5.2.1 VP: Tense & Aspect

In the previous lecture, we learned that a verb phrase (VP) contains a lexical verb (Vlex) with or without preceding auxiliary verbs.

A verb phrase describes the state or actions/movements of the subject in a clause. Its form can change to convey a wealth of nuanced information:

1. Person (3rd person singular): I talk, you talk, s/he/it talks, we talk, they talk.

2. Tense (present vs. past): I talk. He talked.

3. Aspect (simple, progressive, perfect, perfect progressive): I talk. I am talking. I have talked. I have been talking.

4. Voice (active vs. passive): I made a mistake. A mistake was made (by me).

5. Mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, interrogative): I talk. Talk! I could have talked. Can you talk?

In this lesson, we will focus on how we can change the form of verb phrases to indicate tense and aspect. The two concepts are often mixed up. However, each denotes a different attribute of verbs.

Tense refers to the location of an action or event in terms of time/in relation to the time of speaking/writing.

Take a look at the three sentences below. Pay close attention to the verb conjugations and the time adverbials.

• 1. I take a walk around 4pm every afternoon. (take = present tense; routine, habitual)

  2. I took a walk this afternoon. (took = past tense, past time)

  3. I am going to/will take a walk tomorrow afternoon. (will take = modal verb 'will'; am going to take; both show future time)

In summary:

• The present tense is used to indicate something that is happening or in existence now, is a recurring event, or is true at all times.

• The past tense indicates something happened or existed in the past.

• There is no inflected verb forms in English to show future time. Future time can be expressed in a number of ways (will + Vbase form, be going to + Vbase form, be about to + Vbase form.)

Now take a look at the example sentence below:

If I [were] you, I [would not do] that.

• were= VP1, past tense, finite verb.

• would (not) do= VP2, no tense (would = modal auxiliary verb, used to show a hypothetical condition), nonfinite,

1. If a verb is marked for tense, then it is a finite verb.

2. If a verb is preceded by a modal auxiliary verb, then its tense is canceled out. ‼️

3. If the form of a verb is fixed (cannot be changed to show tense), then it is a nonfinite verb.

a) I'd like [to invite] you to my birthday party.

to invite = to-infinitive verb: no tense

b) [Viewing] from a different perspective, the problem does not seem unsolvable.

Viewing = present participle verb: no tense

c) [Inspired] by his father, Rashid decided to be a scientist.

Inspired = past participle verb: no tense

Aspect is related to tense, but it is a different concept. It denotes the duration, frequency, or completeness of verbs. English has four aspects.

‼️ Pay close attention to

• the time adverbials in the sample sentences

• how (modal and/or primary) auxiliary verbs and inflectional morphemes (-ing. -ed, -en) are added to lexical verbs to show tense and aspect.

1. Simple:

a) Stephanie walks Charlie [every morning].

present simple (used to talk about routine, habitual activities, facts, and truth, etc.; 'historical present': present tense verbs are used to talk about past events)

b) Stephanie walked Charlie [this morning].

past simple (use to talk about past events)

c) Stephanie will (is going to) walk Charlie [after the breakfast].

future simple (used to talk about something that may happen in the future)

2. Progressive:

a) She is walking Charlie [right now].

present progressive (used to talk about sth. that is happening at the present moment)

b) She was walking Charlie this morning {when her mother called}.

past progressive (used to talk sth. that was happening at a past moment; often used along with simple past tense)

c) She will be walking Charlie [after lunch].

future progressive (used to talk about sth. that will be happening at a future moment)

3. Perfect:

a) She has walked Charlie [this morning]. (Implication: So you don't need to walk him again.)

present perfect (used to talk about sth. that has already happened at the time of speaking)

b) She had walked Charlie {before she went to work that morning}.

past perfect (used to talk about sth. that has already happened at a past time, often used along with a past simple verb)

c) She will have walked Charlie by then.

future perfect (used to talk about sth. that will have been completed at a future time)

4. Perfect progressive: used to describe an action that has been going on until the present moment and may or may not continue in the future)

a) She has been walking Charlie [for an hour].

present perfect progressive (used to talk about sth. that has been going until the present moment)

b) She had been walking Charlie [for an hour] (before it started pouring down).

past perfect progressive (used to talk about sth. that had lasted for a while by a past time, often used together with a simple past tense verb)

c) She will have been walking Charlie [for an hour] [by then].

future perfect progressive (used to talk about sth. that will be happening in the future and will last for some time)

S: He bought a new car, but he likes his old car better as it is more gas-efficient.

Step 1. Read the sentence carefully to locate all the VPs (both finite and non-finite verbs)

He bought a new car, but he likes his old car better as it is more gas-efficient.

Vlex Vlex Vlex

Note that this is a compound-complex sentence. That is why it contains three VPs. There is no finite verb in the sentence.

Step 2. We've known that all the three VPs are finite, therefore, we need to mark tense and aspect for each one.

He bought a new car, but he likes his old car better as it is more gas-efficient.

Vlex (past simple) Vlex (present simple) Vlex (present simple)

Step 3. The first two steps prepare you for tree diagramming of the sentence. (Optional)