Speaking about the expression of time it is necessary to distinguish between the general (philosophical) notion of time,

the lexical denotation of time, and the grammatical time proper, or grammatical temporality (i.e. tense).
The philosophical and the lexical expressions of time are closely connected with the grammatical one because in the
context of real speech all the mentioned types of time are used in combination with one another, so that the denoted event re-
ceives many-sided and very exact characterization regarding its temporal status.
Let’s view philosophical and lexical expressions of time.
 Philosophical Notion of Time

The philosophical notion of time exposes time as the universal form of the continual consecutive change of phenomena.
Ton the one hand, time, as well as space are the basic forms of the existence of matter; they both are inalienable properties of
reality and as such are absolutely independent of human perception. On the other hand, like other objective factors of the uni -
verse, time is reflected by man through his perceptions and intellect, and finds its expression in his language. Time is the uni -
versal form of consecutive change of things, and it should be appraised by the individual in reference to the moment of his im-
mediate perception of the outward reality. This moment of immediate perception, or “present moment” constantly shifts in
time. Let’s imagine the limitless stretch of time – a very long railway along which we are moving in a train
 Let’s suppose that the train is now at station B. This is, so to say, the present. The station A and all the other stations
passed by the train before A are the past; the station C and all the other stations the train is going to reach are in the future.
It would seem that the present is very insignificant, a mere point in comparison with the limitless past and future. But
this point is of tremendous importance to the people in the train, because they are always in the present. When the train
reaches C it ceases to be the future and becomes the present, while station B joins the past. In other words, the “moment of
speech”, i.e. the present serves as the demarcation line between the past and the future.

Lexical Denotation of Time

All the lexical expressions of time, whether they refer or they do not refer to the denoted points of periods of time, di-
rectly or obliquely, are divided into:
 present-oriented (or absolutive) expressions of time and
 non-present (non-absolutive) expressions of time.

Present-oriented (or absolutive) expressions of time Non-present (non-absolutive) expressions of time

are words and word-groups giving a temporal characteristic are words and word-groups giving a temporal characteristic
to an event from the point of view of its orientation towards to an event not characterizing it in terms of orientation to-
the present moment. wards the present moment/

Non-absolutive expressions of time are divided into:

 relative or
 factual.

Relative expressions of time Factual expressions of time

are the expressions that correlate two or more events show- are the expressions that either directly state the astronomical
ing some of them either as preceding the others, or following time of an event, or convey this meaning in terms of histori-
the others, or happening at one and the same time with them. cal landmarks.