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Aspect in the English language: a comparative analysis of form and meaning

in traditional descriptive grammars

Article  in  DELTA Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada · December 2019

DOI: 10.1590/1678-460x2019350401

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D E L T A

Articles

Aspect in the English language: a comparative

analysis of form and meaning in traditional
descriptive grammars
Aspecto em língua inglesa: uma análise comparativa da
forma e significado em gramáticas descritivas tradicionais

Adriana Lessa1
Maria das Graças Salgado2

ABSTRACT

Aspect in the English language has been described through different

categories and terminologies, which might lead teachers and students into
some misunderstandings. Considering the importance of understanding the
systematic representation of this concept in learning a foreign language,
we review and compare the various ways aspect is presented in five of the
most traditional descriptive English grammar books. We examined whether
aspect is explicitly approached; how it is defined; categorized and whether
the types of aspect are clearly explained in terms of meaning. Based on
that, we contrasted their classification and terminology with an alternative
approach, highlighting ambiguities and common grounds.
Key-words: aspect; English grammar; classification; comparative
analysis.

1. Doutora em Linguística, professora adjunta de Inglês do Departamento de Letras e

Comunicação da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Rio de Janeiro
– Brasil. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0637-0964. E-mail: [email protected].
2. Doutora em Linguística, professora associada de Inglês do Departamento de Letras e
Comunicação da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Rio de Janeiro
– Brasil. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9370-3378. E-mail: [email protected].
This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and
distribution, provided the original author and source are credited.

D.E.L.T.A., 35-4, 2019 (1-17): e2019350401

35.4
2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

RESUMO

O aspecto na língua inglesa tem sido descrito por meio de diferentes

categorias e terminologias, o que pode gerar mal-entendidos para
professores e estudantes. Considerando a importância da representação
sistemática desse conceito na aprendizagem de uma língua estrangeira,
este artigo revisa e compara as formas variadas como Aspecto é
apresentado em cinco das mais tradicionais gramáticas descritivas do
inglês. Analisamos, assim, se aspecto é explicitamente abordado; como é
definido; categorizado e se os tipos de aspecto são claramente explicados
em termos de significado. Com base nessa análise, contrastamos
suas classificações com uma abordagem alternativa, esclarecendo
ambiguidades e consensos.

Palavras-chave: aspecto; gramática do inglês; classificação; análise

comparativa.

Introduction

Time can be considered a universal concept related to the way

situations are measured or perceived. Due to its universal characteristic,
this concept is linguistically represented worldwide. Although this
linguistic representation may vary – from lexical to grammatical
words, morphemes and particles –, many spoken languages express
time recurring to tense and aspect markers, which play a major role
in foreign language teaching and learning. In the present paper, we
will focus on aspect markers in English, considering the international
relevance of this language as a lingua franca.
Bearing in mind the importance of understanding the systematic
representation of tense and aspect to the learning of a foreign language,
this article aims to review and compare the various ways aspect is
presented in some English grammar books. This analysis is justified by
the recognition of concurrent classes and terminology in the description
of this linguistic phenomenon. So, we contrast the categorization
offered by traditional descriptive grammar books with an alternative
approach represented by studies primarily concerned with meaning.
Thus, this paper is organized in two sections. In the first section,
we present an overview on how aspect is approached in five of the
2
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Aspect in the English language 2019

most prestigious English grammar books adopted at universities around

the world. In the second section, we compare the main definitions and
categories provided by these grammar books at the perspective found
in the renowned Bernard Comrie’s Aspect: an Introduction to the study
of verbal aspect and related problems.

Section 1 - Aspect in English grammar books

In this section, 5 (five) English grammar books are analyzed: Collins

COBUILD English Grammar, by Collins (2005); Cambridge Grammar
of English: a comprehensive guide, by Carter & McCarthy (2006);
The Oxford English Grammar, by Greenbaum (1996); A grammar of
Contemporary English, by Quirk et al (1980) and Longman Grammar of
Spoken and Written English, by Biber et al (1999). In order to compare
more accurately the notions of aspect presented by the authors, we
examine in table I: (a) whether aspect is explicitly approached; (b)
how it is defined; (c) how it is categorized and (d) whether the types
of aspect are clearly explained in terms of meaning.

