The category of aspect
The problem of Aspects in English has always been one of the most disputable and controversial. The controversy in views upon aspects in English is elicited by the diversity of their definitions. They may be briefly summarized as follows:
1. Aspect is interpreted as a category of semantics rather than that of grammar.
2. Aspect is not recognized at all as a category of Modern English Grammar.
3. Aspect is blended with tense and regarded as an inalienable part of the tense-aspect system.
4. Aspect and tense are recognized as two distinct grammatical categories.
The categories of tense and aspect characterize an action from different points of view. The tense of a verb shows the time of the action, while the aspect of a verb deals with the development of the action.
The term aspect describes to some extent the contents of the category. It really shows what aspect of the action is considered: whether the action is taken in its progress or without that specification. In other words the category of aspect is a system of two-member opposemes such as works – is working, has worked – has been working, to work – to be working showing the character of the action, i.e. whether the action is taken in its progress, in its development (‘continuous’) or it is simply stated, its nature being unspecified (‘non-continuous’).
M.A.Ganshina, N.M.Vasilevskaya consider the English verb to have two aspect forms: the continuous aspect and the common aspect.
e.g. the continuous aspect: I am writing; I was writing; I have been writing.
the common aspect: I write; I wrote; I have written.
The difference between the two forms is not a temporal one, the time indication being the same in both; the forms differ in the manner in which the action is presented.
The continuous aspect in English considers the action in its progress, thus corresponding to the Russian imperfective aspect (несовершенный вид).
e.g. I was writing a letter when she came.
Я писала письмо, когда он пришел.
But the English continuous aspect has a much narrower meaning than the Russian imperfective aspect. The continuous aspect expresses a concrete action in its development at a given moment (present, past or future), whereas the Russian imperfective aspect shows an action in its development without concretizing it. Therefore the imperfective aspect may, depending on the context, express concrete actions in progress at a given moment and also actions of a more abstract, more general character.
Compare:
e.g. Take the kettle off the stove, the water is boiling.
Зніміть чайник з плити, вода кипить.
Water boils at 100 C.
Вода кипит при 100 С.
As contrasted with the continuous aspect the common aspect represents an action as simply occurring (in the present, past or future), makes a bare statement of an action.
Compare:
a) the action is marked as a merely occurring:
Here he comes!
When did you take your lesson?
b) the action is represented in its progress:
Here he is coming through the garden.
What were you doing at ten o’clock?
M.Blokh discriminates the continuous forms and the perfect forms.
The continuous forms are aspective because, reflecting the inherent character of the process performed by the verb, they do not, and cannot, denote the timing of the process. The opposition constituting the corresponding category is effected between the continuous and non-continuous (indefinite) verbal forms.
The perfect, as different from the continuous, does reflect a kind of timing, though in a purely relative way. It coordinates two times, locating one of them in retrospect towards the other.
The constituents of the functional-semantic category of aspect are:
1. Continuous tense- forms & indefinite tense-forms – grammatical device:
e.g. She works. – She is working.
2. Verb-phrases of grammatical order – lexico-morphological device. Here belong:
phrasal verbs consisting of to have, to make, to give, etc. + a verbal noun,
e.g. to have a rest, to give a cry, to give a wash, etc.
Such phrases express actions of single occurrence or single actions of some short duration.
patterns with will/would + Infinitive, used + to-Infinitive, keep + Gerund expressing the frequentative character of the action.
e.g. He used to read newspapers after breakfast.
He kept coming here every day.
c) patterns with the verbs to come, to get, to grow, to go, to fall, to set, to take + Infinitive (Gerund) expressing the ingressive character of the action:
e.g. He fell to thinking. He grew to believe. I set to working.
3. Patterns with the verbs to begin, to commence, to start, to finish, to stop, to continue, etc. + Infinitive (Gerund) expressing ingressive, durative or terminative character of the action – lexico-syntactic devices.
e.g. He began writing (to write). They stopped talking.
4. Conjunctions (while, as, etc.)
5. Grammatical idioms: do nothing but, to be in the habit of, do little but expressing the frequentative character of the action – syntactic device.
6. The repetition of the verb – syntactic device.
e.g. He talked, talked and talked about it.
7. Syntactic structures:
e.g. He felt better when I was here. He felt better when I had left.
The aspective character of the verb to feel is signalled here by the verb-predicate of the sub-clause.
8. Verbal nouns (walks, many kisses).
9. Adverbials (frequently, always).
10. Verbs (to frequent, to pant, to giggle).
11. Prepositional phrases (from time to time).