Verbs Presentation

VERBS

Presentation

María Belén Farías

Verb

One of the elements in a clause structureA member of a word class Three major categories:1) full verbs2) primary verbs3) modal auxiliaries

THE VERB PHRASEConsists of one or more verbs

Nonfinite verb phrase

Finite verb phrase

Finite verb phrase

• Consist of auxiliaries and main verbs.
• Can occur as the VP of independent clauses.
• Have tense contrast.

• Have person and number concord with the subject of the clause.
• Have mood: INDICATIVE, IMPERATIVE and SUBJUNTIVE.

He is a journalist nowHe worked as a waiter last summer I am here You/We/They are here He/She/It is here

NON FINITE VERB PHRASE

* The nonfinite forms of the verb:

• The infinite
• The -ing participle
• The -ed participle

*Nonfinite VP do not normally occur as the verb of an independent clause

to call calling called He smokes To smoke like that must be dangerous

The semantic of the verb phrase

• Time: It´s an abstraction and it's divided into Past, Present and Future.
• Tense: It's a grammatical category depicted by inflection: s, es for Present Simple and d, ed for Past Simple.

There are three levels on which the terms "present" and "past" can be interpreted: 1) on a referential level: Past ---- The Present Moment ---- Future2) on a grammatical level: only morphological forms for Present and Past Tenses.3) on a semantical level: if something has existence at the present moment or if something existed in the past.

SITUATION TYPES

STANCE

DYNAMIC

STATIVE

• intermediate between stative and dynamic
• they are characterized by their ability to be used both in the non progressive and with the progressive

• occur with the imperative and the progressive
• They can be durative or punctual

• Single unbroken state of affairs
• Do not occur with the progressive
• Distinction between State and Quality

MEANINGS OF THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE WITH REFERENCE TO PRESENT TIME

STATE PRESENT

• With stative verbs, is used without any specific time reference; it includes general timeless statements, also called “eternal truths”:

Two plus two is four The moon moves round the Earth

• Geographical statements with no specific time reference

Mount Everest is the Earth's highest mountain

• Certain statements with some sort of time restriction

She lives in Rosario (She does live in Rosario, but this truth won't be eternal)

HABITUAL PRESENT

● When they are used with the simple present, dynamic verb meanings (verbs that usually express an action) and stative verb meanings, they tend to imply an unrestricted time span.We go to Brussels every year● In this case the verb refers to a whole sequence of events, repeated over the period in question. Bill drinks heavily● Verbs of a stative meaning may sometimes be used in a habitual sense when accompanied by a frequency adverbShe is seldom alone

INSTANTANEOUS PRESENT

● Occurs when the verb refers to a single action begun and completed approximately at the moment of speech.● It is used to report on events of little or no duration. It is found only in some special situations: ❖ commentaries: He passes the ball to ... ❖ demonstrations: We now take a wet sponge … ❖ special exclamatory sentences: Here comes the winner! ❖ performatives: We thank you for the recent inquiry

SPECIAL NON PRESENT USES OF THE PRESENT TENSE

SIMPLE PRESENT REFERRING TO THE PAST

● In newspaper headlines: Rebels attack government buildings. ● In captions accompanying pictures illustrating past actions: In spring 1984 the government is defeated and an election takes place. By the end of the year the strikes end. ● When we tell stories or jokes (it makes them sound more immediate): A man walks into a restaurant with a monkey on his shoulder. The monkey says, ‘I’d like soup please.’ ● When we report what people say as part of a story:It was only eleven o’clock and my mum says, ‘You’re late again.’ And I say, ‘No, I’m not.’ Then my dad starts to shout

SIMPLE PRESENT REFERRING TO THE FUTURE

● to make statements about events at a time later than now, based on present facts, and when these facts are something fixed like a time-table, schedule, calendar. She has a yoga class tomorrow morning. ● In main clauses, this typically occurs with time-position adverbials to suggest that the event is unalterably fixed in advance.The plane leaves for Ankara at eight o’clock tonight. ● In dependent clauses, the future use of the simple present is much more common, particularly in conditional and temporal clauses. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from her.

SIMPLE PRESENT IN FICTIONAL NARRATIVE

● It’s used to make a narrative of past events seem more dramatic and especially in the synopsis of a novel or play. Each new step in the story is related in the Simple Present, while the Present Continuous serves as background against which action takes place.

● The events narrated by fictional “historic present” are imaginary.

A blond woman is driving her car home one night when she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a really bad hailstorm. The crowd swarms around the gateway, and seethes with delighted anticipation; excitement grows, as suddenly their hero makes his entrance...

MEANINGS OF THE PAST TENSE WITH REFERENCE TO PAST TIME

SITUATIONAL USE

When the definite meaning may be recoverable from knowledge of the immediate or local situation, or a larger situation of ‘general knowledge, these situations are named the SITUATIONAL USE of the past tense: ● The immediate or local situation may be exemplified with a domestic situation. Did you lock the front door? ● The larger situation (or general knowledge) may be invoked to explain the use of the simple past in historical or biographical statements which have specific people, places, or objects as their topics. Byron died in Greece This picture was painted by the owner's grandfather. Rome was not built in a day

EVENT, STATE AND HABIT IN THE PAST

Event

Habit

State

made reference to a sequence of events which began and finished several times in the past.

made reference to single definite event in the past.

made reference to a past state that began in the past, continued in the past and finished in the past.

In ancient times, the Olympic Games were held at Olympia.

Archery was a popular sport for Victorians.

The eruption of Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii.

ANAPHORIC O CATAPHORIC USE

ANAPHORIC

● When the time in the past to which the reference is made is already indicated by a previous use of the past tense. Then we entered the city...the square was deserted… ● There are cases where a preceding use of the present perfective in the indefinite past sense provides a peg on which to hang a subsequent occurrence of the past tense. They have decided to close down the factory. It took us completely by surprise. ● In other cases, anaphoric reference is to an adverbial of time in the same clause. Last Saturday, we went to the theatre.

CATAPHORIC

● When the adverbial follows the past tense, this may be called the cataphoric use of the definite past. We went to the theater last Saturday.

MEANINGS OF THE PAST TENSE WITH REFERENCE TO PRESENT AND FUTURE TIME

INDIRECT SPEECH

In this case the past tense in the reporting verb tends to make the verb of the subordinate clause past tense as well.

A: How did you know that I am/was Peter Cullen?B: Well, I remembered that you are/were tall and wear/wore glasses.

ATTITUDINAL PAST

It is used with verbs expressing volition or mental states, reflects the tentative attitude of the speaker, rather than past time.

Do/did you want to see me now? I wonder/wondered if you could help us

(both the present and the past tenses refer to the present state of mind but the latter is somewhat more polite)

HYPOTHETICAL PAST

It is used in:

Expresses what is contrary to the belief

Certain subordinate clauses

Expectation of the speaker

I wish I had a memory like yours

It’s time we all took a rest

If you really worked hard, you would soon get promoted

Thanks!