Table I – Descriptive traditional grammars

Analysis of English Grammar Books
Are the
types of
How does it
Does it explicitly aspect
Title and How does it define categorize
approach clearly
authorship aspect? aspect in
aspect? explained
English?
in terms of
meaning?

Collins No. It only covers - - -

COBUILD tenses and other
English time expressions.
Grammar -
Collins (2005)

Yes. There is a “Aspect refers to the Two aspects: Yes.

section dedicated speaker’s/writer’s progressive
to “Verb phrase: perspective on the time (sometimes
Cambridge tense and aspect. of an event. In English, called
Grammar of aspect is concerned continuous)
English - mainly with how the aspect and
Carter & speaker perceives the perfect
McCarthy (2006) duration of events, and
how different events
relate to one another in
time.” (p. 411) 3
35.4
2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

Are the
types of
How does it
Does it explicitly aspect
Title and How does it define categorize
approach clearly
authorship aspect? aspect in
aspect? explained
English?
in terms of
meaning?
Yes. It offers a “The aspect of the verb Two aspects: Yes.
section named refers primarily to the the perfect
“Verb Phrases” in way that the time of the aspect and the
a chapter called situation is regarded progressive (or
The Oxford Eng-
“The Grammar of rather than its location continuous)
lish Grammar -
Phrases”. There in time in absolute aspect.
Greenbaum
is a subsection terms. The aspects are
(1996)
called “Tense and expressed by a combi-
Aspect.” nation of an auxiliary
and a following verb.”
(p. 253)
Yes. It offers a Aspect refers to the Two sets of Partially.
chapter named manner in which the aspectual
“The Verb verb action is regarded contrasts:
Phrase”, with a or experienced. The perfective/
A Grammar of
section entitled choice of aspect is non-perfective;
Contemporary
“Time, tense a comment on or a progressive/non-
English -
and aspect,” that particular view of the progressive.
Quirk et al
distinguishes action. (p. 91)
(1980)
these concepts
and a subsection
dedicated to
Aspect.
Yes. There is a “(...) aspect relates to Unmarked/ Partially.
chapter called considerations such as simple, perfect,
“Variation in the completion or lack progressive (e.g.
the verb phrase: of completion of events v. sees v. Has
tense, aspect, or states described by a seen v. Is see-
voice, and verb.” (p. 460) ing) or perfect
Longman Gram-
modality”, with progressive
mar of Spoken
a section entitled (e.g. v. has been
and Written
“Aspect”. seeing) (p. 452),
English -
although the sec-
Biber et al (1999)
tion dedicated
to Aspect only
mentions the
perfect and the
progressive
aspects.

In a first and more general analysis, considering the first question,

it is important to highlight that aspect is a pervasive topic in these
English grammar books, except for Collins (2005) – which does not
even mention the topic. The other four references explicitly mention
aspect in the title of the chapter related to verb forms or dedicate a
4
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Aspect in the English language 2019

section/subsection to introduce aspect. It is also relevant to register

that all of them offer a fair amount of genuine examples of modern
English usage and accomplish their aims of presenting the existing
English verb forms.
Regarding the second question, within the four grammar books in
which aspect is approached, we can find a definition of aspect related
to the way speakers view, experience or regard a situation in Carter &
McCarthy (2006), Greenbaum (1996) and Quirk et al (1980). As for
Biber et al (1999), a different definition of aspect is presented, relating
it to the idea of completion of an event.
Despite the fact that all the books offer a generous explanation on
aspect, Quirk et al (1980) can be considered the most comprehensive
presentation in terms of examples and sections dedicated to the subject.
Nevertheless, Greenbaum (1996) is the author who most evidently
contrasts tense to aspect, providing a better understanding of the
distinction between these two linguistic phenomena and the relationship
between the concept of time and aspect. According to the author, tense
is a grammatical category referring to the location of a situation in time,
accomplished through a verb inflection, and “strictly speaking, English
has only two tenses”: present and past (GREENBAUM, 1996, p. 253).
On the other hand, aspect relates to the way the time of the situation
is viewed (see Table I).
Besides, the author is the only one who relates aspect to a
specific verb form, which would be the combination of an auxiliary
and a following verb. So, the progressive would be the result of the
combination of the auxiliary be + -ing (e.g. is playing) and the perfect
aspect would result from the combination of auxiliary have + -ed (e.g.
has played) (cf. GREENBAUM, 1996, p. 246).
Concerning the third question, in terms of aspect categorization,
the authors tend to characterize the classes of aspect in a similar
approach. Carter & McCarthy (2006), Greenbaum (1996) and Biber et
al (1999) assert that there are two ‘aspects’ in English, whereas Quirk
et al (2005) expand the discussion, referring to ‘two sets of aspectual
contrasts’ (see Table I).

