The present tense

Mark Wilson emory2oo2 at hotmail.com
Tue Apr 30 10:03:31 EDT 2002



Waldo:

You wrote:

---------
>Sometimes I read that the present tense means
>"continuous action." Other times "continuous action"
>seems absent from the verbal idea.
>
>How does one tell when the idea is "continuous action"
>and when it is not? And when it is not, what kind of
>action is it?
---------

Seems like this question comes up periodically, and well
it should. I would summarize as follows:

The present "tense" is only one third of the picture for any given verbal,
and to speak of "continuous action" would require you to look at all
three parts of how a verb functions.

Three features as to how a verb functions: lexeme, tense, context

Begin** with a specific word: lexeme (lexical aspect)
Now add morphological features to it: tense (grammatical aspect)
Then determine its reciprocal interaction within a context.
How all three interact will show you a verb’s function in any given context. 
If a verb denotes "continuous action" it does so based
on the combined interaction of the above three features.

As you unpack its function, remember that each lexeme has inherent
properties that determine how it unfolds over time, known as lexical
aspect (for example, "run" and "stand" will have different lexical aspects).

As you can see, the inherent lexical aspect of "run" differs considerably
from the inherent lexical aspect of "stand".

And so, to address your question, the idea of "continuous action" is not
an inherent feature of tense BY ITSELF.

** I think a writer is first aware of the context, and then chooses
a particular verb and its tense. When translating, it seems to me
you have to back into the function of a particular verb. But maybe
that's stating the obvious.

My thoughts,

Mark Wilson


_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. 
http://www.hotmail.com




More information about the B-Greek mailing list