- •The Subject Matter of Grammar
- •The Evolution of English Grammars
- •The XX th Century Linguistic Schools
- •Prague Linguistic School (Functional Linguistics)
- •American Descriptive Linguistics
- •Transformational and Transformational Generative Grammar
- •Semantic Syntax
- •Methods of Linguistic Analysis
- •Parsing (Traditional Syntactic Analysis)
- •The Oppositional Method
- •The Distributional method
- •The ic Method (method of immediate constituents)
- •The Transformational Method
- •The Method of Deep and Surface Structures
- •The Functional Sentence Perspective Method (fsp)
- •The Componential Method
- •The Contextual Method
- •The Levels of Language
- •The Morphological Structure of me
- •The Classifications of Morphemes
- •Paradigmatics and Syntagmatics
- •The Asymmetry of a Linguistic Sign
- •Parts of Speech Classifications of Parts of Speech.
- •Notionals and Functionals
- •Heterogeneity
- •Field and Periphery
- •Subcategorization
- •Onomaseological approach
- •The Noun The General Properties of a Noun
- •The Category of Gender.
- •The Category of Number
- •The Category of Case
- •Debated Problems within the Category of Case
- •Genitive Constructions (n’s n)
- •The Article Debated Problems
- •The Functions of Articles in a Sentence
- •The Verb The General Properties of a Verb
- •The Category of Tense
- •Classifications of Tenses
- •The Future Tense
- •The Present Tense
- •The Past Tense
- •The Future-in-the-Past Tense
- •The Category of Aspect
- •The Category of Time Relation (or Correlation)
- •The Category of Voice
- •The Category of Mood
- •The Indicative Mood
- •The Imperative Mood
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •Points of Similarities with the Finites
- •Points of Differences with the Finites
- •Debated Problems within The Verbals
- •The Functions of Non-Finites
- •Types of Syntax
- •The theory of the phrase
- •Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase
- •Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase
- •Classifications of Phrases
- •The theory of the simple sentence
- •The Definition of a Sentence
- •Syntactic Modelling of the Sentence
- •Semantic Modelling of the Sentence
- •The Notion of a Syntactic Paradigm
- •Structural Classification of Simple Sentences
- •Predicative Constructions Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
- •Syntactic Processes
- •The Principal Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •The Secondary Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •An Object
- •An Adverbial Modifier
- •An Attribute
- •Debated Problems within a Simple Sentence
- •A composite sentence
- •A Compound Sentence
- •I. The General Notion of a Complex Sentence.
- •2. The Status of the Subordinate Clause.
- •3.1. Classifications of Subordinate Clauses.
- •3.2. Types of Subordinate Clauses.
- •4. Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
- •5. Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
- •6. The Character of the Subordinating Conjunction
- •7. Levels of Subordination
- •Syntactic Processes in the Complex Sentence.
- •9. Communicative Dynamism within a Composite Sentence( Compound and Complex) and a Supra-phrasal Unit.
The Category of Time Relation (or Correlation)
The debated questions within the category of correlation are: 1.the existence of this category; 2. the character of this category; 3. the paradigmatic meaning of perfect forms; 4. the interrelations between correlation, tense and aspect.
There are several interpretations of the perfect form. 1. According to the tense view, the perfect is a peculiar tense form (H. Sweet, O. Jespersen, M. Ganshina, G. Curme, M. Bryant, Yu. Korsakov,). It is an anterior tense which coexists with the other primary expressions of time( Present, Past and Future) (I shall have done it by 5 o’clock). 2. According to the aspect view, the perfect is an aspect (Nestfield, West, Deutschbein). It is treated as the aspect of completion or the aspect of succession. 3.According to the tense-aspect blend view, the perfect is recognized as a form of double temporal- aspective character (I. P. Ivanova). 4. According to the time correlation view, the perfect form builds up its own category, different from tense and aspect. This is an independent category which is termed differently by different scholars { the category of time relation (A.I.Smirnitsky), the category of correlation (B.A.Ilyish), the category of order (B.Khaimovich), the category of retrospective coordination ( M.Y. Bloch)}. Popular is the last interpretation. The category of correlation is based on the opposition of nonperfect and perfect forms( write:: have written, is writing:: has been writing). The paradigmatic meaning of a perfect form is that of precedence. This independent grammatical category of time relation(correlation) constitutes a whole system involving aspect, tense and mood( writes – has written – has been written, etc). Tense, aspect and correlation are closely connected. They, correspondingly, represent the time of an action, its development and its precedence to another action in the present, past or future.
The distinctions between the members of this opposition can be neutralized (I hear :: I have heard, I forget= I have forgotten).
A Perfect form, representing the category of correlation, is polysemantic. It has a semantic structure constituted by the paradigmatic meaning of precedence and variable syntagmatic meanings which can be revealed combining the contextual analysis with the componential method {resultativity, completeness, successiveness, an implication for the future, repeatedness, retrospective conclusion (People have talked like that from time immemorial. Don’t think it has been a happy marriage).
The meaning of the perfect depends on several factors. One of them is the meaning of the verb. Verbs can be durative and terminative. Durative verbs denote an action that goes on indefinitely (to go, to walk, to love, to dislike, to speak); terminative verbs denote an action reaching a limit (to come, to close, to bring, to lose to break).
Perfect forms can be encountered in all kinds of speech: vulgar and elevated, but they are most frequent in conversation. Perfect forms can emphasise the attitude of the speaker towards the people or events described ( Since the time I left you, I have lived your life. I have breathed you, I have eaten you, I have drunk you, I have wept your eyes. I. Murdoch).