English by Gerald Nelson

Author:Gerald Nelson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Here, the event occurred in the past, but it is implied that it was still relevant at some later time: David had broken his leg, so he could not play in the Cup Final that year.

The idea of ‘relevance’ is important when we wish to distinguish between tense and aspect. Tense alone is exemplified in [1]. The event described is wholly in the past, and no current relevance is implied. Both tense and aspect are exemplified in [2] and [2a]. In each case, the event described has ‘relevance’, either in the present, as in [2], or at some time between the event and the present, as in [2a].

The other aspectual auxiliary is the progressive auxiliary be (2.5.4):

[3] David is working in Beijing.

[4] David was working in Beijing when I met him.

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