Future Static and Future Dynamic

In the following examples processes denoted by verbs in the Future Dynamic are represented as changing in respect to an anterior period of time:

1. "I'm getting thin as hell over up there. Pretty soon I'll be carrying the few thin strands from one side to the other" (M. Wilson); 2. "I'm so

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sure of myself", he concluded. "A year from now I'll be earning more than a dozen men in the Railway Mail. You wait and see" (J. London); 3. "Yes, Malcom old man, I'm on the bread-linel I'll soon be hanging around the back door asking you for some stale buns!" (D. Carter).

Examples of oppositions of different verbal forms:

1. "Anthony will go to school for Coloureds" (G. Gordon) // "You will be five years old next week, and next year — in a few months' time — you'll be going to school" (G. Graham) (Anthony will be a pupil of a school for Coloureds, the form itself implying no change of Anthony's status // You will be a scholar, the form implying a change of the boy's status, who is not a scholar as yet); 2. "I'm to be physician to the Prince and Princess in Alladin's palace, and I shall sit always on your right hand when you entertain nobility" (Ch. Dickens) // "No-o," said the fat man, "long before that you'll be sitting up there on the stage, looking on in your nice black velvet" (K- Mansfield) (My place will always be sitting on your right hand // You will be up there on the stage, sitting and looking on: now, while you are young, you are dancing yourself); 3. "They won't work. We know. They'll be alone in that cabin all winter" (J. London) // "I'll be working this summer" (Th. Dreiser) (They will be indolent all winter // I shall have a regular employment this summer: now I have no job as yet).

In the examples below the verbal processes are represented as chang­ing with respect to a posterior period of time:

1. "You won't be doing that much longer," Ron remarked. Another month, isn't it?" — "Three weeks, boy," Ted corrected him eagerly (H. Smith) (Ted was soon retiring on pension); 2. "I'll go abroad again — Burma! or Malay this time".— Mrs. Brodie's heart sank. "You'll not be thinking of Jhat for a bit, dear," she quavered (A. Cronin); 3. "She's a parlor maid in a house where I deliver goods. She won't be working there much longer, though" (O. Henry).

Model IV

In oppositions by Model IV, a dynamic tense points out the transi­tory nature of a process which can be represented as changing, as devel­oping in time, a static tense representing it as relatively static, irres­pective of its actual nature.

Statistic counts reveal the fact that in sentences of the type "The hospital stood on a hill" (J. Conrad) dynamic tenses are extremely rare because a necessity to represent such relationships (in this case, the relationship between the hospital and the hill) dynamically, as chang­ing, by Model II or III hardly ever presents itself. On the other hand, in such examples as "A plain wooden chair with a homely round back stood at the foot of the bed, and a fairly serviceable broom was standing in one corner" (Th. Dreiser) both static and dynamic tenses are common. A closer look at the two sentences reveals the fact that the space relation­ship between the hospital and the hill hardly ever changes (by its nature the relationship is non-transitory), while that between the chair or

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broom and the bed or the corner of the room is likely to change (is tran­sitory by nature). However, as has been shown above (Model II), tran­sitory relationships which cannot be represented as developing in time as in "The hall clock stood at ten minutes to nine" (H. Smith), are prac­tically never expressed by verbs in dynamic tenses. This leads us to conclude that Model IV is limited to oppositions of transitory, processes which can be represented as developing in time. Examples of oppositions of static and dynamic tenses by Model IV:

1. 1. "May I at least get my hat? It hangs on that peg opposite to us" (Ch. Dickens) // Take my waterproof to lie on: it is hanging up in the hall (B. Shaw) (My hat is on that peg, the form itself saying nothing whether the process is transitory or not // My waterproof is up in the hall, the form implying that by its nature the relationship between the'^hat and its present place in the hall is transitory); 2. "Now," said he, "jus't hand me the whip; it lies there under the hedge" (Ch. Bronte) // "Your letter is lying on my mistress' table" (G. Meredith); 3. His face is rather a foolish one. He wears a uniform of dark blue (O'Casey) // He is nineteen years old and slightly built. He is wearing an old raincoat (K- Water house);

