TIEMPO REAL Y TIEMPO VERBAL.

ASPECTO Y MODO

To have a clear understanding of the unit, I will divide the contents into the forthcoming
outline:

1- INTRODUCTION

2- REAL TIME AND VERBAL TENSE

2.1. PRESENT SIMPLE

2.2. PAST SIMPLE

2.3. FUTURE TIME

3- ASPECT

3.1. PERFECT ASPECT

3.2. PROGRESSIVE ASPECT

4- MOOD

4.1. INDICATIVE

4.2. SUBJUNCTIVE

4.3. IMPERATIVE

5- CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Once we have mentioned the main points of the unit, let’s start with the introduction.

1- INTRODUCTION

In this topic we will be looking at the verb phrase, a structure which functions as predicator
and is realized by one, or more than one, member of the word-class verb.

Verbs can take different forms. The categories affecting the forms that verbs can take are
those of person, number, voice, tense, aspect and mood. In this topic we examine these last
three categories.

On the one hand, ve distinguish between the concepts of time and tense to see that in
English they do not refer to the same thing.
On the other hand there are two tenses, present and past, whereas the future tense does not
exist.

In the second section we analyse the concept of aspect, and we will see that in English there
are two aspects, perfect and progressive.

Finally we will discuss modality in the English verb phrase which can be expressed through
the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods.

Now we are going to talk about real time and verbal tense, which is point number 2.

2. REAL TIME AND VERBAL TENSE

Time is not the same thing as tense. The importance of the distinction cannot be
overestimated. Time is an element of our experience of reality. Tense is a purely
grammatical idea.

According to our normal perception, time is divided into past, present and future. It is easy
to think of the present tense having something to do with present time, or the past tense
with past time. However, tense and time do not correspond directly.

To the linguistic tense is a technical term, it means that there is a morphological change in
the base form of the verb. Tense then is a grammatical category referrring to the time of a
situation.

In this technical sense, English verbs have only two tenses, those traditionally called THE
PRESENT SIMPLE and THE PAST SIMPLE. The first interesting feature of this
distinction is that English does not have a FUTURE TENSE unlike other languages like
Spanish, Valencian or French.

After these short considerations, we are going to analyse them in detail.

2.1. PRESENT SIMPLE

The present simple has various uses and it not only refers to `present time´; thus we have:

A) PRESENT WITHOUT REFERENCE TO SPECIFIC TIME

- Universal time statements (eternal truths)

E. g. `Two and two make four’

- Habitual time statements

`I go shopping every week´

B) INSTANTANEOUS / SIMULTANEOUS WITH THE PRESENT MOMENT

` Cañizares passes the ball to Juan Sánchez´

C) WITH FUTURE TIME REFERENCE

`The train leaves at 10 o´clock´

D) WITH PAST TIME REFERENCE

`Susan tells me that you went abroad´

Let’s continue now with past simple, our point 2.2.

2.2. PAST SIMPLE

The basic meaning of the past simple is to denote what took place at a given time or in a
given period before the present moment. Normally it is found with adverbs or expressions
referring to past time, for instance `We went to a party last night´. However, there are some
cases in which the past simple does not refer to past time.

Thus, in - Reported speech (back-shift)

`I am here´ becomes `You said you were there´

- Attitudinal past (which is more polite)

`I wonder/wondered if you could help me´

- Hypothetical past

`If I were you I wouldn’t do it´

Now we will see future time.

2.3. FUTURE TIME

As we have already said, there is no obvious future tense in English. Instead there are a
number of possibilities denoting future time, like the following ones:

1. AUXILIARY VERB CONSTRUCTION (SIMPLE FUTURE)

`I shall try to do my best´ or `She will be there in an hour´

2. BE GOING TO + INFINITIVE (PROGRESSIVE FUTURE)

`We are going to buy a house´ (denoting intention)

`She’s going to have a baby´ or `It’s going to rain´, both cases expressing future of present
cause.

3. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

`I’m leaving on Sunday´ (fixed arrangement)

4. SIMPLE PRESENT

`The match is at 3 o’clock on Saturday´ (used in fixtures)

5. BE TO + INFINITIVE

`There’s going to be an investigation´ (arrangement)

`You are to be back by 12´ ( a command)

`If you are to succeed...´ (predestined future)

Once we have talked about real time and verbal tense, we are moving to point 3, aspect.

