The Category of Time Correlation (Retrospective Coordination)

There is one more category in the English verb in which the concept of time finds its grammatical expression. It is the category of time correlation which deals not with the relation between the action and the moment of communication, but with temporal correlation of actions. It is constituted by the opposition of the perfect forms of the verb to the non-perfect. The idea and the meaning of the perfect form have been the matter of close consideration for centuries: in many grammars it was treated as:

- A tense form

- A relative (secondary) tense

A.I. Smirnitsky was the first who identified the opposition perfect/non-perfect as a category and gave it its name. The functional contact of it was defined as priority expressed by the perfect forms in the present, past and future contrasted against the non-expression of priority by the non-perfect forms. Now there are 3 main points of view on the perfect form:

- it’s a relative (secondary) tense

- a category of time correlation

- it is an aspect

The category of retrospective coordination is an independent category which is semantically intermediate between aspective and temporal. It interpreted the action in the light of priority and aspective transmission. The perfect form presents an action as prior to some other action and is the strong member of the opposition. The non-perfect form denotes either a simultaneous or a posterior action or even priority (I remember seeing you). In this case, we speak of transposition and neutralization: “I have always thought that he lives in Florida. I hear that’s a good lace”. The meaning of priority is more obvious in the case of past perfect or Future Perfect, and not so obvious in case of Present Perfect (priority to the moment of communication), but this priority is also expressed by Past Indefinite form. Both of them may denote an event which took place before the time of communication, but using P.P. the speaker accentuates the relevance of that past action for the present. In the case of P.I. the past moment of action is cut off from the present which is often done by the indication of the past moment (I was in Paris last summer). In case of P.P. the past is not cut from the present but rather continues into the present. (I have been to Paris. I can be your guide.) The general paradigmatic meaning of priority and correlation to another action or point of time can be modified in various contextual conditions and presented by following syntagmatic meanings:

1. Result. With terminative verbs. Summer had died, fall was. / лето закончилось. Была осень.

2. Experience. P.P. denotes past action which has a present time relevance for the speaker. But I’ve been a President’s wife before. / я уже была однажды женой президента.

3. Continuation of a past action into the present. With prepositions for / since. I feel as I have been here for months. / у меня чувство словно я нахожусь здесь уже несколько месяцев.

4. An unfulfilled action. After the modal verbs be, might, should, ought and after the verbs of hope and expectation used in the past tense.

Due to their paradigmatic meaning of priority to another action the Perfect forms carry out an important text forming function. They help the readers to better understand the motives of characters’ actions. The Past Indefinite carries out a function of the text progression, presents events in chronological order, and creates flashback in the text. It helps to understand the reasons for the characters’ actions. Priority doesn’t find a grammatical expression in Russian and there is no analogical grammatical category. In translation the meaning of priority is usually expressed lexically, contextually. The coat had been grey. Пальто когда-то было серым. The category is broadly represented in verbids. The perfect is used with verbids only when its categorical meaning is made prominent. Otherwise it can also be neutralized: She admitted stolen in the car. The infinitive is less liable to neutralization: He is said to have been ill two days ago. Theperfect infinitive of notional verbs used with modal verbs may express several functions: priority and transmission; gradations of probability: He can’t have been here yesterday, certainly; He can’t have been here.

Exercises:

1. Identify the meaning of the verbs in active and passive: a) It’s a big company. It employs two hundred people. b) Two hundred people are employed by the company. c) Is this room cleaned every day? d) A lot of money was stolen in the robbery.

2. Put the verb into the correct form, present simple or past simple, active or passive:

a) Water____ (cover) most of the Earth’s surface.

b) The park gates____ (lock) at 6.30 p.m. every evening.

c) The letter____ (post) a week ago and it ____ (arrive) yesterday.

d) The boat____ (sink) quickly but fortunately everybody___ (rescue).

e) Why____ (Sue/resign) from her job? Didn’t she enjoy it?

f) I saw an accident last night. Somebody____ (call) an ambulance but nobody____ (injure) so the ambulance____ (not/need).

3. When it is possible to make two passive sentences? Here is a list of verbs which can have two objects: ask, offer, pay, show, teach, tell. When we use these verbs in the passive, most often we begin with the person: You’ll be given plenty of time to decide.Follow the pattern and make up your own sentences.