2. 1. Anthony ran ahead. On his back he carried the new brown satchel (G. Gordon) // Mr. Langley appeared in court, sun-tanned and smartly dressed. He was carrying a neatly rolled umbrella in one hand (D. Worker); 2. Madame was standing in front of the open ward­robe. A bundle of dresses hung over her arm (A. Huxley) // His belt was hanging over the back of his chair (I. Shaw); 3. He turned off into Danny's yard. The half-door stood open and the room was dim (E. Clu-er) // Even in the bewilderment of that battle he was conscious that the door was standing open (G. Chesterton);

3. "I'll wear my dark-blue," she thought, and took from the ward­robe a dark-blue crepe de Chine frock (E. Delafield)” ; "Moreover, I shall have green paint on both cheeks and be wearing my dirtiest over­all, so you'll be ashamed of me, I warn you" (H. Walpole).

The four semantic models treated of above can be illustrated by the following oppositions:

MODEL I: I crossed the street (J. Braine)//They were crossing the street (J. London).

MODEL II: Everyone in the ward was noticing how badly she walk­ed. But she was walking — that was the important thing (D. Cusack).

MODEL III: Gant ate ravenously (Th. Wolfe) // And to all of them Jan's condition improved. She was eating better (D. Cusack); On the further side of the stream stood a small homestead (Th. Hardy) // In Charleston, at that very time, was still standing an old and charming residence (Th. Dreiser).

MODEL IV: A bundle of dresses hung over her arm (A. Huxley) // // His belt was hanging over the back of his chair (I. Shaw).

The meanings of the four semantic models is summarized in the table below:

Model	Static tenses	Dynamic tenses
I	A verbal process represented at a certain moment or a period of time with its limits emphasized.	A verbal process represented at a certain moment or period of time without emphasis on its limits.
II	A verbal process represented at a certain moment or in a period of time as a relatively static feature or relationship.	A verbal process represented at a certain moment or in a pe­riod of time in its progression.
III	A verbal process represented at a certain moment or in a period of time as a relatively static feature or relationship, irrelative of its ac­tual changes in respect to an ante­rior or posterior period of time.	A verbal process represented at a certain moment or in a pe­riod of time as a feature or re­lationship having changed or to be changed in respect to an an­terior or posterior period of time.
IV	A verbal process represented at a certain moment as a relatively sta­tic relationship, irrelative of wheth­er or not it is actually transitory by nature.	A verbal process represented at a certain moment as a single- act transitory relationship.
Below the meanings of the four semantic models are represented for brevity's sake symbolically:
M. I	/V/	VVV . . .
M. II	F v, Rv	V VV ....
M. Ill	Fv, Rvvar0 (ta-t; t-tp)	Fv, Rvvar (ta-t; t-tp)
M. IV	Rvtrans0	Rv trans

Where: V — a verbal process,

/V/ — a verbal process with its limits emphasized, VVV...— a verbal process in its progression,

F^v — a feature expressed, together with other words of the context, by a verb,

R^v — a relationship expressed, together with other words of the context, by a verb,

var — variable, і. e. having changed or to be changed, var₀ — irrelative of its actual changes,

t_a — an anterior period of time; t_p — a posterior period of time, trans — transitory,

trans₀ — irrelative of whether it is transitory in its nature or not.

A closer examination shows that the meanings of the static and dynamic tenses opposed by the four semantic models can be general­ized into one invariant, or general meaning.

In the first place, it is evident that a process denoted by a verb in a dynamic tense is represented as relatively dynamic, i. e. as chang­ing, changed or to be changed, or transitory.

It is also evident that a static tense by Models II, III, and IV repre­sents a feature or relationship as relatively static.

Static tenses, when opposed by Model I, lay emphasis on one of or both qualitative limits of a verbal process (see p. 10) corresponding to the moments when it begins or ends. Since any process is necessarily an infinite multitude of particular moments, a pointing out of only one of its moments is also equivalent to the static representation of the process.

Taking into consideration that the notions relatively static and relatively dynamic are based on the speed of development of processes (see pp. 10 and 11) and that oppositions of the static and the dynamic tenses are systematic, we conclude that the static and the dynamic tenses in English constitute the grammatical category of aspect.

