SYNTAX

IN DISCOURSE
Aspect, Tense and Voice
Prepared by Shazan Khan Omar























Aspect- allows speaker and writer to present events as
completed or as ongoing. Aspect in English has two forms :
Eg :
Shazan is singing outside
They have played football all morning.

ASPECT
PROGRESSIVE ASPECT
Progressive aspect has this structure
BE + verb + -ing
The progressive combines two features:
i. Tense is represented by the verb BE
ii. Aspect is represented by the participle of the main
verb.
Eg: Shazan is writing is a novel.
Is (present tense)
Writing (progressive)
PERFECT ASPECT
Perfect Aspect
It indicates that the action performed by a verb in a
sentence is completed.
The perfect aspect is formed by a combination of
suffixes and auxiliaries:
Have + verb + -ed
Eg:
a) I had finished my lunch when he arrived.
b) Shazan has written many books.
Present Perfect indicates
-An event that began in the past and continues into
the present:
a) I have lived in Kelantan for many years
An event that is over but has effects to the present:
b) He has broken the window (now he is fixing it)
An event that has happened in the recent past
c) I have just finished my report.
The past perfect denotes that an event happened
one before another event in the past.
a) I had prepared lunch when my mother arrived.
Some grammarians also refer to the simple aspects as
in :
Lucy plays the guitar
Lucy played the guitar
TENSE
Tense refers to a set of inflectional affixes that
communicate information about the time in which
an event happens
a) Present-> suffix s
work -> works
b) Past- suffix ed for regular verbs (walked, called)
and Irregular verbs (drove, took) and non-inflectional
forms (cut, put)
c) Future- will


VOICE
Voice presents events from different perspectives:
Active voice presents an event having the agent in
subject position
a) Shazan baked the cakes
Passive voice- presents an event having the patient in
subject position :
b) Cakes was baked by Shazan.
Middle passive- related to properties or entities or to a
single event.
c) This sweater washes easily.
d) These cars sold very well last year.