Историческое развитие и современное употребление длительных времен в английском языке

 
 

Министерство  образования  и  науки Российской Федерации

Федеральное государственное  бюджетное образовательное  учреждение высшего  профессионального  образования

Российский  государственный  университет туризма  и сервиса 

Институт  туризма и гостеприимства

(Филиал) (Москва) 
 
 

Кафедра: «Лингвистическое обеспечение туристической  деятельности» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

КУРСОВАЯ  РАБОТА  

по  дисциплине «Теоретическая грамматика английского  языка»

по  теме «Историческое  развитие и современное  употребление длительных времен в Английском языке» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Выполнил: Сорокина А. В.

                                                                                                             Группа Л3-1

Научный руководитель:

                                                                                                            Копылов Ю.В. 
 
 
 

МОСКВА

2011 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ministry for Education and Science of Russian Federation

Federal State Budget Education Institution of Higher Vocational Education

Russian State University for Tourism and Service

Institute for Tourism and Hospitality

(Branch) (Moscow) 
 
 

Chair: “Linguistics for Tourism” 
 
 
 
 
 

THEORETICAL GRAMMAR

COURSE PAPER 

Historic development and modern use of continuous tenses. 
 
 
 

                                                                         
 
 
 
 
 

Student: Sorokina A. V.

                                                                                                      Group L3 -1

                                                                                                  Scientific advisor:

                                                                                                         Kopylov Yu. V. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MOSCOW

2011 
 
 
 
 

• Introduction

• 1. Historic development of continuous tenses in English

• 2. The modern usage of Continuous Tenses

o 2.1 Main points

o 2.2 Present Continuous Tense

o 2.3 Past Continuous Tense

o 2.4 Future Continuous Tense

o 2.5 Conclusions

• 3. The practice

• Main conclusions

• Supplement

• References  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Introduction 

The tense category in English is universally recognised. Nobody has ever suggested to characterise the distinction, for example, between wrote, writes, and will write as other than a tense distinction. The category of tense may, then, be defined as 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 the utterance. The main divisions of objective time appear to be clear enough. There are three of them: past, present, and future. So the three main divisions of time are represented in the English verbal system by the three tenses. Each of them may appear in the common and in the continuous aspect. Thus we get six tense-aspect forms. 

My course paper is devoted to the study of the Continuous Tenses in  English language, through its structural and semantic features, as well as the peculiarities of historical development.

The course paper includes six parts. They are:

1) introduction

2) theoretical part

3) the practice

4) the conclusion

5) supplement

6) references

In the theoretical part I’m going to examine the following terms:

1) The historic development of continuous tenses in English, which includes such parts as: -Ways to express continuous process and meaning of continuous structures in Old English

              -The development of continuous structures in Middle English

2) The modern usage of Continuous Tenses, which consists of  four subgroups:

- Main points

- Present Continuous Tense

- Past Continuous Tense

- Future Continuous Tense 

The aims of my course paper are:

1) to follow through the historical development of the Continuous tenses;

2) to examine the system of Continuous times;

3) to define rules for the construction and use of Continuous times;

4) In the practical part of education to give examples of Present Continuous Tense, Past Continuous Tense, Future Continuous Tense and to analyze these examples.

5) Draw conclusions. 
 
 
 

1. Historic development of continuous tenses in English

In the period of Old English, there is no a special form to express a continuous process. In such cases it expressed by present form of verb. For example, Ond he pжr wunade, oр pжt hine an swan ofstang [Chronicles]. (And he was living there until one shepherd killed him). The continuous meaning expressed by some lexical constructions or determined through the context: pa siglde he ponan suрryhte be lande, swa-swa he mehte on fif dagum gesiglan. [Alfred] (And he was sailing there along the shore, so far as he could get for five days). But at the same time in Old English we can find out rather frequent using of syntax constructions to express a continuous process- the combination of the verb  beon with the present participle, for example:  … ond ealle pa woruld on hiora agen gewill onwendende wжron fol neah cwintra. [Alfred] (And they all were destroying the world at their own will for nearly fifty years). The meaning of a continuous process which expresses by such constructions is not limited in time, despite of the modern ways of expression the duration. In many cases such construction can serve as a background for another action ( Efne рa se apostol рas sprecende wжs, рa bжr sum widuwe hire suna lic to bebyrgenne. [Жlfric] (And while that apostle was speaking of his doctrine then a widow brought the body of her son to bury it)) and, moreover, to express a continuous process in the past, which is continuous before the moment when the other action took place: (Ond hie ealle on pone cyning wжrun feohtende, oр pжt hie hine ofslжgene hжfdon. [Chronicle 755] (And they were fighting that king until they had killed him)). Also it’s necessary to admit that in Old English this construction can’t be regarded as an index of a continuous process, because the meaning of duration was only one of the complex of meanings which it expressed.