Beforepresent, Beforepast, and Beforefuture Tenses (Anterior Tenses)

Aspectually, the Anterior Static and the Anterior Dynamic tenses are opposed to each other by the four semantic models treated of above¹.

Model I

Anterior Static tenses when opposed to Anterior Dynamic tenses by Model I represent verbal processes with and without any emphasis on their qualitative limits, respectively.

Beforepresent Static and Beforepresent Dynamic

Compare the following oppositions:

A drunken blackguard has fallen into a well and been drowned (B. Shaw).	"This glass Is falling 16 feet a second now. Only, you see, it hasn't been falling yet for the hundredth part of a second" (H. G. Wells).
He tears off the envelope and it falls to the floor (D. Lessing).	"This glass is falling 16 feet a second now" (H. G. Wells).
Annixter, instantly killed, fell his length to the ground (F. Norris).	Ike was off balance and was falling (J. Jones).

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In these oppositions the static tenses has fallen, falls, fell represent a verbal process in its limits, the dynamic tenses hasn't teen falling, is falling, was falling in its progress, in its going on.

More examples of the Beforepresent Static and the Beforepresent Dynamic opposed:

1. "I have built and am now profitably operating seventy-five miles of suburban trolley lines" (Th. Dreiser) // "I am playing a legitimate game in Chicago. I've been building up an excellent street-car service" (Th. Dreiser); 2. "No, it hasn't come to that yet" (J. Lindsay)//"It's been coming to that a long time" (B. Tarkington); 3. "What have you done to my mom?" (R. Gehman) // "What have you been doing to this child?" (J. Updike); 4. "I've done it, father. I've finished first!" (A. Cro­nin)'// "I've been finishing a bit of work in the library. I went out on the terrace for a breath" (J. Galsworthy); 5. "Well, Mr. Stener, it seems, has been loaning out a good deal to this young Cowperwood"... "Well, it seems that Stener has loaned him as much as 500,000 dollars" (Th. Drei­ser); 6. "She's put on four pounds" (D. Cusack) // "Ever since I gave up smoking I've been putting on weight" (J. Lindsay); 7. "You've just said he was nothing but a dream" (M. Mitchell) //"I've just been saying so to Ellen — haven't I, Ellen?" (P. Wodehouse).

Beforepast Static and Beforepast Dynamic

I had begun to mistrust my­self (F. Norris).	In Philadelphia, before his failure ... he had been beginning to entertain in a very pretentious way (Th. Dreiser).
She was shaken, but cer­tainly she began to feel better (W. S. Maugham).	"I was beginning to worry about you" (A. Cronin).
"My brain is rather reeling" said Granby, "but I begin to have some notion of what all this night­mare is about" (G. Chesterton).	"I'm beginning to feel a new courage", she said (W. S. Maugham).

More examples of oppositions of the Beforepast Static and the Be­forepast Dynamic:

1. After their wedding trip they returned to the house he had built for her (Th. Wolfe) // "He was telling me about the great railroad he

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had been building" (O. Henry); 2. On his back he carried the new brown satchel his mother had bought him the day before (G. Gordon) //One winter afternoon she had been buying something in a little antique shop (K. Mansfield); 3. The next instant he had cut the other strap (E. Voy-nich) // He had been cutting a herring-bone pattern on a piece cf pietra serena. He did not stop working (I. Stone); 4. He had gotten up and lit the lamp (O. Henry) // Everything was ruddy, shadowy, and indistinct to her, the more so since she had just been lighting the bar lamp (H. G. Wells); 5. "What a coincidence, Miss Brodiel" hehadsaid(A. Cro-nin) // The girl had been saying "The section manager, of course, is a poor idiot —" but she stopped and looked at Erik (M. Wilson); 6. She had washed her hair before breakfast — she sat drinking coffee (K. Mans­field) // He found Mrs. Derick on the porch, seated in a long wicker chair. She had been washing her hair and the light brown locks were carefully spread in the sun (F. Norris).

