The perfect aspect of the English language - Research Paper Example

Research Paper English language can be approached in a number of ways. Researchers believe that there are three chief principles of the English language. These principles are that a person should have fun, exercise daily, and do it for him or herself. Aspects of English language could, however, refer to grammar (perfect), vocabulary, as well as punctuation. These aspects are the three main building blocks of the language (Chomsky 2). This paper will discuss the perfect aspect of the English language. The paper will also comprise a short literature review of the sources used to collect the data. The research took a total of five sources to come up with its findings. Below is a brief description of the five sources. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax is an online journal that talks about the principles and procedures by which English sentences are constructed. Noam Chomsky is the person responsible for coming up with the journal. Bidirectional Interpretation of Tense and Aspect is also an online journal that describes an application of theory of contextual interpretation of English tense and aspect. Stephen Pulman and James Thomas are responsible for coming up with the journal. Grammatical Aspect in English and Kurdish is a journal regarding the formal properties of English language. The journal states that English aspects refer to tenses and moods in the English language. The journal was written by Saza Ahmed Fakhrie. Understanding English Language Learners’ is also an online journal that talks of the aspects of the English language. Alicja Rieger is the person responsible for writing the journal. Aspect in English, on the other hand, is a book that presents a precise approach to one of the most contentious problems in English. According to the book, aspect is the result of a faint and complex interaction between nouns in a sentence and the referents of verbs. In linguistics, the perfect refers to a blend of aspect and tense. Grammar or perfect calls a viewer’s attention to the consequences, at some moment of perception, caused by a prior condition, rather than just to the condition itself. The moment of perception is set by the tense of the helping verb (Smith 4). The aspect and the tense are usually combined into a sole tense-aspect form. This is the past perfect also referred to as the pluperfect, the present perfect, or the future perfect (Thomas 2). The perfect is different from the perfective that marks a condition as a single event, with no inner structure. An English sentence in the perfect aspect cannot be in the perfective. The perfect can talk about events in the past that have been completed, for instance “He has already taken his dinner”. The perfect can also talk about events that are continuous, for instance “He had been working on this story for a whole year” as well as “He has composed operas for two decades”. All these sentences are described by continual relevance to the narrator at the moment of perspective. The perfect contrasts with the prospective. The prospective encodes an anticipation of a future event or present relevance event. The perfect is a relatively uniform group of cross-linguists. However, its relation to the experiential and resultative aspects is difficult. The last two are not simply limited cases of the perfect. The perfect in English is formed by conjugating the auxiliary verb "to have" and adding the verb's past tense form. Doing words in the perfect tense can be in the passive active or voice. Active verbs join "to have" with the past tense form of the main verb ‘have done’, for example, "they have done loads of work". Passive verbs in the perfect needs at least two past participle verb forms that are "been", the past participle of "to be", as well as the past tense of the main verb "has been seen". For instance, "Allan has been seen by the physician". The joining of the verb "to have" establishes the tense of the overall construction. These can be concluded as “had” is in the past tense, “have" or "has" are in the present tense, and "will have" or "shall have" are in the future tense (Smith 5). The tense of the verb "to have" prescribes the time of the consequences but not of the events. For instance, in the sentence "Joan has written a book”, the book is clearly finished at present. The present tense of the verb "to have" shows that the consequences, the status of being a novelist with an accomplished book, are in the present tense, even if the writing is in the past participle. It may mean, “Joan is, at present, finished with the book” or it may reply to the query “Has Joan ever composed a book?” or “Joan has composed a book” may have a diverse meaning from “Joan wrote a book”. This means that the book could have been composed in the recent history. For this reason, it is impractical to write, “Joan has written a book yesterday.” The sentence “Joan has come” probably signifies, “Joan is here at the moment”, however, “Joan came” does not (Chomsky 5). The exploitation of the present perfect instead of the simple past tense can bring forth other consequences. The sentence “I have written books for half a decade” implies that the individual is still writing books, but the sentence “I wrote books for half a decade” means that the individual has stopped writing books. The sentence “Has Joan been to the fair?” implies that the fair is still going on, whereas the sentence “Did Joan attend the fair?” implies that the fair has ended (Chomsky 6). The present tense form in the progressive illustrates that the event started some time back but is ongoing. "Joan has been working on a new book for six months." By contrast, the past progressive tense "Joan was writing a book" may mean that an event was interrupted "Joan was writing a book until the phone rang". This suggestion can also carry over into the pluperfect progressive tense "Joan had been writing a book when she walked in the room to speak to John". The pluperfect or the past perfect has occasionally been referred to as the past-in-the-past. In conclusion, the past perfect can be used to talk about one past action that took place before another past action. For instance, “Joan had eaten the cookie before she took her breakfast.” Both Joan eating the cookie and her eating breakfast were actions in the past, but the former took place before the last. Works Cited Chomsky, Noam. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. NP, Web. 2002. Fakhrie, Saza. Grammatical Aspect in English and Kurdish. NP, 2010. Web. Kabakchiev, Krasimir. Aspect in English: A "Common-Sense" View of the Interplay between Verbal and Nominal Referents. New York: Springer, Print. 2000 Smith, Anne. Understanding English Language Learners’ Needs and the Language Acquisition Process: Two Teacher Educators’ Perspectives. NP, 2006. Web. Thomas, James and Pulman, Stephen. Bidirectional Interpretation of Tense and Aspect. NP, 2008. Web. Read More