SEMINAR 3.

TENSE

1. Specify the relation between ST,RT, ET for the underlined verbs.

a. More people had joined in the excited agreement-discussion and were yelling over each other.
b. We’ll apologize for the overly harsh criticism, but we’ll have got our point across.
c. The grass you are standing on is made of a new kind of sugar that I’ve just invented.
d. Everything they had seen so far had been astonishing. Where were they going now?
e. Your nose is turning blue as a blueberry! Your whole nose has gone purple!
f. I told you I hadn’t got it quite right! It always goes wrong when we come to the dessert.
g. I heard last night that the show was opening in a few days.
h. It was 1812, just before the battle of Borodino. The anticipation of the coming struggle is
palpable. Napoleon has just woken. He is getting ready to inspect the troops and see that they are
ready for the battle that will determine the fate of Europe
i. It’ ll be going at an insane velocity when it hits.
j. He has saved me and I have saved him.
k. John has been in prison since January. / John has worked there since January. / John has been
working there since January. / He has been in prison for 3 years. / For 3 years (now), he has been
in prison. / He was in prison for 3 years.

2. List the values of the present simple. Give examples.

3. Present perfect vs. past simple. Specify ST/SR/ET.

a. ‘Expelliarmus!’ said Neville and Harry, caught unawares, felt his wand fly out of his hand. ‘I did it!’
said Neville gratefully. ‘I’ve never done it before.’
b. I’ve tried it twenty times in the testing room on twenty Oompa-Loompas and every one of them
finished up as a blueberry .
c. I shot down Santa! I’ve ruined Christmas for everybody!
d. ‘Marvin died two years ago.’ ‘Marvin has died many times.’
e. We’ve met. We… we had a fight.
f. There aren’t many people who can say they’ve vandalized a three-billion-dollar spacecraft, but
I’m one of them. I’ve been pulling out critical hardware out of the MAV left and right. It’s nice to
know that my launch to orbit won’t have any pesky backup systems weighing me down. First
thing I did was remove the small stuff. Then came the things I could dissassemble.
g. We went to a place and we had egg and anchovy sandwiches which is something I have told Fritz
about but he wasn’t interested.
h. He said I might as well go for a walk. ‘I already have. I found a corpse, this time in an advanced
condition.’
i. Why haven’t you left the island? // Why didn’t you leave the island?

4. Comment on the lexical aspect of the following predicates; translate into Romanian.
l. He has been fast asleep for twenty years.
m. Have you ever in your life seen such a marvellous colossal centipede as me?
n. Do you realize that we haven’t had a thing to eat since yesterday morning?
o. Have you caught sight of him yet?
j. I’ve been having tea with a girl down in Greenwich Village. I couldn’t get away before.
k. I’ve been watching him closely and he’s about to crack under the strain.
l. Her hair isn’t brown now. It’s bright scarlet. I ought to know, I’ve been looking at it all afternoon.
It dazzled me.
m. I’ve been letting you run things your own way a little too long.
n. He had fleshed out a bit in the past few weeks. Maybe they’d been ordering a lot of pizza.
o. I’ve been throwing away all my things.
p. I've been letting you run things your own way a little too long.
q. I've been listening to you ever since you came in.
r. I've been thinking.
s. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time!
t. They’ve been making hailstones and now they are showering them down on to the people in the
world below!

5. Discuss with respect to the chronological order of the events in the clauses
(simultaneity/anteriority/posteriority):
 SEMINAR 3. TENSE

a. When the train started Emmie read the message.

b. When the train started Emmie had read the message.
c. When the train started Emmie was reading the message.
d. When Harry came home Emmie was angry.