In the oppositions below all static forms are opposed to the corres* ponding dynamic forms:

After Ed had told Joe about the church election, Gus just stood there looking at Ed (E. Cald­well).	He was laughing heartily at a story which he had been tel­ling Gabriel on the stairs (J. Joyce).
"I've told you the story as he told it to me" (H. G. Wells).	"I've just had two men in my office... They've been tel­ling me something interesting" (Th. Dreiser).
"But perhaps somebody will wait for me, for he will have told them I am out" (Th. White).	0
"Don't you dare to leave me like this! I won't stand for it. I tell you I won't" (Th. Dreiser) (Cf.: Сказано тебе).	"Remember this is a love story I am telling you" (J. Conrad).
At twelve o'clock I told Ted­dy that I was sick (J. Braine).	"The captain of the boys was telling me he was in need of a boy" (Th. Dreiser).
"I'll tell them the truth" (G. Gordon).	"We shall be telling the exact truth" (J. Galsworthy).

Model II

A verb in an anterior static tense is used, together with other words of the context, to express a feature or relationship considered as rela­tively static, while an anterior dynamic tense denotes the development, the going on of the verbal process.

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Beforepresent Static and Beforepresent Dynamic

The content side of linguis­tics has developed much less rapidly than the study of expres­sion (H. Gleason) (The develop­ment of the content side of linguistics has been much less rapid).	This conception has been de­veloping in man's mind for ma­ny decades (B. Price) (This con­ception has been in the process of developing in man's mind for many decades).
The modern view really rests upon a mistaken idea of the way in which civilization deve­lops (J. Burnot) (a mistaken idea of the way of development of civilization).	The Communist Party is grow­ing and developing (D. Worker) (The Communist Party is in the process of development).
Their language grew and developed as their needs became more complicated (L. Strong) (Their language was subject to development).	The great external element in Cowperwood's financial success was the fact that Chicago was developing constantly (Th. Drei­ser) (Chicago was in the process of developing constantly).

More examples of the Beforepresent Static and Beforepresent Dynamic opposed:

1. "You've complained all the while and quite rightly" (J. Lindsay) // // "Look, all this time I've been complaining that Haviland does not care a damn" (M. Wilson) (There have been complaints from me all the while // All this time I have been in the process of complaining); 2. "It has not rained here today" (B. Botkin) // It has been raining and is likely to start again (A. Wesker) (There has been no rain here today // There has been rain falling here today); 3. "We've slept long", Sarie said (P. Abrahams) // "You have been sleeping as long as I have" (Th. Dreiser) (We have been long asleep // You have been in the process of sleeping as long as I have); 4. "Oh, you'll not learn Italian in two weeks. I've studied it for months now" (E. Hemingway) // "What have you been doing in Italy?"—"I have been studying architecture" (E. Hemingway) (Italian has been the subject of my studies for years now // I have been in the process of studying architecture); 5. "I've tried for years to make her understand how it's with me" (Th. Dreiser) // "I've been trying to get Mamma to do something about it for years" (W. S. Maugham) (It has been my attempt for years to make her understand it // I have been in the process of trying to get her to do something, i. e. talking to her, entreating her, arguing with her, etc.); 6. "They have worked hard all their life" (Th. Wolfe) // "There are some things you know more about than I do, and I have been working for over thirty years" (I. Stone); (They have been hard-working people // I have been in the process of working for thirty years).

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Beforepast Static and Beforepast Dynamic

1. From the moment of her arrival in Nice, she had fought like a tigress for her rights (M. Mitchell) // He knew his own men would want to take the charter because they had been fighting for twenty years for mem­bership in the Carbuilders' Union (A. Saxton) (She had been like a ti­gress in fighting // They had been in the process of fighting for mem­bership in the Union); 2. It had rained for a week (I. Shaw) // It had been raining for days (A. Huxley) (There had been rain for weeks // There had been rain falling for days); 3. All the week that tune had rung in her head (E. Delafield) // All day the telephone had been ringing (J. Galsworthy) (There had been ringing sounds of that tune in her head // The telephone had been in the process of ringing); 4. Derek, who had slept the sleep of the dead, woke (J. Galsworthy) //The dog that had been sleeping by the stove arose and yawned (Sh. Anderson) (Derek whose sleep had been like that of the dead // The dog that was in the process of sleeping); 5. He told them that Jean Hartley had never been at his flat but that another girl had — the girl who had smoked those cigarettes at six o'clock (G. Gordon) // "You told the police that the,same girl had been drinking it as had been smoking these cigarettes" (G. Gordon) (The girl who had been the smoker of those cigarettes// The girl who had been in the process of smoking these cigarettes); 6. She had worked there on the evening shift for the past three years (D. Work­er) // Minnie had been working in the Communist Party for ten years (A. Saxton) (She had been employed on the evening shift there // She had been in the process of performing her duties for ten years).

