Rinoceronte
Junior Member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2010
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- English Teacher
(continued)
11. “It has been hot for two hours” is Present Perfect tense, and thus, Present Perfect can render the ongoing actions”
No. This is not Present Perfect, although it looks like one. It’s Present Perfect Continuous, where the gerund of the lexical verb “to be” was omitted for “euphony reasons”. The complete sentence should look: “It has been being hot for two hours”. If you don’t like the combination “been being” (which does not speak well for your grammar knowledge, by the way), omit it, but don’t claim that the tense has changed as well. It hasn’t..
12. English Tenses Table
Once again, please, have a look at it:
tenses_table -
One of the biggest English verb system problems is in the fewness of those who can surely say, what category is represented by the columns in this Table. If you decide to present some data in form of a 2D table, the first thing to do would be to understand those 2D, i.e., to name the rows category and the columns category. Rows are known by everyone. It’s time. Columns are known by no one. It’s aspect.
13. “Active verbs sometimes can be used in Present Perfect for an ongoing action”
The main vice of the Stative Verbs Rule which “permits” some ongoing actions to be rendered by Present Perfect, is that ordinary people, who never heard about “stative verbs”, nor care about them, use such cases as models to follow, and erroneously admit that they can do it with any verb, even with an active one. Hence, we got totally ungrammatical constructions like “I have lived here for 20 years (meaning I’m still living here)”, “I have worked here for 2 years (meaning, I’m still working here)”, etc. Among such “ordinary” people you will find the authors of “TOEFL Preparation Guide”, issued in 1982.
14. “Perfect Continuous tenses are not used in Passive Voice constructions”
That’s blatant. They are not fully legitimate. They are irreplaceable, since there is no legitimate way to replace the continuity. The rephrasing of the sentence into Active Voice is neither a good idea, since the reason of the Passive Voice is that we don’t know who the doer of the action is, or don’t want to reveal him.
15. “Passive Perfect Continuous tenses may be replaced by Passive Perfect tenses”
That would be the same as if you would have replaced night with day. Or white with black. Perfect tenses and corresponding Perfect Continuous tenses are as diametrical, as perfect and imperfect aspects are.
16. “Aktionsart solves the aspectlessness problem”
No way. Although this approach is based on sound sense, it does not give you the possibility to group the verbs automatically. Besides, the representatives of the aspectful grammars would reasonably insist that the difference between the aspects is significant even for those verbs which Aktionsart considers “aspectly disregardable”.
17. “The “perfective” postpositions solve the aspectlessness problem. They give you the possibility to tell the aspects in Simple tenses”
An idea that sounds good too, but neither works. You can do this only with particular verbs. And which postposition to use with which verb: “I smoked off”? “I smoked out?”. No need to mention that postpositions (including the “perfective” ones) change verbs unrecognizably.
18. Passive in Simple Tenses.
A trap. Passive Present Simple, Passive Past Simple and Passive Future Simple all can be understood ambiguously, i.e., translated into other languages with both perfect and imperfect aspect verbs. Compare:
The work is done (the action is over, i.e. past). – The work is done regularly (the action is ongoing, i.e., present).
The table is made of wood. – The key is kept under the rug.
Warning your students about this ambiguity would reduce the number of sleepless nights for them in future.
19. “The combination “been being” does not exist”
It does exist. And what’s more, the ability to use it shows your level of English grammar proficiency. Take this “being”-brick out, and the whole house collapses. Better not to touch it.
20. “We can trust English tenses names”
Do it – and you are doomed. Present Perfect is not present, Perfect Continuous is not perfect, Continuous tenses are Moment tenses.
Artem Ivantsov. All Rights Reserved. Quoting is permitted with the proper reference only.
11. “It has been hot for two hours” is Present Perfect tense, and thus, Present Perfect can render the ongoing actions”
No. This is not Present Perfect, although it looks like one. It’s Present Perfect Continuous, where the gerund of the lexical verb “to be” was omitted for “euphony reasons”. The complete sentence should look: “It has been being hot for two hours”. If you don’t like the combination “been being” (which does not speak well for your grammar knowledge, by the way), omit it, but don’t claim that the tense has changed as well. It hasn’t..
12. English Tenses Table
Once again, please, have a look at it:
tenses_table -
One of the biggest English verb system problems is in the fewness of those who can surely say, what category is represented by the columns in this Table. If you decide to present some data in form of a 2D table, the first thing to do would be to understand those 2D, i.e., to name the rows category and the columns category. Rows are known by everyone. It’s time. Columns are known by no one. It’s aspect.
13. “Active verbs sometimes can be used in Present Perfect for an ongoing action”
The main vice of the Stative Verbs Rule which “permits” some ongoing actions to be rendered by Present Perfect, is that ordinary people, who never heard about “stative verbs”, nor care about them, use such cases as models to follow, and erroneously admit that they can do it with any verb, even with an active one. Hence, we got totally ungrammatical constructions like “I have lived here for 20 years (meaning I’m still living here)”, “I have worked here for 2 years (meaning, I’m still working here)”, etc. Among such “ordinary” people you will find the authors of “TOEFL Preparation Guide”, issued in 1982.
14. “Perfect Continuous tenses are not used in Passive Voice constructions”
That’s blatant. They are not fully legitimate. They are irreplaceable, since there is no legitimate way to replace the continuity. The rephrasing of the sentence into Active Voice is neither a good idea, since the reason of the Passive Voice is that we don’t know who the doer of the action is, or don’t want to reveal him.
15. “Passive Perfect Continuous tenses may be replaced by Passive Perfect tenses”
That would be the same as if you would have replaced night with day. Or white with black. Perfect tenses and corresponding Perfect Continuous tenses are as diametrical, as perfect and imperfect aspects are.
16. “Aktionsart solves the aspectlessness problem”
No way. Although this approach is based on sound sense, it does not give you the possibility to group the verbs automatically. Besides, the representatives of the aspectful grammars would reasonably insist that the difference between the aspects is significant even for those verbs which Aktionsart considers “aspectly disregardable”.
17. “The “perfective” postpositions solve the aspectlessness problem. They give you the possibility to tell the aspects in Simple tenses”
An idea that sounds good too, but neither works. You can do this only with particular verbs. And which postposition to use with which verb: “I smoked off”? “I smoked out?”. No need to mention that postpositions (including the “perfective” ones) change verbs unrecognizably.
18. Passive in Simple Tenses.
A trap. Passive Present Simple, Passive Past Simple and Passive Future Simple all can be understood ambiguously, i.e., translated into other languages with both perfect and imperfect aspect verbs. Compare:
The work is done (the action is over, i.e. past). – The work is done regularly (the action is ongoing, i.e., present).
The table is made of wood. – The key is kept under the rug.
Warning your students about this ambiguity would reduce the number of sleepless nights for them in future.
19. “The combination “been being” does not exist”
It does exist. And what’s more, the ability to use it shows your level of English grammar proficiency. Take this “being”-brick out, and the whole house collapses. Better not to touch it.
20. “We can trust English tenses names”
Do it – and you are doomed. Present Perfect is not present, Perfect Continuous is not perfect, Continuous tenses are Moment tenses.
Artem Ivantsov. All Rights Reserved. Quoting is permitted with the proper reference only.
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