Contrastive language studies notes

Contrastive language studies

English verb tense
Reflects our perception of time in language (you indicate whether you are referring to the
past, present or future)
 Is expressed by the main verb of by a main verb in combination with an auxiliary or
auxiliaries
 The time of an action (when the event that is being referred to actually took place) is
related to the moment of utterance (= the moment of speaking)
 Tense is not the same as time  the correlation is not complete (e.g., using the
present tense [dramatic present] to refer to past time)




Present simple
 Facts  permanent situations
 Regularity  repeated actions, habits, things that happen all the time
 Instructions, commentaries, demonstrations
 Stories  the dramatic present

 Base form, -s form ( the SHIT rule)
 I walk
 Adverbials (signal words)  always, often, sometimes, hardly, never, every X
 I walk to the supermarket every afternoon

Present continuous
 Continuity  continuing actions and events (duration)
 Repetition or long-lasting changes
 Actions going on right now/at this moment

 Be + -ing (present participle)
 I am walking
 Adverbials (signal words)  right now, at this moment, now etc.
 What are you doing? I am walking to the train station
 watch out: stative verbs do not take the -ing form (I am liking…)


Stative verbs

, = verbs that refer to states (mental processes, sense perception, etc.) and that cannot be
used in the continuous tense (with progressive aspect)
= often involuntary (feelings, thoughts)  believe, doubt, feel, love, seem, sound
 watch out  sometimes the same verb can be stative of dynamic (=real actions)
 This coffee tastes delicious. (state – our perception of coffee, no continuous)
 Look! The chef is tasting the soup. (action – tasting the soup is an activity  OK to
use in the continuous)

Present perfect |
 Occurrences that started in the past, but the result is tangible in the present or
connected to it
I have washed the car. ( The car is clean now.)
I have graduated from secondary school. ( I have my diploma now.)
 Emphasizing completion
I’ve finished!
 News of recent events
Max Verstappen has won the last race.
 Up to now
I haven’t seen John this week.

 Have + past participle
 I have walked
 Thinking about the present and the past together (!)  do NOT use it when
expressing finished actions in the past (no link to the present)
I have walked a lot yesterday.
 Adverbials (signal words)  for, yet, never, ever, before, just, already, since
 I have never walked alone

Present perfect ||
Progressive/continuous
 Continuing actions and situations
I’ve been studying really hard this semester.
 Repeated actions
I’ve been running back and forth the whole day.
 Actions and situations that have just stopped
 Short, temporary actions
 Emphasized duration

‘Simple’ (the regular present perfect)
 When using stative (non-progressive)
 Stating how much we have done
 Stating how often we’ve done something



Past simple
 Past events  short, quickly finished actions