Middle English is characterize by shortage of using the syntax construction ‘ben + present participle’ in the aim of formation a continuous process. On this stage of the development of the language the meaning of continuous expresses by non-durative form of verb.  Summe жfen wжs gesжwen swilce se beam ongean-weardes pes steorran ward fyrcliende wжre. [Chronicle 1106] (Some evening it seemed that rays were sparkling counter of this star). In the beginning of Middle English period in addition to the existing syntax construction, a new way to express a continuous process has existed - a combination of the verb “be” with the preposition “on” (quickly reduced to “a”) and with a verbal noun: She wyst not ... whether she was a-wakyng or a-slepe. [Caxton] (She did not know whether she was on waking or asleep). This syntax construction from the very moment of its appearance conveys the meaning of long-acting going on in a certain period of time and limited in time. By the end of the Middle English period  two syntax constructions merge into one and take the meaning which is value in today's continuous forms. 

The periphrastic forms corresponding to the Modern English is writing, was writing are in frequent use in Old-English, but are only vaguely differentiated from the simple forms. They were no doubt originally formed on the analogy of the combination of the verb ' be ' with adjectives, so that such a paraphrase as hie waron blissiende t they were rejoicing ' was felt to be intermediate between hie blissodon 'they rejoiced' and hie wceron llipe 'they were glad’.

The most fundamental distinction between the simple and periphrastic forms in Old-English appears to be that the latter are associated with the idea of incompletion, as in pd-pa he sprecende was ' while he was speaking ' com-

pared with pa-pa he sprac, which may have the meaning ' was speaking,' but may also have that of ' spoke/ or even ' had spoken/.

The natural result of this is that the periphrastic forms occur very often in constructions which involve the idea of continuity or progression. But that this idea is only a secondary one is shown by those instances in which the context excludes the idea of duration, as when the periphrase is accompanied by the adverb sona ' immediately/ as in pa sona on anginne pees gefeohtes was se munt Garganus bifgende mid orm&tre civacunge. In this example, as in many others, the context

suggests or at least admits an inchoative meaning : ' then immediately at the beginning of the battle Mount Garganus began to tremble with excessive quaking/

The analogy of the adjective construction  would make us expect to find the periphrastic forms used mainly to express rest, and passive rather than active phe-

nomena. But, on the contrary, they are especially favoured by verbs of motion and fighting wees winnende, either with or without the idea of continuity.

In many cases they appear to have a purely stylistic function, being introduced merely to round off a period, and to avoid abruptness.

In Modern as in Old English the definite tenses always imply incompletion ; thus he is writing a letter implies that the letter is not finished. This is still more marked in the perfect, as in what have you been doing all day? compared with what have you done to-day />, which really means ' what have you completed to-day ? '

They also always imply a certain duration: they are no longer used as point or inchoative tenses, as they sometimes are in Old-English. But the expression of duration is not their primary function in Modern any more than in Old English. Nor can they be used to express unlimited duration or repetition : this is expressed by the indefinite tenses, as in the moon shines at night \ he goes to Germany once a year. These tenses use duration to define the time of a point-tense, as in when he

came, I was writing a letter. Here the action of writing is supposed to be going on before the point of time indicated by came, and to continue after it, the amount of the further duration of the action backwards and forwards being indifferent.

