17 Grammar: Tense, time and aspect

1 Team competition: Some statements about grammar

Answers:

2 Tense, aspect and voice

2a Match the terms 1-3 with the descriptions a-c:
1 tense 2 aspect 3 voice

a This indicates how a speaker views an action: is it completed, or related to another point in time? Does its duration
need to be emphasized? Not all verb forms have this, these are call 'simple'.
b This changes depending on whether the speaker wants to show what the subject did, or what happen to the
subject.
c In linguistics, this refers to how a verb inflects, for example, the addition of the -d to indicate the past, or
the -s to indicate the third person present. As the future is not indicated by such inflection it cannot, strictly
speaking, be described in this way, though for convenience’s sake, it often is.

2b Discuss these questions:

1. What two tenses are there in English?
2. What two aspects are there in English?
3. What two voices are there in English?

3 One tense, different times

3a Put these different examples of the Present simple into 3b Complete the rules.
four groups according to the way the tense is being used.
The present simple tense
1 The bus departs tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock for Lake Como.
1 Group 1: used to talk about timetabled
2 They come from Thailand. actions in the __________.
3 I get up every morning at about six. 2 Group 2: used to talk about something
4 I got up from the table and suddenly my head starts spinning. that is __________ true.
5 We live in the very centre of town 3 Group 3: used to talk about a(n)
6 It was like this – he just comes up to me and ask for a ___________ action.
hundred quid! 4 Group 4: used to make an action in a
7 The mail always arrives at this time everyday narrative seem more __________.
8 Frank arrives later on this evening 5 From this task, we can deduce that
9 Summer 1968. The sun rises on another beautiful day. there is not always a direct relationship
10 Every year on 31 December she throws away a huge amount of rubbish. between the __________ name and
11 They move out at the end of the month the __________ it refers to.
12 I love dark chocolate
17 Grammar: Tense, time and aspect
4 What's in common?
4a Look at the following examples. What do they have in common?

1 I'm staying at Aliso’s place until I move into my new flat.

2 She was walking across the room when I came in.
3 I've been working on my assignment this afternoon.
4 Stop making all that noise — I'm watching the news!
5 Whenever I see him, he’s always standing outside and smoking a cigarette.

4b Look back at each example in 4a. Which of the concepts below explain the use of the Progressive?
more than one concept may be relevant for each example.
1 repetition 2 duration
3 synchronicity 4 being temporary

5 What can you say?

5a Which examples are incorrect? Change them so they are correct.

a She’s working really hard this month.

b Someone from history I'm really admiring is the Roman Emperor, Hadrian.

c He can't come to the phone because he's having a shower.

d How long have you been knowing Dan?

e She’s been cutting her finger with the kitchen knife.

f We're having a small holiday home on the coast.

g The car has been hitting the lamp post.

h I’m just admiring your beautiful new vase.

i He is resembling his father a lot.

j They were all jumping up and down with excitement.

5b Look at the examples that were incorrect from 5a and match them to the following rules. Some
examples can be placed in more than one group.

1 Verbs used to talk about a mental process are not usually used in the progressive form.
2 Verbs used to describe a state of being are not usually used in the progressive form.
3 Some mental process and state verbs have two meanings, one of which can used in the progressive form.
4 Verbs whose meaning indicate a single momentary event are not used in the progressive form.

5c Complete the table by adding in verbs from 5a, then add these verbs to the correct box:

be believe feel break despise contain punch smell

grou category verb

p
1 mental states / feelings
2 states of being
3 momentary events
4 verbs with both a state meaning and an active meaning