25. The category of tense of the verb. The problem of perfect forms.

Category of Tense:

The category of tense is considered to be an immanent grammatical category which means that the finite verb form always expresses time distinctions.

The category of tense is a verbal category that reflects the objective category of time. The essential characteristic of the category of tense is that it relates the time of the action, event or state of affairs referred to in the sentence to the time of the utterance (the time of the utterance being 'now ' or the present moment). The tense category is realized through the oppositions. The binary principle of oppositions remains the basic one in the correlation of the forms that represent the grammatical category of tense. The present moment is the main temporal plane of verbal actions.

Generally speaking, the major tense-distinction in English is undoubtedly that which is traditionally described as an opposition of past - present. But this is best regarded as a contrast of past:: non-past. Quite a lot of scholars do not recognize the existence of future tenses, because what is described as the 'future' tense in English is realized by means of auxiliary verbs will and shall. Although it is undeniable that will and shall occur in many sentences that refer to the future, they also occur in sentences that do not. And they do not necessarily occur in sentences with a future time reference. That is why future tenses are often treated as partly modal.

The category of tense, being a predicative category, differs from other categories in its structure, grammatical meaning and its syntactic function because it is connected with the essence of the speech act, with interpersonal relations.

The opposition of past and present is not the opposition of just 2 verbal forms but the opposition of 2 systems of forms:

Present	Past
Works He is working He has worked He has been working He is working He is going to work He is to work …	Worked He was working He had worked He had been working He was working He was going to work He was to work …

Functionally all the forms, entering these two systems, are the same. They’re used in the syntactic function of the predicate in the sentence. But in speech in the plane of communication the present forms reveal their specific character: they reflect facts and evens as actual, immediately related to the participants of the speech act. On the contrary, the forms of the past reflect something that is already the past, history, not immediately related to the participants of the speech act. What is represented by the past forms is of some cognitive interest to the addressee.

e.g. I have just seen him. I saw him just now.

e.g. They are coming tomorrow.

If we admit that the tense forms of the present express reality and make the information actual for the participants of the speech act, it is possible then to account for the rule ‘in clauses of time and condition forms of the present are used instead of the future’ (though the verb expresses a future action). The same is relevant for the use of the forms of the present in object clauses after the verbs with the meaning know, learn, find, imagine, see (that), look, take care, mind, etc.:

I’ll let you know what happens when I speak to him.

I’ll take care that he doesn’t.

If you watch, you’ll certainly find that he gets a good job in a few months.

The problem of the future tense: will+Infinitive.

• An instant or spontaneous decision to do something (We’ve run out of paper for the printer. – I’ll go and get some. I think I’ll go home.)

• Predictions of a general character (Over the next few years, interactive TV will make a great impact on consumer behavior, and advertisers will have to approach customers in a completely different way.)

• Requests, promises, threats, offering help, etc. (Will you give me a hand with those boxes? –Of course I will.)

Other ways to express a future action: Present Continuous, going to (What are you doing on Friday afternoon?- We should have left much earlier. We are going to be late.)

Compare: I don’t think the present government will win the elections. - I don’t think the present government is going to win the elections.

Look – looked or look – looked or look – looked – will look?

The category of tense (‘time of the process’)
The category of primary time (‘absolutive time characteristic’)		The category of prospective time (‘relative time characteristic’)
(-)present tense (‘non-past time’)	(+)past tense (‘past time’)	(-)non-future tense (non-after action)	(+)future tense (‘after action’)
0	-ed	0	shall/will+0 should/would+0
look	looked	look looked	shall/will look should/would look

+++ BLOKH, SEMIONOVA p.167

The Problem of Perfect Forms:

The position of the perfect forms in the system of the English verb is a problem which has been treated in many different ways and has occasioned much controversy. Among the various views on the essence of the perfect forms in Modern English the following three main trends should be mentioned:

1. The category of perfect is a peculiar tense category, i.e. a category which should be classed in the same list as the categories “present” and “past” – O. Jespersen

2. The category of perfect is a peculiar aspect category, i.e. one which should be given a place in the list comprising “common aspect” and “continuous aspect”. Those who hold this view have expressed different opinions about particular aspect constituting the essence of the perfect forms. It has been variously defined as “retrospective”, “resultative”, “successive” – G. Vorontsova

3. The category of perfect is neither one of tense, nor one of aspect but a specific category different from both. It should accordingly be designated by a special term and its relations to the categories of aspect and tense should be investigated. – A. Smirnitsky. He took the perfect to be a means of expressing the category of “time relation” (временная отнесённость).

B. Ilysh REALLY wants it to be the third – the category of time relation – further, THE CATEGORY OF CORRELATION:

Tense – present vs. past vs. future

Aspect – common vs. continuous

Correlation – perfect vs. non-perfect.

S. Strelkova thinks of perfect as a tense category