Models III and IV

In 95% of all their uses the anterior static tenses are opposed aspec-tually to the dynamic tenses by Models I and II, oppositions of absolute tenses by these models amounting approximately to 70%.

Oppositions of the Beforepresent Static and the Beforepresent Dy­namic by Model IV do not practically exist. This is due to certain differ­ences in the temporal content of the anterior and the absolute tenses. In oppositions by Model IV a relationship is referred to a certain m o-m e n t of time, which agrees with the meaning of absolute tenses (signs for the mental present, past, and future) and disagrees with the content of the beforepresent tenses (signs for a verbal process which is anterior to the speaker's mental time and, therefore, usually referred to a p e г і о d of time).

Dynamic tenses in oppositions by Model III represent a verbal pro­cess at a certain moment or in a period of time as a feature or relationship having changed or to be changed in respect to an anterior or posterior moment or period of time. This practically excludes beforepresent tenses in all cases where a feature or relationship belongs to some m о m e n, t of time in the past. If, however, the subject is being characterized dy­namically relative to some anterior or posterior period of time,

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the Beforepresent 'Dynamic (as well as the Beforepast Dynamic) ] is common. Examples:

1. 1. "He's a Brazilian, I think. At any rate, I know he has lived out there" (E. Voynich) // "She has been living in Brazil," Miss Van j Vluyck persisted (E. Warton) (His home has been in Brazil, no changes J of the residence being implied by the form itself // Her home has been ] in Brazil, the form implying that the place of residence has been chang- J ed); 2. The theatre is being demolished by Moss Empires to build a 1 500,000 pounds block of offices and shops on a site where a theatre has і stood for eighty-nine years (D. Worker) // Over two-hundred homes 1 on this estate have been standing empty for months, waiting for conver- I sion by owners (D. Worker) (where a theatre has been, no changes of 1 the status of the theatre being implied by the form itself // Over two- ] hundred homes have been empty for months: they were rented before 1 and will be rented after conversion); 3. "She has a father, a mother, and j two brothers. They have worked hard all their life" (Th. Wolfe) // "Yes, j Mr. Hartley. I don't feel too fit." — "You've been working too hard ] lately. Take it easy" (G. Gordon) (They have been hard-working people no changes being implied by the form itself // You have been too hard at ] your work lately, the form implying that things were or will be differ- ] ent);

1. 1. Mac had lived all his life in the city, and Happy Valley was | a new experience to him (D. Worker) // Roberta explained that up to ] this time she had been living with her parents near a town called Blitz, j but was now living with her friends here (Th. Dreiser) (Mac's home 1 had all his life been in the city, the form itself implying no change of ] the place of residence // Roberta's home had been near Blitz: now it J was in Lycurgus, the form implying that there had been a change of ] residence); 2. She went into the large bedroom in which her mother for J many years had slept (W. S. Maugham) // Since Bunny's birth he had j been sleeping in the guest room (M. Wilson) (the bedroom which had 1 been her mother's sleeping room, no changes of the relationship between j the room and Kitty's mother being implied by the form itself // Since ] Bunny's birth his sleeping place had been the guest room, the form ] implying a change of the relationship); 3. Mrs. Sandra Hodgson was j made "redundant" two weeks ago. Sandra had worked there since she j left school (D. Worker) // Her name was Roberta Alden, and, as she j at once explained, previous to this shehad been working in a small hosiery j factory (Th. Dreiser) (Sandra had had employment in a mill since she j had left school, no change of her status being implied by the form itself // 1 // Roberta had had employment in a small hosiery factory, the form implying a change of her status).