(^44) Chapter 3 Verbs, tense, aspect, and mood
The potentially confusing similarity between the terms reflects the fact that both are
derived from a Latin word meaning "complete". There are, however, two entirely
different kinds of completeness involved. With the perfect the key concept is that of
past time. In examples like She has written a novel, the novel-writing is a completed
event in the past. With the perfective it is a matter of viewing the situation as a com
plete whole, but it need not be in the past. In She will write a novel, for example, the
novel-writing situation is still perfective, but it is in future time, not the past. It is
best to think ofthe two terms as quite independent, with the similarity between them
being based on their historical origin rather than being indicative of any close cor
relation between them.
5 Primary tense
The primary tense system contrasts the preterite, an inflection ally
marked past tense, with the present tense:
[30] PRETERITE PRESENT TENSE
a. She was in Bonn. b. She U in Bonn.
A tense system is a system associated with the verb where the basic contrasts in
meaning have to do with the location in time of the situation, or the part of it under
consideration. This clearly applies to the system illustrated in [30]. The clauses are
interpreted imperfectively, and the preterite in [i] indicates that the state in question
obtained at a time in the past, while the present tense in [ii] indicates that it obtains
in the present. Past and present time are relational concepts. Usually past time is
understood as time preceding the time of speaking and present time is time simulta
neous with the time of speaking.
The examples in [30] illustrate the most central use of the two primary tenses, but
both have a range of other uses too: the relation between tense and time in English
is not at all straightforward. We 'll show this for each of the two tenses in the primary
system.
5.1 The present tense
(a) Present time
The most basic use of the present tense is to indicate present time - more specifi
cally, time that coincides with the time of utterance, as in [30b].
But the time of utterance is of course very short. It often takes only a second
or two to utter a sentence. So naturally there are severe restrictions on the use of
the present tense in clauses with perfective interpretations. Compare these two
examples:[3 1] I promise to be back fo r lunch.
11 Sue mows the lawn.[perfective]
[imperfective]