Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

60 | P a g e 6 Context here refers to a word within a clause, clause within a sentence, sentence within a paragraph, and so forth. 7 Jacobs, Syntax 199; Quirk & Greenbaum, Grammar 40. For a discussion of Arabic aspect as perfective and imperfective, see Bernard Comrie, Aspect: An Introduction To The Study Of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1976). 8 “No complete aspectual description of any language exists. Nor does current aspectological theory provide an adequate theoretical base for such description.” Robert I. Binnick, Time and the Verb: A Guide to Tense and Aspect (New York: Oxford UP, 1991) 213. The current variety and lack of clarity in the literature on aspect support this claim. 9 For a related discussion, albeit with different formulas and conclusions, see Binnick, Time 207-14. 10 Participles are non-finite verb forms with a variety of functions. The usual English markers are –ing and –ed suffixes for present and past forms, respectively. 11 See Tom McArthur, ed. The Oxford Companion to the English Language (Oxford UP, 1992) 1031. 12 The particle out is included in the color designation because it is part of the phrasal verb. 13 The larger box with space on both sides of the letter indicates the unfinished (progressive) nature of the action. 14 Statives are not generally used with progressive aspect; we do not usually say “I am knowing Arabic” or “He is owning a car.” The counterparts to stative verbs are dynamic verbs, “which signify actions, processes, and events, that is, situations in which something happens” (“I am learning Arabic.”; “He is driving the car.”). See Jacobs, Syntax 206ff; Quirk and Greenbaum, Gramma r 4 6-7. 15 See Jacobs, Syntax 209-10.