press.
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12.APPENDIX
Appendix 1. Major verb classes: lexical vs. auxiliary verbs.
LEXICAL VERBS
Those verbs which constitute the principal part of the verb

phrase: read, think, consider, play, jump, sleep, hear, etc
Modal Auxiliaries
CAN, MAY, MUST, SHALL, WILL

DARE, NEED, OUGHT (TO), USED
(TO)
auxiliary of
DO
AUXILIARY
VERBS
Primary
Auxiliaries
HAVE
BE
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periphrasis
and
auxiliary of
emphasis
auxiliary of the
perfective aspect
Auxiliary of the
progressive aspect
and
auxiliary of the
passive voice

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UNIT 19

THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS:

A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS.

AN INTRODUCTION TO VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE, ASPECT AND MOOD.

Lexical verbs: main morphological verb forms.

THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE AND THE VERB.

THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: ASPECT.

5.2. Main types and uses.

THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: MOOD.

THE VERBAL FEATURE OF VOICE.

THE RELEVANCE OF SEMANTIC COOCURRENCE PATTERNS.

1.2. Notes on bibliography.

A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS.

2.1. Linguistic levels involved in the notion of verb phrase semantics.

2.2. On defining verb phrase semantics: what and how.

2.3. Grammar categories involved: open vs. closed classes.

AN INTRODUCTION TO VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE, ASPECT AND

3.1. On defining verb and verb phrase .

3.2. Major verb classes: lexical vs. auxiliary verbs.

3.3. Lexical verbs: main morphological verb forms.

3.4. The functions of verb forms: finite vs. nonfinite.

3.5. Finite vs. nonfinite verb phrases: main features.

3.6. Major constrasts expressed in verb phrases.

3.7. The relevance of semantics: interrelated contrasts.

4. THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: TIME, TENSE AND THE VERB.

4.1. Real time vs. verbal tense.

4.2. The present tense.

Main types and uses.

4.2.2.1. For present situations.

4.2.2.2. For past situations.

4.2.2. 3. For future situations.

Spelling, phonology and syntax.

4.3. The past tense.

Main types and uses.

4.3.2.1. For present situations.

4.3.2.2. For past situations.

4.3.2.3. For future situations.

4.3.2.4. Special uses.

Spelling, phonology and syntax.

4.4. The future time.

4.4.1. Main types and uses.

5. THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: ASPECT.

5.2. Main types and uses.

5.2.1. The perfect aspect and have.

5.2.1.1. The present perfect.

5.2.1.2. The past perfect.

The progressive aspect and be.

5.2.2.1. Static vs. dynamic verb senses.

5.2.2.2. The present and past continuous.

5.3. The perfect progressive aspect.

5.4. Spelling, phonology and syntax.

6. THE VERB PHRASE SEMANTICS: MOOD.

6.1. Definition: mood vs. modality.

6.2. Mood: the grammatical view.

6.2.1. The indicative mood.

6.2.2. The subjunctive mood.

6.2.3. The imperative mood.

6.3. Modality: the semantic view.

6.3.1. The modal operators.

6.4. Spelling, phonology and syntax.

7. THE VERBAL FEATURE OF VOICE.

8. THE RELEVANCE OF SEMANTIC COOCURRENCE PATTERNS.