6. Means of expressing the future:

a. I meet her tonight./I am meeting her tonight./I am going to meet her tonight./ I’ll be meeting her
tonight./ I’ll meet her tonight.
b. She has the operation on Friday/in 6 months./She is having the operation on Friday/?in 6
months.
c. It expires tomorrow/in 6 months. It is expiring tomorrow/??in 6 months.
d. Will you talk to her soon? / Will you be talking to her soon?
e. I’ll make the tea. / I’ll be making the tea.
Comment on the underlined forms:
f. Here’s the plan. I kill them all and you guys escape. So you, me and Jason distract him. Piper
sneaks around and frees her dad.
g. And when the universe has finished exploding all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has
been thrown into the air, and they will come to a halt and they will all begin to fall towards the
centre of the universe again. And then there will be nothing to stop us seeing all the stars in the
world because they will all be moving towards us, gradually faster and faster, and we will know
that the world is going to end soon because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no
darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.
Discuss the value of will + progressive in the following contexts:
h. The next mission will be landing at the Schiaparelli crater, 3200 kilometers away. In fact, their ascent
vehicle is already there. I know because I watched Martinez land it.
i. Like other presidents running for re-election before him, Barack Obama will not be launching any
controversial policies in 2012. A happier prospect is the knowledge that the United States will not be
starting any discretionary wars like the one in Iraq.
j. What am I doing? If I go back to London, I’ll be sitting in the pissing rain writing articles about dining
rooms.
k. I’ll be playing with high-voltage power tomorrow. Can’t imagine anything going wrong with that!
l. “This whole act-like-we’re-in-a-battle thing where we aren’t supposed to get out? I’d really appreciate it if
you could ease up enough to let us make sure the ship isn’t falling apart.” “I’ll get back to you.” “I’ll be
sitting here in my couch doing nothing.’

7. Discuss the value of the form in the time clause.

a. He left before Boris ate somebody.
b. The important thing was to get out before the mob arrived.
c. She began her reading before the audience had arrived and did not finish it until the next
performance that evening had begun.
d. He longed to take their weapons away from them before they both had heart attacks.
e. She’ll be mugged for her watch and shoes before she’s even made it through the metal detector.
f. Something stops her before she makes it through the doorframe.
g. For heaven’s sake, put that thing down before you drop it.
h. Louis ran in with his best friend, scattering rucksacks, hats, scarves and gloves all over the place
before the bell had stopped ringing.
i. I had to end this fight before my friends got hurt.

8. Discuss the values of the past simple and progressive, and the interaction between lexical and
grammatical aspect. Translate into Romanian.
j. The conjuror filled a jug to the brim, muttered magic words, turned the jug over and, instead of
liquid, fabric spilled forth, a torrent of coloured silken scarves.
a. In the day’s last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold. The
bullock plodded forward, the cart’s wheels hit potholes and rocks, yet the standing man barely
swayed, and managed, somehow, to be graceful.
b. In the caravanserai all was bustle and hum. Animals were cared for, horses, camels, bullocks,
asses, goats, while other, untameable animals ran wild: screechy monkeys, dogs that were no
man’s pets. Shrieking parrots exploded like green fireworks in the sky.
c. Wide branches of red stone ran from the top of the tree trunk to the four corners of the room.
 SEMINAR 3. TENSE

d. The place was like a witch’s kitchen! All about him black metal pots were boiling and bubbling on
huge stoves, and kettles were hissing and pans were sizzling, and strange iron machines were
clanking and spluttering, and there were pipes running all over the ceiling and walls, and the
whole place was filled with smoke and steam and delicious rich smells… He lifted the lid from a
huge pot and took a sniff; then he rushed over and dipped a finger into a barrel of sticky yellow
stuff and had a taste…
e. The discreet Mary Anne resumed her seat and her silence, and stitched and stitched, and was
stitching when the schoolmaster’s shadow came in before him, announcing that he might be
instantly expected.
f. Lady Beatrice Bracken was in the garden of her father’s seat in Dorsetshire. She was reading for
the third time Packy’s letter announcing his departure for St Roque. As she read, she frowned.As
she frowned, she tapped her foot. And as she tapped she said H’m. And she meant it too.