A definite tense therefore often makes us expect a clause containing a verb in the corresponding indefinite tense to indicate the point of time which the definite tense

serves to define, as in / shall be writing when he comes = when he shall come], unless the clause precedes, as in when he came, I was writing. But in the present the definite tense does not require or admit of any accompanying point-tense, for the definite present is, in the nature of things, self-defining : I am writing a letter means ' I am writing a letter at the present moment (of your coming)/ So also with the definite perfect : / have been writing a letter.

Hence we may say that the definite present and perfect are absolute tenses, while the definite preterite and future are relative tenses, because they make us expect

another clause. This clause may of course take the form of an independent sentence, if the connection is clear : we were expecting you yesterday ; why didn’t you come? Or the point-tense may be inferred from the context sometimes only in

a very vague way, as in / was coughing all night long, which is almost as absolute as / coughed all night long. Here it will be observed that / was coughing differs from / coughed mainly in emphasizing the idea of duration.

There are some verbs which occur only in the indefinite tenses. This is especially the case with verbs which express feelings, physical and mental perceptions etc.,

such as feel, like, think : I feel ill \ he likes being here \ I think so. But as soon as the element of volition or action becomes prominent, the definite tenses re-assert their rights : compare it hurts with he is hurting him ; he doesn't see it with he is

seeing the sights ; I hear a noise with / am hearing lectures.

This seems to be a tradition of the Old-English descriptive use of these tenses.

The tense defined by a definite tense may itself be in the definite form : all the while I was writing there was some noise or other going on : the children were having their music-lessons, and the baby was crying next door. Here the

definite tenses imply that the writing and the noises were all simultaneous.

But when the connection between the two sentences as regards time is not specially intimate or important, we prefer to put only one verb in the definite form, as in she

stood in an impatient silence while she was thus being talked over, where she was standing, although strictly correct, would lay too much stress on the logically subordinate idea of ' standing/ So also in as he walked home, his heart danced

within him there is no special connection of cause and effect between the two clauses. When such words as always, constantly are added to a definite tense, it necessarily loses its definiteness of meaning as regards distinctions of time : she is a good woman : she is always going to church ; she is always doing things for

poor people. So also in the preterite and future : your mother was a good woman : she was always going . . \ she will grow up to be a good woman : she will always be going . . The main use of the definite form in such collocations is to make the

statement absolute ; thus he is always complaining \ he was grumbling all the time we were there can stand by themselves, while the corresponding indefinite forms make us expect something to define the time or show that repetition is implied : he always grumbles when he is at home.

When a definite tense is used in a context implying repetition, the definite tense does not share in this meaning, but keeps its own ; thus his temper only failed him when he was being nursed means 'on each occasion when he was being nursed ' that is, the definite tense applies to each of the repeated phenomena singly.

The indefinite present is a neutral tense, implying that a statement is of general application, and holds good for all time (the sun rises in the east], or that an action

or phenomenon is habitual, as in he gets up at six regularly every morning \ I always get it at the same shop, or recurrent, as in he goes to Germany twice a year.

If the actual present is meant, the definite form is used : he is getting up now \ where are you going /

The definite present is also used as a neutral present to show that continuity and not repetition is meant. Thus if in such a sentence as the earth is a ball that is always turning round, and at the same time it moves round the sun in a circle we substituted turns, we should have to answer the question ' when does it always turn? ' But here we cannot say that the idea of revolving round the sun is either subordinate to or not closely assoceated with that of revolving on its own axis. It seems that the shorter indefinite form is used because the context makes the meaning ' is moving ' quite clear. Similarly in the wind is rising: look how the smoke blows sideways! Here we might use the definite form is blowing. The indefinite form seems to suggest ' smoke always blows sideways when the

wind rises/ In describing the subject of a picture or piece of sculpture which appeals directly to the eye the definite as well as the indefinite present can be used : it is a representation of a lady, she is lying on a couch, at the side of the couch

sits a woman as in grief. The definite form could not be used in stating the contents of a book, the plot of a story etc. Observe also that we can say it is a picture of a lady lying on a couch, while we should have to use a separate clause in it is a story of a lady who . .

The definite present is used in a future sense, but only in combination with verbs of motion : where are you going for your holiday this autumn ? \ I am going home