Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

7 | P a g e tense of the verb does not always determine the time of the sentence. Verb tense functions with adverbs of time and other elements to contribute to context, 6 the sole consistent determiner of sentence time. TENSE AND TIME MOOD AND MODALITY CHARTS SENTENCE TYPES NOTES 3 Tense and ASPECT 3.1 English Traditionally, English has been characterized as having 12 tenses: simple past/present/future, past/present/future perfect, past/present/future progressive, and past/present/future perfect progressive. However, only past and present refer to tense. Perfect and progressive are also forms of the verb but refer to aspect rather than tense. Although the term compound tenses is sometimes applied to the combination of tense and aspect (such as past perfect or present progressive), a less ambiguous term for these 12 forms is conjugations (variations in form according to grammatical categories such as tense, person, and number). Aspect generally refers to the manner in which an action or event is perceived or experienced, usually as completed 7 ( perfect/perfective ) or in progress 8 ( progressive/continuous ). Semantically, English aspect refers to the relationship of an event (E) to a point of reference (R). 9 An event, action, or process (and, under certain conditions, state) is perceived as a completed unit (perfect aspect) or an uncompleted/ongoing unit (progressive aspect) before, during, or after a point (period of reference) in the past, present, or future. Both event and reference are regarded from the vantage point of the present (P). The reference provides a backdrop against which to view more clearly the event from the present time, just as a stage background helps highlight the players for the audience.