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<1> The note is mainly concerned with establishing how the different forms of English verbs are used to express the aspect ('simple', 'progressive', or 'perfect') of an action or event, and only secondarily with problems of tense or time (present, past, or future). Problems in learning the use of these forms may arise because either the student's native language does not make the same distinctions as English or, if and when it does, it makes the distinction in a different way. <2> The choice of verb form (simple, progressive, perfect) made by an English speaker depends on many factrors, and not on a rigid set of grammarical rules. Students may have learned not to say e.g. I have seen the film yesterday, following a 'rule' that we cannot make a specific reference to the time of a past event when we use the present perfect tense. But this is a negatibe way of looking at the problem: it gives no indication (except, perhaps, by implication) of what the use of the present perfect tense means to an English speaker, or of the considerations that determine the choice of the present perfect rather than, say, the past simple in situations where the use of eigher form seems theoretically possible. <3> The choice of one verb form rather than another may be determined by the nature of the action or event itself, and the circumstances in which it occurs: a I read all his books. (present simple) b I've read all his books. c When our visitor arrived, my wife make tea. d When our visitor arrived, my wife was making tea. Assuming 'he' is a writer (and not simply a friend with a large library), sentence a states that I read his books as they are published, and implies that 'he' is still an active writer whose books I shall continue to read if any more are published. Sentence b states that I have read all the books 'he' has written so far. 'He' may still be an active writer, but he may equally well have ceased writing (or may, indeed, be dead). In c, our visitor arrived and then my wife mede tea, whereas in d, tea-making was already in progress when our visitor arrived. In these examples, the 'meaning' of the situation determines our choice of verb form. <4> The choise may, however, depend entirely on the speaker's viewpoint. The speaker may wish to take a 'synoptic' view, a view of an action or series of actions as a whole, in which case he chooses the 'simple' verb form. In describing a scientific experiment, a demonstrator is more likely to take this view - he is interested in his acts, or in phenomena, as items in a chain of events: I place a bell jar over the candle, and after a few moments the water gradually rises. If the speaker is more concerned with drawing attantion to the fact that an activity is in progress and is in a state of incomletion, he chooses the progressive verb form: I'm placing a bell jar over the candle. There! Can you sse what's happening? The water is gradually rising. In each case, the actions or phenomena are the same, but the speaker looks at them differently. <5> In other cases, the choice of verb form may be restricted by limitations in the meaning of the verb. A verb like contain, for example, refers to a state or condition, where an essential element in the meaning of the verb is that of duration or permanence. It is extreamely unlikely that a speaker would use such a verb in the progressive form: The book contains a lot of useles imformation. The three sets of notes that follow deal with each aspect in turn, (simple, progressive, perfect), discussing each in greater detail, and with further examples. |