5
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2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

In spite of that, most of the authors arrange aspect in two categories:

the progressive and the perfect aspect. It is worth mentioning that
Biber et al (1999) introduce the existence of a so-called ‘unmarked/
simple aspect’, which is, however, overlooked in the section dedicated
to aspect (see Table I).
Quirk et al (2005) deviate from this reductive division of aspect,
presenting two sets of aspectual contrasts. The aspectual contrasts
perfective versus non-perfective and progressive versus non-progressive
can be considered a more elaborate categorization, as illustrated by the
examples in Table II. In this perspective, there would be a system of
complex verb phrases allowing the combination of perfective and
progressive aspects. Although the authors do not explain what the
non-perfective and non-progressive situations would be, they propose
that these aspects be combined in various ways, which are reproduced
in the following table.

Table II – System of contrasts in the complex verb phrase (Quirk et al, 2005:90
– adapted from the original by the authors)
Symbol Name Example Aspectual contrast
Type B present perfect he has examined perfective
past perfect he had examined non-progressive
Type C present progressive he is examining non-perfective
past progressive he was examining progressive
Type BC present perfect progressive he has been examining perfective
past perfect progressive he had been examining progressive

In the authors’ original table, the neutral aspects mentioned (i.e.

non-perfective and non-progressive) are not properly explained.
Nonetheless, we complemented it, as presented in the Table II, making
explicit our assumptions that the verb forms of Type B (present
perfect and past perfect) would be considered perfective and non-
progressive forms. Verb forms of Type C (present progressive and
past progressive) would be non-perfective and progressive forms.
Finally, verb forms of Type BC (present perfect progressive and past
perfect progressive) would be the combination of both perfective and
progressive aspects.
6
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Aspect in the English language 2019

So, although Quirk et al (1995) attempted to escape from the

common-sense categorization of aspect, their complex classification
does not fulfill its initial promise, since they have kept a strongly
form-oriented approach. Furthermore, one interesting observation is
that the class the authors name as ‘perfective’ is equivalent to the one
referred to as ‘perfect’ aspect by the other authors. This is a difference
in terminology we intend to develop in the next section.
Regarding the last question, the types of aspect seem to be clearly
explained in terms of meaning in all the grammar books. The progressive
aspect is related to the idea of temporariness or extended duration of an
event. The perfect aspect is associated with the relationship between two
time frames or the relevance of a situation (see examples in Table 1).
In general terms, Carter & McCarthy (2006) provide the most
thorough description and explanation of the aspectual classes regarding
meaning. Nevertheless, Biber et al (2005) offer a comprehensive
perspective in terms of illustration and distribution of these forms across
registers and dialects, which cannot be found in the other grammar
books. This can be confirmed by an examination on Table III, which
summarizes the main explanations present in each grammar book.

