• Home
  • Login
  • Registration
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
ESLarticle.com
Tweet
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Members
  • Add Article

Top Categories

Teaching 509
Other 210
Classroom Management 138
Career Development 135
Learning Methodology 121
Study Skills 90
E-Learning/CALL 87
English Language Learning (ELL) 78
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) 77
Teaching Methodology 76
English Language Teaching (ELT) 73
English as a Second Language (ESL) 64
Teach in Shanghai
Home / Articles / Teaching / Grammar / View Article

Publishing

  • Articles
  • Add Article
  • Articles Archive
  • Latest Articles
  • Popular Articles

Latest Articles

Jan 5, 2019

Metacognition in Reading Competency

As related to the reading process, metacognition can be defined as contemplation concerning one's own thinking processes or knowledge of one's own...

Jan 5, 2019

Mass Media Literacy Reflections for Language Instructions

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei Mass media forms thrive today. As development...

Nov 30, 2018

Ideas for the First Class with New Learners

~~The first class with new learners can be an anxious one for all concerned – teacher as well as learners. Below are some tips to make that first...

Nov 19, 2018

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners It is estimated that there are over a billion English speakers in the world, including native speakers,...

Nov 15, 2018

Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Hom

Education Today, December 2013 Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Home  Timothy G. Weih University of Northern...

Popular Articles

1131429 Views

5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Classroom Bulletin Board This Winter

Back to school, fall leaves, Thanksgiving and Christmas all easily lend themselves to great decorating themes, but what to do when those are over...

370408 Views

Three Unique Ideas To Make Your Bulletin Board More Useful

Bulletin boards have long been existent in campuses. They have proven to be such versatile and useful aids in both the learning and teaching...

135693 Views

History of the Chalkboard

Walk into just about any classroom and you will find one: A dark green board on the wall, lined with pieces of chalk and felt erasers. Chalkboards,...

63212 Views

Report Card Comments

For a small minority, writing report cards isn't a big deal. But most teachers generally dread report card writing time. Completing the comment...

41591 Views

The Most Useful American Business Words

The Most Useful American Business Words: Here's a list that will come in handy for any student enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL)...


Tense and Aspect: A Brief Overview

by Guest

Oct 22, 2010 Grammar 4405 Views

e/Eman/art_7389_8999df55e7~.gif

 

Tense

There are two forms of tense in English: PRESENT and PAST. The present tense can be used to express present events (e.g. Ronaldo passes the ball to Kaka), a habit or routine (e.g. I go to UCS three days a week), general facts (e.g. The sun rises in the east), an occurrence in the future (e.g. the train arrives at 3 pm) or historic present- in literary English and oral narrative (e.g. He just walks into the room and sits down in front of the fire without saying a word to anyone).

The past tense is used to describe an action, activity, or state that took place in the past (e.g. I watched a movie last night). The present tense form ties the situation described closely to the situation of utterance; on the other hand, the past tense form makes the situation described more remote from the situation of utterance. Some basic meaning distinctions between different tense forms are offered in terms of the REMOTE/NON-REMOTE and FACTUAL/NON-FACTULAL status of perceived situations.

     Examples:  I worked as a translator three years ago. (Past: remote + factual)

                     I study towards my master's at USC.  (Present: non-remote + factual)

The verb form that is traditionally called 'the future tense' is actually expressed via a model verb which indicates the relative possibility of an event. Situations in the future are treated differently. They are inherently non-factual but can be considered as either relatively certain or unlikely or even impossible.

      Examples:  I will see you soon. (Future: non- remote + non- factual)

                        If I was rich, I would change the world. (Hypothetical: remote + non-

                        factual)

Aspect

Unlike tense, which is concerned with the location of a situation, aspect is concerned with the internal dimensions of a situation whether it is fixed or changing, or it may be treated as lasting for only a moment or having duration, and it can be viewed as complete or as ongoing. Aspects can be subdivided into LEXICAL and GRAMMATICAL aspects.

I. Lexical Aspects

The lexical meaning of the verb may convey aspectual meaning. The verbs can be divided as follows according to their aspectual meaning:

 

 

     

                      Stative                                                                          Dynamic

Cognition Verbs           Relations Verbs                 Punctual Verbs           Durative Verbs

Believe                                  be                                            Acts           Activities      Processes

hate,                                     belong                                         hit                eat                become

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. Dynamic verbs used in the progressive aspect typically signify ongoing activity.

