Tense, Voice, Aspect, and Mood in English Verbs

There are 12 different tenses in English They refer mainly to the past, present and future

Four of them refer to the past Four to the present Four to the future

Aspect This refers to whether the action was completed or not. A verb’s aspect can be perfective and imperfective

In the sentence she was singing when I entered

the verb “entered” presents its action as a single event with its beginning, middle, and end included

this is an example of the perfective aspect

The verb “was singing,” on the other hand, refers to an internal portion of her singing, without any reference to the beginning or end of her singing

this is an example of imperfective aspect.

Relation between Tense and Aspect The English verbs are inflected for two tenses: present (walk(s)) and past (walked). In other words, tense is indicated by morphological marking: zero/-s for present tense and -ed for regular past tense. Tense is not necessarily straightforwardly related to what TIME the event represented by the verb takes place.

For instance, the simple present tense can be used to refer to various times, as it is used for

1 events which happen regularly or habitually:He smokes, drinks, betrays people and has no guilt whatsoever

2 timeless truths:The sun rises in the east

3 present events: I declare the meeting open. Bremner passes the ball to Lorimer.

4 historic present, especially in literary English but also in oral narrative. It recalls or recounts the past as vividly as if it were present: He just walks into the room and sits down in front of the fire without saying a word to anyone.

5 events that are expected to happen in the future: When he returns to Manhattan 1000 years later, it has been destroyed and rebuilt three times.

What about time then? this is not only done by means of grammatical tense. The two tenses, past and present, combine with the aspects discussed below to indicate how the event is viewed in relation to time.

In the time-line perspective, we can talk about the past, present and future time. To take an example, English, unlike many other languages, does not have a separate verb form for the future

Consequently, there is no future tense in English, even though there are, of course, many different ways in which we can talk about the future time:

The parcel will arrive tomorrow. (modal auxiliary will) The parcel is going to arrive tomorrow. (be going to) The parcel is arriving tomorrow. (present progressive) The parcel arrives tomorrow. (simple present) The parcel will be arriving tomorrow. (modal auxiliary will + progressive aspect)

Aspect 1. Grammatical aspect There are two grammatically marked aspects in English: progressive aspect (be+-ing) perfective aspect (have+past participle).

The situation may be represented as lasting for only a moment or having duration, and it can be viewed as complete or as ongoing. These are aspectual distinctions.

Consider the meaning of the following sentences with the simple forms as opposed to the progressive ones:

I raise my arm! (event) / I'm raising my arm. (duration ) My watch works perfectly. (permanent state) /  My watch is working perfectly. (temporary state)

The man drowned. (complete) / The man was drowning (but I jumped into the water and saved him.)

When we arrived she made some coffee When we arrived she made some coffee. (two events following one another) / When we arrived she was making some coffee. (ongoing action at the time when something else happened )

Consider the meaning of the following sentences with the simple form as opposed to the perfect(ive) form: We lived in London for two months in 1986. (complete) / We have lived in London since last September (and still do.)

2. Lexical aspect In addition to the grammatical marking of the aspect, the lexical meaning of the verb may convey aspectual meaning. This is called lexical aspect. The verbs can be divided as follows according to their aspectual meaning:

I. Stative verbs  Cognition verbs: believe, hate, know, like, enjoy, understand, want

Relations verbs: be, belong, contain, have, own, resemble

II. Dynamic verbs Punctual verbs     Acts: hit, jump, eat, kick, stab, strike, throw, cough

Durative verbs     Activities: eat, run, swim, walk, work, write / Processes: become, change, flow, grow, harden, learn

The verbs denoting stative concepts tend not to be used with progressive forms. After buying a house, English speakers are not likely to tell people, I'm having a house now, because that would suggest a process rather than a fixed state

The progressive aspect used with a stative verb often signifies a temporary state: You're being foolish. I'm having a bad day. 

The verbs that typically signify punctual concepts, describing momentary acts, have a slightly different meaning in the progressive form: He's kicking the box, She's coughing.

These are interpreted as repeated acts, not as single acts These are interpreted as repeated acts, not as single acts. Dynamic verbs used in the progressive aspect typically signify ongoing activity.

Verb Mood

Mood is the form of the verb that shows the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed.

English verbs have four moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and infinitive.

1. Indicative Mood: expresses an assertion, denial, or question:

Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas. Ostriches cannot fly Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas. Ostriches cannot fly. Have you finished your homework?

2. Imperative Mood: expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice:

Don’t smoke in this building. Be careful! Don’t drown that puppy!

3. Subjunctive Mood: expresses doubt or something contrary to fact

Modern English speakers use indicative mood most of the time, resorting to a kind of “mixed subjunctive” that makes use of helping verbs

If I should see him, I will tell him. Americans are more likely to say: If I see him, I will tell him.

The verb may can be used to express a wish: May you have many more birthdays. May you live long and prosper

The verb were can also indicate the use of the subjunctive: If I were you, I wouldn’t keep driving on those tires. If he were governor, we’d be in better fiscal shape

4. Infinitive Mood: expresses an action or state without reference to any subject. It can be the source of sentence fragments when the writer mistakenly thinks the infinitive form is a fully-functioning verb.

When we speak of the English infinitive, we usually mean the basic form of the verb with “to” in front of it: to go, to sing, to walk, to speak.

Verbs said to be in the infinitive mood can include participle forms ending in -ed and -ing. Verbs in the infinitive mood are not being used as verbs, but as other parts of speech:

To err is human; to forgive, divine To err is human; to forgive, divine. Here, to err and to forgive are used as nouns.

He is a man to be admired. Here, to be admired is an adjective, the equivalent of admirable. It describes the noun man.

He came to see you. Here, to see you is used as an adverb to tell why he came