Table III – Explanations on the types of aspect and examples in each grammar
book
Explanations and Examples
Grammar book
PROGRESSIVE ASPECT PERFECT ASPECT
With the progressive aspect, the focus is Perfect aspect is concerned with
principally on the duration of the event. the speaker’s perspective on the
It may therefore be used to indicate relationship between one time frame
that something is ongoing, unfinished, and an event that takes place in
or that it is extended but temporary. It another time frame. An event which
may indicate that something is/was/ took place in the past may be seen
Cambridge will be in progress when something else as relevant to the present moment.
Grammar of happens/happened. In other words, the Likewise, an event due to take place in
English - focus is not on the starting or finishing the future may be seen as linked to the
Carter & point of an event, but on the event as present moment. (p. 415)
McCarthy (2006) seen from its centre. (p. 412)
Examples:
Examples: They have changed the time. (have
Why is he smiling like that? (present is present)
tense) They had changed the time. (had is
Why was he smiling like that? (past past)
tense)
7
35.4
2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

Explanations and Examples

Grammar book
PROGRESSIVE ASPECT PERFECT ASPECT
The progressive aspect primarily The perfect aspect is primarily used to
The Oxford focuses on the duration of the situation. place the time of one situation relative
English (p. 254) to the time of another situation.
Grammar -
Greenbaum Example: Example:
(1996) I have written many times before now. I am writing a letter to my parents.

“Progressive aspect indicates “The present perfect indicates a

temporariness – an action in progress period of time stretching backwards
instead of the occurrence of an action into some earlier time. It is past with
or the existence of a state.” (p. 92) ‘current relevance’. (…) The choice
of perfective aspect is associated with
Examples: time-orientation and consequently also
Joan is singing well. with various time-indicators (lately,
Joan was singing well. since, so far, etc).” (p.91)
“The past perfect has the meaning of
A Grammar of
past-in-the-past.” (p.92)
Contemporary
English -
Examples:
Quirk et al
John has lived in Paris for ten years.
(1980)
His sister has been an invalid all her
life (i.e. she is still alive).
For generations, Nepal has produced
the world’s greatest soldiers (i.e. the
nation of Nepal must stilll exist).
Peter has injured his ankle but now it's
still bad.
John had lived in Paris for ten years
(when I met him).
“The progressive aspect designates “The perfect aspect designates events
an event or state of affairs which is in or states taking place during a period
progress, or continuing, at the time in- leading up to the specified time.” (p.
dicated by the rest of the verb phrase.” 460)
(p. 460)
Longman
Grammar of
Examples: Examples:
Spoken and
Progressive aspect present tense Perfect aspect present tense
Written English -
I’m looking for an employee of yours. We have written to Mr Steven, but he
Biber et al (1999)
(Fiction) has ignored our letters (News)

Progressive aspect past tense Perfect aspect past tense

I was just coming back from Witham. He had seen him picking purses
(Conversation) (Fiction)

Section 2 – Comparison to an alternative perspective

on aspect

In this section, we offer an alternative perspective on aspect,

based on Bernard Comrie’s handbook named Aspect: an Introduction
8
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Aspect in the English language 2019

to the study of verbal aspect and related problems3. But, firstly, it must
be emphasized that this peculiar characterization we adopt in this
paper – calling Comrie’s Aspect ‘alternative’ - is due to the fact that
its comparative character sheds light on the meaning that underlies the
different linguistic forms across languages.
In other words, Comrie (1976) presents the different aspectual
meanings that might (or might not) be morphologically realized in
various languages. In contrast, traditional descriptions of the English
language usually offer restrict conceptual explanations induced by the
linguistic forms adopted in such languages. Thus, Comrie’s perspective
on aspect may be approached as an alternative one when compared to
explanations on aspectual meanings based exclusively on the English
verb forms.
Nevertheless, although this perspective is portrayed as alternative
in this paper, this typological study is recognized as a reference in
different linguistic areas, since it pioneered comparative studies on
aspect. Acknowledging that, we intend to establish a comparison
between this benchmark and the different points of view offered by
the traditional English grammar books. In order to do so, we recall two
out of the four questions that guided the analysis presented in section
1: ‘how is aspect defined?’; ‘how is it categorized and explained in
terms of meaning?’.
Considering how aspect is defined, Comrie (1976:3) states that
the general definition of aspects could be formulated as “different
ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a situation.”
We can observe that this definition coincides to most of the grammar
books, since the authors have defined aspect as the way speakers view,
experience or regard a situation (see Table I), except for Biber et al
(1999) who relates aspect to the notion of completion as opposed to
the lack of completion of events.
Although aspect’s connection to time is self-evident, Comrie (1976)
makes it explicit that aspect would be related to time in a different way

