The category of tense

The category of tense is a verbal category which reflects the objective category of time and expresses on this background the relations between the time of the action and the time of utterance.

The 3 main divisions of time are represented in English verbal system by the 3 tenses: past, present and future. O.Jespersen expressed doubts about the existence of the future tense in English. According to him, the verbs “shall” and “will” always preserve some of their original meaning: “shall” an element of obligation and “will” an element of volition and therefore they cannot express mere futurity. This point of view was shared by professor Barkhudarov.

The argument against:

Though the verbs “shall” and “will” in some contexts preserve their original meaning of obligation and volition respectively, as a rule, they are free from these shades of meaning and express mere futurity. It is especially clear in cases where the verb “will” is used with the first person to express a future action and where the meaning of volition is excluded by the context. E.g.: I’m afraid I will have to go back to the hotel.

The perfect

The problem of perfect forms is a disputable one. Linguists disagree as to the category the perfect belongs to.

There are three main points of view.

1. The category of perfect is a peculiar aspect category (O.Jespersen).

2. The category of perfect is a peculiar tense category (prof. Vorontsova).

3. The category of tense is neither tense nor aspect but a specific category different from both. Professor Smirnitsky called it the category of time relation. Later on this term was replaced by the term “correlation”.

The members of the correlation opposition are denoted by the forms of “non-perfect” and “perfect”. The present is the marked member of the opposition, the non-perfect is the unmarked one. Examples of correlation oppositions:

writes//has written

wrote//had written

will write//will have written

The main meaning of the perfect is that of precedence, priority:

She has come (priority to the situation in the present, to the act of speech).

She had come before Ann phoned over (priority to an action in the past).

She will have come by that time (priority to the point of time in the future).

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The Category of Voice

The category of voice shows whether the action is performed by the subject or passes on to it. Accordingly there are two voices in English: the active and passive.

The category of voice is represented by the system of two-member opposition:

loves // is loved

loved // was loved

will love // will be loved

Is loving // is being loved, etc.

The Passive Voice is the marked member of the opposition; the Active Voice is the unmarked one.

There are two-member and three-member passive constructions. In a two-member passive construction the doer of the action is not mentioned. Its pattern is N + V passive (The bridge was built by the workers last year).

Two-member passive constructions are used much more often. They form 70% of all passive constructions in English. They have no corresponding active constructions. They are used when the doer of the action is either unknown or unimportant:

He was killed in the war.

This house was built last year.

Three-member passive constructions are used lees often. As a rule, they have corresponding active constructions. The choice between active ones and passive ones depends on the three factors:

1. the context (John was killed by a snake yesterday; The visitors were entertained by recorded music; I drank a glass of water; She changed her clothes);

2. the functional style (in scientific and technical texts three-member passive constructions are used much more often than in colloquial speech and in fiction);

3. the actual division of the sentence, on its theme and rheme. (This book was written by a friend of mine, whom I have not met for 10 years).

In our nature tongue only the direct object of the active constructions can become the subject of the corresponding passive construction. In English not only the direct but sometimes the indirect and even the prepositional object can become the subject of the passive construction:

We were shown a new film.

The doctor will be sent for.