Tenses and Aspects Ed McCorduck English 402--Grammar SUNY Cortland

Recall from slide 7 of my chapter 2 “Form Classes” lecture the two forms of verbs called the “base form” and the “-s form” (or “third person singular form”). When used, both forms can express what is traditionally called the present tense (a.k.a. the “simple present tense”). For example, we can say that the base form of the verb play— namely play—is what is traditionally the first person, second person and third person plural present tense of the verb play. And we can say that the -s form of the verb play—namely plays—is what is traditionally the third person singular present tense of this verb. slide 2: present tense English 402: Grammar

Similarly, the –ed form expresses what is traditionally called the past tense (a.k.a. the “simple past tense” or the “preterit”): base form -ed form playplayed studystudied spendspent(irregular) knowknew (irregular) putput (irregular) slide 3: past tense English 402: Grammar

In addition to the present tense and the past tense, the third traditional verb tense in English is the future tense which is expressed by the following expansion: pres + will + MV That is, will play would be the “future tense” of play, will cry the future tense of cry, and so on. slide 4: future tense English 402: Grammar

Besides the tenses of English—present, past and future— another verbal category that is involved in the description of verb phrases is aspect. In a nutshell, the choice of an aspect indicates whether an action or state is continuing or is completed. We say that there are two main aspectual categories in English: progressive (a.k.a. “continuous”) aspect – continuing perfect (a.k.a. “perfective”) aspect – completed The following slides will present the “formulae” and names of the traditional combinations of tense and aspect for English verbs. slide 5: aspect English 402: Grammar

pres + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the present progressive (a.k.a. “present continuous”). example present progressive of play: pres + be = am/is/are (’m/’s/’re) -ing + MV = playing slide 6: present progressive English 402: Grammar

past + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the past progressive (a.k.a. “past continuous”). example past progressive of play: past + be = was/were -ing + MV = playing slide 7: past progressive English 402: Grammar

pres + will + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the future progressive (a.k.a. “future continuous”). example future progressive of play: pres + will = will be -ing + MV = playing slide 8: future progressive English 402: Grammar

pres + have + -en + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the present perfect. example present perfect of play: pres + have = has/have (’s/’ve) -en + MV = played slide 9: present perfect English 402: Grammar

past + have + -en + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the past perfect. example past perfect of play: past + have = had (’d) -en + MV = played slide 10: past perfect English 402: Grammar

pres + will + have + -en + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the future perfect. example future perfect of play: pres + will = will have -en + MV = played slide 11: future perfect English 402: Grammar

pres + have + -en + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the present perfect progressive. example present perfect progressive of play: pres + have = has/have (’s/’ve) -en + be = been -ing + MV = playing slide 12: present perfect progressive English 402: Grammar

past + have + -en + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the past perfect progressive. example past perfect progressive of play: past + have = had (’d) -en + be = been -ing + MV = playing slide 13: past perfect progressive English 402: Grammar

pres + will + have + -en + be + -ing + MV This is the formula for what is traditionally called the future perfect progressive. example future perfect progressive of play: pres + will = will have -en + be = been -ing + MV = playing slide 14: future perfect progressive English 402: Grammar

Here is a summary of all these tenses and aspects along with examples: present: I/They play the xylophone. He plays the xylophone. past: I/He/They played the xylophone. future: I will/I’ll play the xylophone. slide 15: summary of simple tenses English 402: Grammar

present progressive: I am/I’m playing the xylophone. She is/She’s playing the xylophone. They are/They’re playing the xylophone. past progressive: I/He was playing the xylophone. They are/They’re playing the xylophone. future progressive: I will/I’ll be playing the xylophone. slide 16: summary of progressive aspects English 402: Grammar

present perfect: I have/I’ve played the xylophone. She has/She’s played the xylophone. past perfect: I had/I’d played the xylophone. future perfect: I will/I’ll have played the xylophone. slide 17: summary of perfect aspects English 402: Grammar

present perfect progressive: I have/I’ve been playing the xylophone. She has/She’s been playing the xylophone. past perfect progressive: I had/I’d been playing the xylophone. future perfect progressive: I will/I’ll have been playing the xylophone. slide 18: summary of perfect/progressive aspects English 402: Grammar