Tenses and Aspects. The Perfect

The system of perfect forms, which had arisen in OE and developed in ME, goes on unfolding in the modem period. In Shakespeare’s works there is a fully developed system of perfect forms,

e.g.: … if I have too austerely punished you...

Aspect

The category of aspect seems to have risen only in the NE period. In OE differences in the way an action proceeds in time were expressed by the prefix e- in an unsystematic way, and in any case they did not amount to a grammatical category of aspect. In ME even this distinction was lost.

In NE a continuous aspect was gradually formed, expressed by a verb obvious morphological pattern (be+first participle). Verbal forms lacking this pattern became a system of common aspect. It is hard to state a definite point at which the category of aspect came into being, as the process developed slowly, and even as late as the 19th century it was still possible to use forms of the common aspect to denote an action unfolding at a definite moment.

Continuous forms are found in Shakespeare’s texts more frequently than in Chaucer’s, but on the whole they are not numerous. The present continuous is used, for example in this sentence in The Merchant of Venice:

Your mind is tossing on the ocean.

A continuous infinitive is found in Much Ado about Nothing:

I wonder that you will still be talking.

Beatrice is teasing Benedict: He is always talking, though nobody cares to listen to him.

However, in most cases where an action occurring at a given moment in the present or in the past is meant, the non-continuous form is used.

e.g. OLIVER: Now, sir, what make you here?

ORLANDO: Nothing, I am not taught to make anything.

Use of continuous forms is still rather limited in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sometimes the present and the past perfect continuous are used. In the 19th century continuous forms are used more widely. But in the early 19th century they were considered a feature of the colloquial style and were not admitted in poetry. Eventually, however, continuous forms penetrated far deeper into all styles of the language.

In the 19th century passive continuous forms appear. They express an action taking place at a given time in the present or past more clearly, distinguishing it from the result of an action. But the system of passive continuous forms has been limited to the present and to the past; neither a future continuous passive nor any perfect continuous passive forms have been developed so far.

Henry Sweet gives a full system of verb forms, including such forms as he has been being seen and he will have been being seen. He adds the remark: “Some of the longer forms are seldom or never used”. From the point of view of modern linguistics this means that Sweet points out structural possibilities which may be developed in the future.

 

Mood

The mood system developed in NE mainly towards creating more precise means of expressing modal meanings and, in this connection, towards the grow of analytical verb forms.

Thus, in the sphere of the subjunctive, the use of the pattern should/would + infinitive gradually grew in main clauses of a conditional sentence.

In Shakespeare’s time both the synthetic subjunctive, inherited from OE, and analytical forms were used in such cases.

Syntactical subjunctive forms of the 1st and 3rd persons were also used to express appeal or wish, as in sit we down, judge me the world. In the main clause of a conditional sentence analytical conditional forms gradually superseded the synthetic ones.

 

Use of Auxiliary Do

In Early NE the verb do was widely used as an auxiliary. Owing to its lexical meaning, which corresponds to the grammatical meaning of any verb as a part of speech, it easily lends itself to auxiliary use.

In the 16th and 17th centuries forms of the present and past are often derived by means of the auxiliary do. In Shakespeare‘s texts we can find the following examples: Why do you not perceive the jest? However, forms without do are also used in such sentences: Now, sir! What make you here?

Thus, in Shakespeare’s time the use of the auxiliary do both in affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences was optional.

In the 17th century there was considerable hesitation in this sphere. Thus, in John Milton’s prose works do is hardly ever used at all, while in Samuel Pepys’s Diary (1660 – 1669) it is used very widely, and in John Evelyn's Diary no do is found in affirmative sentences. In negative sentences the use of do gradually grew during the 17th century.

In Shakespeare's works do is found in approximately 30% of all negative sentences. In philosophic and scientific prose hesitations in this sphere last for a much longer time.

 

The Gerund

The Gerund, which came into being in ME, developed further in NE. It was gradually more and more clearly separated from the verbal substantive ending in -ing.

While the boundary between the verbal substantive and the Gerund was indistinct, so was that between word-building and derivation. As they became more clearly differentiated, the boundary, too, became clearer. However, the fact that -ing was a word-building as well as a derivational suffix, made the distinction less definite than it is in other languages.

 

Lecture 9