3- ASPECT

We may define aspect as a verb form involving the use of an auxiliary which allows the
speaker to interpret the temporal elements of an event. That is, ASPECT is a grammatical
category referring to the way that the event is seen by the speaker.

English has two aspects: PERFECT and PROGRESSIVE. The perfect and progressive
aspects combine freely with other categories such as tense ( e. g. Present/Past Perfect), but
also they freely combine with each other (Present Perfect Progressive).

Let’s see first the Perfect Aspect.

3.1. PERFECT ASPECT

It is used when the action or event is seen as finite or completed. It requires the perfect
auxiliary HAVE and a following past participle.

Thus we have that on the one hand a common use of the PRESENT PERFECT is to refer to
a situation beginning in past time and extending to the present:

`She has lived here since 1995´

The PAST PERFECT, on the other hand, refers to a situation that precedes another past
situation:

`I didn’t know if you had heard the good news´

3.2. PROGRESSIVE ASPECT

The progressive (or continuous) aspect requires the progressive auxiliary BE and a
following present participle (-ing). A common use of the Progressive is to view the
situation as non-finite or uncompleted, that is as in progress:

`The patient is having his lunch now´

And finally we will talk about mood, oru point 4.

4- MOOD

Mood is a term to refer to finite forms of the verb as serving to indicate the speaker’s
commitment regarding the factual status of what (s)he is saying.

Modal auxiliaries are one way for a speaker to introduce modality into what (s)he says.
Modality includes such ideas as necessity, possibility, probability ...

In English ew find three moods: imperative, subjunctive and indicative.

4.1. INDICATIVE

The indicative is the unmarked fact mood. It applies to most verbs used in declaratives, and
to verbs used in interrogatives and exclamatives.

E. g. `I like bananas´, `Could that be a joke?’ or `That’s brilliant’

4.2. SUBJUNCTIVE

The subjunctive is amaked fact mood, specifically a non-fact mood. It is a minor verbal
category in modern English. For historical reasons, the subjunctive was much subject to a
process known as `the levelling of inflections´. This is why in present-day English the
subjunctive is formally no more than a vestigial survival whose uses are limited. Thus we
have that on the one hand, what used to be expressed by means of the formally distinctive
subjunctive mood is now chiefly expressed by means of modal auxiliaries, past tense forms
or adverb phrases such as `certainly´, `perhaps´, `possibly´, `pressumably´ and `probably´.

On the other hand, we have:

- FORMULAIC SUBJUNCTIVE, expressing a wish or prayer and formally identical to the

base of the verb.
`God save the Queen´ or `Long live the King´

- MANDATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE, with the base of the verb with an element of volition.

`I suggest taht the petition be drawn up´ or `It is our wish that he do as he pleases´

- WERE- SUBJUNCTIVE, expressing hypothetical meaning.

`I wish I were rich´ or `If I were you I would accept´

We are going to finish this section with the imperative mood.

4.3 IMPERATIVE

The imperative is also formally marked, It is called command mood as well. Formally it is
identical with the base of the verb. It is used with the aim od inducing an animate being, or
a group of animate beings, to do or not to do something.

Thus the imperative is used to give orders, instructions, or to make entreaties, invitations or
suggestions:

`Stop talking´ , `Have a drink´ or `Insert the coin´

There is a special verbal construction introduced by the imperative marker LET and
typically followed by a first person subject (especially plural); this subject is realized by a
personal pronoun in the objective case (me/us):

E. g. `Let me see´ or `Let’s go´

And now to finish with the topic, point 5, conclusion.

5- CONCLUSION

In this topic we have analysed three of the categories of the verb form: tense, aspect and
mood.

We have seen how the English verb has two tenses, present and past ( and no future); two
aspects, perfect and progressive; and three moods, indicative, subjunctive and imperative.

From the classroom point of view, it is a topic of fundamental importance. For instance, it
is necessary to recognise that introducing WILL/SHALL as `the future´ is not a good idea,
since as we have seen they are not the only way of expressing future time, as well as it is
essential to make students aware of the fact that `present tense´ and `past tense´ are
different from `present time´ and `past time´ respectively.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Concerning the bibliography, I have mainly used the following books:

- Leech, G. Meaning and the English Verb (London: Longman- Harlow, 1981)

- Lewis, M. The Englih Verb. An Exploration of Structure and Meaning (London:

Language Teaching Publications, 1986)

- Murphy, R. English Grammar in Use (Cambridge: C.U.P., 1990)

- Quirk, R. Et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language ( London:

Longman, 1992)