TIME TENSE AND MEANING
Khaliqur Rahman
Look at these sentences –
(a) I am writing this now.
(b) I am reading Dalrymple these days.
(c) I am going to finish Nine Lives next week.
(d) I read in the morning (everyday).
(e) India plays the West Indies on March 20, 2011. Today, it is March 18, 2011.
(f) Zaheer comes in and bowls. Watson drives. Tendulkar fields at mid on.
(g) He used to bowl much faster in his younger days.
(h) Tendulkar scored another hundred against South Africa (on March 12, 2011).
(i) He has scored 99 International hundreds. That is a record.
(j) He has been playing Test Cricket since 1989.
All these sentences have three essential components: tense, time and meaning. The choice of appropriate tense depends on time (or time-reference) of action. This combination of tense and time brings about the intended meaning.
Tense is nothing but complete form of the verb. The verb expresses an action (or state). This action has a time (or time reference).
In (a), (b) and (c), the tense is be + VbI-ing , but the time of action in (a) is now, in (b) it is these days that covers a bit of past time and a bit of future time, with or without now, that is present time, and in (c) it is future time.
In (d), (e) and (f), the tense is VbI(-s/-es). But the time reference in (d) is everyday that covers a lot of past time and a lot of possible future time. In (e), it refers to future time scheduled. In (f), the time of each successive action is now.
In (g) and (h), the tense is VbII and the time of action is past time. At the level of meaning, we understand that (g) refers to past habit and in (h) it is a single action.
In (i), the tense is have/has + VbI-en. When this tense is used, the crucial point to understand is: the action is a past action but the time of action is never referred to and at the level of meaning the point to note is: the intention is to relate the past action or experience to its position now.
In (j), the tense is have/has + been + VbI-ing and the action, here, is understood as one that started in the past and is still going on.
In the choice of a tense, it is extremely important to understand the difference between any two tenses in respect of their functions and their time references. It is also very necessary to understand a particular word in the terms we use in respect of the domains they belong to. I’ll try to explain with examples. The domains here are: tense, time and meaning. Take the term present continuous tense. It is just a name for be + VbI-ing. The word present must be understood only under the domain tense. It should not be confused with present action or future action or action happening these days which are the terms used under the time domain. Similarly, the term present habit is used under the meaning domain and under the corresponding time domain we know it covers past time, present time and future time. Corresponding to this, in the tense domain the term used is present simple or present indefinite which is just the name of the verb form. Therefore, the word present in the tense domain should not be dragged into the time domain or meaning domain to create confusion.
Let’s notice the differences between any two tenses now. For convenience, I’ll refer to sentences in present continuous tense as sentences in Table I, sentences in present simple tense as Table II sentences, sentences in simple past tense as Table III sentences, sentences in present perfect tense as Table IV sentences and sentences in present perfect continuous tense as Table V sentences.
Table I talks about actions that are happening now. You can see them or hear or perceive them to be happening now. It also talks about actions that are happening these days. Maybe, they’re not happening now. Maybe, they are. Table I sentences talk about future intended actions, also.
Table II sentences talk about present habits, customs and periodic actions. Here, the time reference is in terms of how often rather than when. Therefore, frequency adverbs, like everyday, are there or are understood to be there. Here, it is interesting to note that these days in Table I and everyday in Table II, both cover past, present and future time. The difference is: the expanse of these days is much smaller than that of everyday. Thus, these days may refer to temporary habits. Therefore, habits more permanent in nature need everday and are expressed in Table II.
Look at the now of Table I and the now of Table II. The now of Table II is much faster. Try (f) in Table I and experience the slow motion description! Similarly, the future time reference in Table I expresses future intention, while in Table II, it expresses future schedule. Take Table III and Table IV. Both talk about past actions. If you want to say when the past action happened, you’ll go to Table III. If you are interested in the present position of past actions, you’ll choose Table IV. The choice of one between Table IV and Table V is again very interesting. Look at the two sentences:
Kapil Dev has played Test Cricket for about 16 years.
Tendulkar has played Test Cricket for about 20 years.
We can also say:
Tendulkar has been playing Test Cricket for about 20 years. Because he’s still playing.
But we can’t say:
Kapil has been playing Test Cricket for about 16 years.* Because he’s not playing anymore, He has retired.
With all this in the background, we ask our ESL learners to follow these steps:
(i) Don’t translate
(ii) Mark the time of action
(iii) Time of action will take you to the right Table
(iv) The Table will give you the right Tense.
(v) Do this until automatization sets in.
We’ve found it works fairly well.
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