4. Use GET instead of BE where possible. Explain the choice of the auxiliary verb:

a) There was a fight at the party but nobody was hurt.

b) I’m not often invited to parties.

c) He was a nursery man. Nothing was known about him.

d) I’m surprised Ann wasn’t offered a job.

e) Jill is liked by everybody.

5. Replace the Infinitive in brackets by the correct forms of the verb:

Cinderella

When Cinderella heard about the ball, the king was giving to have the prince meet the prettiest girls in the country, she wished she (to be invited) so that she (may see) the prince. But naturally nobody thought of asking her.

On the night of the ball, after her stepsisters left all dressing up, she felt as if her heart ( to be broken).

“Oh, if I too (can go) to the ball!” she exclaimed.

“You shall go!” her godmother, a good fairy, said appearing in front of her. She raised her wand, and Cinderella found herself wearing a wonderful dress, which fitted as if it (to be made) for her, and the prettiest glass slippers.

The fairy raised her wand again and the Cinderella saw a coach and a coachman draw up to the door. Nobody (can guess) that the coachman was a fat rat and the coach- a pumpkin.

“Go”, said the fairy. “And have a good time but be sure you leave before the clock strikes twelve.”

Cinderella went to the party and had a rare good time. The moment the prince saw her, he fell in love with her and demanded that she (to dance) every dance with him. But for the fairy’s warning Cinderella (to be) quite happy. As it was, she kept watching the clocks and ran out of the king’s palace on the stroke of twelve losing one of her slippers as she ran.

At first the prince did not take her disappearance seriously. “It’s not as if I (to lose) her forever”, he thought. But when he realized that nobody knew who she was, he began to fear lest he (never see) her again, and he grew very miserable.

“We think it highly advisable that the girl (to be found)”, the king’s adviser said.

“Otherwise the prince (never may marry).” “And it’s high time he (to do),” said the king. “I’m growing old, you know”.

They made every girl in the country try on Cinderella’s glass slipper so that they (may find) whom it fitted.

The fear that Cinderella (never to be found) proved groundless. She married the prince and was very happy.

Even her stepmother and stepsisters began to treat her as if they (to love) her greatly.

Vocabulary

1. controversial [kɒntrəˈv3ːʃəl]- Cпорный, неоднозначный

2. verbal [ˈvəːbl]-глаго́льный

3. inflection- модуляция, изменение формы слова

4. conjugation [kɔndʒəˈgeɪʃən]- спряже́ние

5. deploy [dɪˈplɔɪ]- дислоци́ровать

6. volition [vəˈlɪʃən]-воля

7. restrict [rɪsˈtrɪkt]- ограни́чивать

8. implicit [ɪmˈplɪsɪt]- подразумева́ющийся

9. transitivity [ˌtrænsɪˈtɪvɪtɪ]- переходность

10. intransitivity [/ɪnˌtrænsɪˈtɪvɪtɪ]- непереходность

11. tertiary [ˈtəːʃərɪ]- трети́чный

12. correspond [kɔrɪsˈpɔnd]- согласовываться

13. constitute [ˈkɔnstɪtjuːt]- явля́ться

14. temporal [ˈtɛmpərl]- временно́й

15. correlation [kɔrɪˈleɪʃən] -соотноше́ние, корреля́ция

16. contrast [vt kənˈtrɑːst]- сопоставля́ть

17. posterior [pɔsˈtɪərɪər]- задний

18. accentuate [ækˈsɛntjueɪt]- акценти́ровать

19. relevance [ˈrɛləvəns]- уме́стность

20. terminative verbs

21. retrospective [rɛtrəˈspɛktɪv]- относящийся к прошлому

Questions

1. How many English moods are we distinguish?

2. When are we use them?

3. What kinds of subjunctive forms are exist?

4. What is the function of Subjunctive mood?

5. How the Category of Voice is expressed?

6. What are transitive and intransitive verbs?

7. How many types of passive constructions can be differentiated? Name them.

8. Give examples of verbs in English that take two objects in the active construction (direct and indirect).

9. What is the Category of Time Correlation?

10. What functions the Perfect forms and the past Indefinite carry out?

Bibliography

1. Blokh M.Y.- A Course in Theoretical English Grammar

2. Tivyaeva I.V.- Lectures in theoretical English grammar