II. Grammatical Aspects

The grammatical aspects are basically versions of the PROGRESSIVE (be + -ing) and the PERFECT (have + past participle). With the progressive, a situation is viewed from the inside as potentially ongoing at that point 'in progress', relative to some other situation. With the perfect, a situation is viewed from the outside, typically in retrospect, relative to some other situation.

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. (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 2001. (complete) / We have lived in London since last September (and still do.)

 

 

 

Meaning in Context

 

 

There are two different kinds of information that can be found in academic writings, magazine articles, narrative texts, news reports… (a) Background information where the past tense signifies scene-settings, specific acts or old focus. (b) Foreground information where the present tense signifies changes, general statements, facts or new focus. For example,

 “One night, when Donald was driving home, his car skidded down Hill Street and was demolished.  Donald was killed in the accident.  This leaves us with Dolly to account for, and what a sad tale we can write for this little girl.  During the months in which her parents’ will is in probate, she lives on charity.

Bibliography

Aspect. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 09, 2008, from   Encyclopædia Britannica Online:http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/38911/aspect

Bonesteel, L. & Eckstut-Didier, S. (2007). Center Stage 2:  Express Yourself in English. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.

Murphy, R. (1994). English Grammar in Use. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Tanka, J. & et la. (2002)  Interactions 1: Listening/Speaking (4th edition). New York,

   NY: McGraw Hill. 

Tense. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 09, 2008, from

  Encyclopædia Britannica Online:  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587493/tens

Thornbury, S. (1999). How to Teach Grammar. London: Longman.

Yule, G. (1999). Explaining English Grammar. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.


 

Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/teaching/grammar/7389-tense-and-aspect-a-brief-overview.html

  • General Information
  • Pictures
General

Pictures:

Most Recent Articles

  • Sep 16, 2017 5 Tips That Can Help You to Improve Your Grammar by Guest
  • Apr 15, 2017 Top Grammar Rules You Can Forget by Guest
  • Aug 27, 2016 Relative Clauses (4) - Prepositions In Relative Clauses by Guest
  • Aug 27, 2016 Relative Clauses (3) - Other Relative Pronouns by Guest
  • Jun 18, 2016 Subject and Verb Agreement by Guest

Actions

  • Print Page

Articles Archive

  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020

Random Articles

Learning Methodology

Multiple Intelligences in Your Local School

Are you aware of this reality? - - "95% of all that has ever been known about the physiological workings of the brain has been discovered in the...

E-Learning/CALL

Why Educate Through Multimedia?

Gone are the days of traditional education that was confined to tiresome lectures and silent books only. Today, multimedia has become an important...

Classroom Management

Classroom Management Tools For Teaching Rules and Procedures

A teacher is also a manager. Whether you are a new or seasoned teacher, you are expected to hold a class of thirty five students from the minute...

Pronunciation/Phonics

Phonics - Teaching Vowel Sounds To Children Leaning to Read

When teaching children how to read using a phonic teaching programme there are various elements which need to be clearly understood. This article...

Grammar

English Grammar

Know about important English Grammar in an easy way. We will provide you with some important English Grammar along with examples to understand the...

About ESL Article

ESL Article is a private ESL/TEFL site designed and maintained by educators and educational administrators. It was launched in August 2008 with the aim of bringing ESL/TEFL students, parents, teachers and schools information and articles about the teaching profession and learning community.

Icon Group Member

ESL Article is a member of Icon Group Thailand (IGT), a group of ESL TEFL TESOL websites providing educational resources and information to teachers, schools and students around the world. The group was founded in 2003 and now includes 15+ websites covering educational information services, teaching resources and e-learning.

What is ESL?

English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers of different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), and English as a foreign language (EFL).

  • Home
  • Registration
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Help
  • Partner
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
​

© 2021 ESLarticle.com.
Member of Icon Group Thailand - Educating the Future:
TESall All TESOL  Total ESL  ESL Job Feed
TEFL World  TEFL Jobs Overseas  Teach Overseas
Asia TEFL  ESL Powerpoint  Teacher Training