CURS 3

TENSE
TIME VS TENSE (TIME IS REFLECTED BY TENSE)
-

Time is objective in the sense that it does not have absolute reality outside the
form of our perception of the world; it is not inherent to objects.
- Time is an epistemic notion as it mirrors our experience of the world.
- Time has a linear representation, which preserves the sequential character of our
perception of the world.
- Time is durationally infinite and segmentable; we perceive it as unidirectional
(forwards).
Time is segmented by two different procedures:
- a personal subjective estimate of duration
- a public estimate based on the periodicity of natural phenomena
Accordingly, there is
- a personal time: mans endeavor to measure duration by using his emotions as an
instrument (time is expanded or contracted)
- a public time, characteristic of society; time measurement is subjected to public
agreement and it is based on the periodicity of some observable natural
phenomena (revolution of the earth round its axis, its periodic relation to the sun,
the moon, the stars etc)
TENSE: A DEICTIC CATEGORY
Tense is generally defined as representing the chronological order of events in
time as perceived by the speaker at the moment of speaking, speech time (ST). Tense
is a deictic category, i.e. the moment NOW is central in the sense that time past or
time future represent DIRECTIONS whose ORIENTATION depends on ST. ST/NOW
is a central point on the temporal axis of orientation according to which we interpret
the ordering of events/states. All accounts of tense make interpretation sensitive to
tense. Events can be simultaneous with ST (at relation) or they can be sequential to it
(before / after relations).
Tense is a functional category that expresses a temporal relation to the
orientation point (ST) in the sense that it locates in time the situation talked about.
TENSE: MORE THAN TENSE INFLECTIONS
A common mistake in approaching the category of tense is the belief that tense
inflections alone mirror time. In fact they are not enough to express the temporal
specification of a message. A proper interpretation of temporal forms presupposes an
analysis of the relation between
(i)
(ii)

tense specification of the V (i.e. tense inflection) and

temporal adverbials.

INFL identifies the event of the VP in the sense that it places that particular
event in time. A VP consists of both its lexical head V0 and the complement(s) it has
selected. We know that information about the selection of complements by a verb is
part of the lexical entry of that verb in the lexicon and it represents more or less its
descriptive content. If we assume that, roughly speaking, the descriptive content of a
verb is the idea of event, we cannot conceive of this event without taking into account
the complements of the respective verb as well as those explicit lexical means of
placing the event in time: time adverbials. It means that when discussing temporal
interpretation, we have to talk about sentence temporal interpretation or, at least,
about predicate temporal interpretation.
PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE
Present Tense Simple is associated with the present moment - the speech time in the sense that it may refer either to a point in time identified with speech time (ST)
or to an interval that includes the moment of speaking. As far as its factual status is
concerned, the present is between the past and the future. The past is considered to be
factually determined since we know if an action took place or not in the past. On the
contrary, the future is the least factually determined time. The present expresses both
situations whose time of occurrence is known and situations whose time of occurrence
is not known.
VALUES OF PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE
1. GENERIC VALUE unmarked value
Present Tense Simple used in generic sentences indicates the validity of a state at
speech time without making reference to a particular situation or moment. It ascribes
a property to a subject; therefore, it appears in so-called characterizing sentences.
Generic sentences are true of some particular entities, namely kinds. Kind referring
expressions are bare plurals, definite singular NPs and mass nouns. They can also
appear with indefinite NPs, proper names and quantified NPs but in this case the locus
of genericity is not in the NP but rather in the sentence itself, i.e. these NPs get a
generic interpretation only when occurring in characterizing sentences. Present simple
is associated with stative verbs and it is used in scientific language, in proverbs,
definitions, geographical statements, in instructions or when specifying game rules
etc. Generic sentences are timeless statements expressing general or universal truths.
Water boils at 100C.
Blood is thicker than water.
London stands on the Thames.
2. HABITUAL VALUE unmarked value
Habitual sentences indicate that a situation is repeated with a certain frequency
during an interval of time. Since they do not focus on a particular situation but rather
on its recurrence, they do not point to a specific moment in time and in this respect
they resemble generic sentences. However, unlike generic sentences, habitual
sentences refer to an individual or an object about which the respective property is
true at speech time. Very often, they include adverbs of frequency classified into
general (ever, never, whenever, usually, often, seldom) and specific (three times a
week, twice a day, every two weeks).

Habitual sentences may be completely specified, indicating both the frequency

and the interval during which an event takes place. Yet, more often than not they have
less than complete temporal specification. Compare:
They visit me every two days during holidays. (specified frequency and interval)
They visit me every day. (unspecified interval)
He eats a lot of vegetables in winter. (unspecified frequency)
He doesn't eat many vegetables. (no frequency and no interval)
3. INSTANTANEOUS VALUE - marked
The instantaneous simple present refers to an event that is assumed to be
simultaneous with the moment of speaking. It is used in sports commentaries,
demonstrations, war reports, and exclamations, commentaries on pictures, books or
movies and stage directions:
Hagi takes the ball and passes it to Popescu. Popescu sends the ball into the net.
Goal!
First I roll out the pastry, and then I add the mixture and spread it
Here comes the winner!
In Gone with the wind Scarlet writes a letter.
Seth and Minnie come forward as far as the lilac clump He nudges Minnie with
his elbow (ONeill, Mourning Becomes Electra)
It is true that in most cases the event does not occur exactly when it is mentioned,
but this simultaneity is rather subjective than objective.
Events that are simultaneous with the moment of speaking may be expressed
either by a simple present or a present continuous:
He shuts the window. / He is shutting the window.
However, whereas the continuous present represents a neutral description of an
action going on at the moment of speaking, the use of the simple present is rather
dramatic since it insists on the total completion of the event mentioned.
The instantaneous present is also used in performative sentences that employ
performative verbs - verbs that themselves are part of the activity they report - such as
accept, deny, name, declare, pronounce. When having an instantaneous value, the
performative verb appears in the first person singular or plural and may be
accompanied by hereby:
I name this ship "Queen Mary".
We sentence you to prison for life.
I hereby pronounce you man and wife.
In performative sentences the event reported and the act of speech are
simultaneous simply because they are identical. A performative act is felicitous on
condition that the persons and the circumstances involved in it are appropriate for the
invocation of the respective procedure (for instance, it is only a priest that can marry
you and this can happen only in a church).
Both habitual and generic sentences may receive instantaneous readings under
certain circumstances:
Swallows fly higher than doves. (generic reading)
Look, the swallows fly higher than the doves. (instantaneous reading because of
the suggestion of instantaneous perception indicated by "Look")
He scores goals. (habitual interpretation because of the plural direct object)
He scores a goal. (instantaneous interpretation)

4. FUTURE VALUE - marked

The simple present may acquire a future value either in simple sentences or in
subordinate adverbial clauses of time and condition introduced by after, as soon as,
when, before, if, unless etc.
In simple sentences it is accompanied by a temporal adverbial indicating the
future: The plane leaves for New York at 5 p.m. tomorrow. The use of the simple
present signals the fact that the future event is bound to happen, in other words, the
anticipated event is attributed the same degree of certainty that we normally assign to
present or past events. For this reason the simple present with this value represents the
only marked way to express the future time in English. It refers to mostly official or
collective future plans or arrangements that cannot be altered. It may relate to
timetables, schedules, itineraries etc.:
The caravan sets off tomorrow morning.
We leave Bucharest on Monday morning, arrive in London at noon and set off for
Glasgow in the evening.
The use of the simple present with future value in adverbial clauses of time and
condition has more than a syntactic explanation. In the examples below the content of
the adverbial clause is assumed to exist as a fact:
I'll see what to do when I meet him.
By the time you get there, the show will have already begun.
I will be very unhappy if our team does not win.
There is a contrast of meaning between the main clause and the subordinate. The
event referred to in the former is a prediction, whereas the event expressed in the
latter is a fact that is taken as given, which provides an axis of orientation for the
action predicted in the main clause.
NB. Students are inclined to think that they must use only the simple present after
clauses introduced by when and if. However, the rule applies only to those cases in
which when and if introduce adverbial clauses of time and condition. Compare:
I will talk to him when I see him. (time clause)
I don't know when I will see him. (direct object clause) / I don't know this.
I will take my umbrella if it rains. (conditional clause)
I don't know if it will rain. (direct object clause) / I don't know this.
5. PAST VALUE - marked
The use of the Simple Present with a past value is best known as the historic
present and represents a storyteller's license, being typical of an oral narrative style.
As Jespersen (1931:17) remarked, the "historic present is pretty frequent in connected
narrative: the speaker, as it were, forgets all about time and imagines, or recalls, what
he is recounting, as vividly as if it were now present before his eyes". The simple
present with this value often alternates with a time adverbial indicating the past:

At that moment in comes a messenger from the Head Office, telling me the boss
wants to see me in a hurry. (I. Stefanescu, 1988:261)
However, a distinction has to be made between the historic present described
above and the present forms employed to narrate fictional, that is, imaginary events.
The historic present is also used after verbs of linguistic communication such as
tell, say, learn, hear:
Mary tells me that you are going to buy new furniture. (in a letter)
Your correspondent Mr. Pitt writes in the March issue that (in the
correspondence column of a journal)
In both cases the simple present emphasizes the persistence in the present of the
effect of a past communication. Though tell and hear in the examples above refer to
the initiation of a message, the use of the present seems to transfer the verbal meaning
from the initiating to the receiving end of the message, so that communication is still
in force for the receiver.
At the same the historic present is employed when describing an artist and his
work because this feels as if they were still alive. The difference between using the
present and using the past simply involves the speaker's point of view: if he employs
the present, then he considers that the artist still survives through his work, and if he
uses the past, then he sees the artist as a person who died at a certain moment in the
past. Compare:
Brahms is the last great representative of German classicism.
Brahms was the last great representative of German classicism.
Finally, the simple present appears in newspaper headlines to announce recent
events, its use reminding one of the dramatic quality of the instantaneous present; it is
also present in photographic captions in newspapers, in historical summaries and
tables of dates:
MPs back school reform. / Ex-president dies of heart attack.
Mr. Gore shakes hands with Mr. Bush. (photo caption)
1876 - Brahms finishes his first symphony.
Although so far all the uses of the simple present have involved real facts, the
simple present may also refer to imaginary situations. This fictional use makes
reference to no real time, but to an imaginary present time, giving the reader the
impression that he is actually witnessing the events described. In such cases, the
simple present often alternates with a past tense.
His lordship had no sooner disappeared behind the trees of the forest, but Lady
Randolph begins to explain to her confidante the circumstances of her early life. The
fact was she had made a private marriage (Thackeray, Virg. Ch. LIX, 614)