3. The focus on a single author favors a comparative analysis to the plurality of English
grammar books selected. Nonetheless, it is worth highlighting that Comrie’s points of
view presented in this paper are in line with other cross-linguistic studies in the field. e.g.
Dahl (1985) and Smith (1991). 9
35.4
2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

when compared to tense. Since Greenbaum (1996) dedicated some

space to detail this distinction between Tense and Aspect, it is worth
comparing his explanation to Comrie’s proposal on that.
According to the latter, tense is a deictic category, since it locates
situations in time with reference to the present moment or the time
of other situations. Aspect is rather concerned with the internal
constituency of the one situation it refers to. This difference might be
illustrated by the following examples in various languages:
a) English: John was reading when I entered.
b) French: Jean lisait quand j’entrai.
c) Spanish: Juan leía cuando entré.
d) Portuguese: João estava lendo / lia quando eu entrei.4
In these sentences, the second verb – in bold type – introduces the
main event that would have as a background the situation expressed by
the first verb – which is underlined. Considering this example, Comrie
(1976:5) states that “the different forms do serve a deictic function of
locating my entry internally to John’s reading,” but this deictic function,
related to tense, would be a “secondary consequence of the different
ways in which they view the internal constituency of the situations
referred to,” which would be related to aspect.
This explanation on tense and aspect is in line with Greenbaum’s
(1996) definitions in terms of meaning. However, in terms of structure,
Greenbaum associates aspect to compound verb forms, through the
combination of main and auxiliary verbs, as previously indicated in
Section 1. In Comrie’s alternative perspective, tense and aspect are
notions that might be present in compound or simple verb forms. This
means that, differently from Greenbaum’s proposal, the English simple
verb forms would also convey aspect, expressing some of the aspectual
semantic distinctions, other than perfect and progressive aspects, which
shall soon be presented. So, the English Simple Past (e.g. entered) and
Simple Present (e.g. enter(s)) would express tense, but they would also

4. Comrie (1976:3) presents these examples, except for the ones in Brazilian Portuguese,
10 which have been offered by the authors of the present paper.
 35.4
Aspect in the English language 2019

express aspect. As we can see, this assumption represents an important

distinction in the way aspect is regarded as a linguistic phenomenon,
changing from a form-oriented to a meaning-oriented paradigm of
aspectual classes.
The verbs “to read” and “to enter,” inflected in the former examples
(a to d above) might help us understand the basic aspectual semantic
distinctions proposed by Comrie. The difference between these verbs
in the sentence would be that the second verb (i.e. entered) presents the
totality of the situation (the entry), as a single unanalyzable whole, while
the first one (i.e. was reading) makes explicit reference to the internal
temporal constituency of the situation, since it refers to an internal
portion of John’s reading. This, in terms of aspect, would mean that the
second verb has perfective meaning and the first verb has imperfective
meaning. Although none of the English grammar books have mentioned
this distinction between perfectivity and imperfectivity, Biber et al
(1999) seems to refer to it, when relating aspect to completion or lack
of completion of events (see Table I).
This perfective or imperfective point of view guides the basic
categorization of aspect proposed by Comrie. And the main differences
between perfective and imperfective forms could be explained, in terms
of meaning, as it follows. The perfective aspect would indicate a look
at the situation from outside, “presented as a complete event, without
further subdivision into successive temporal phases,” such as in John
read that book yesterday (COMRIE, 1976:4). So, the perfective would
have the effect of reducing a situation into a blob, i.e. the situation
would be seen as a three-dimensional object with clearly circumscribed
limits, although it might have internal complexity. On this note, Comrie
(1976:21) clarifies: “it follows that perfectivity involves lack of explicit
reference to the internal temporal constituency of a situation, rather than
explicitly implying the lack of such internal temporal constituency.”
At this point, it is worth bringing to notice the terminological
distinction regarding the term ‘perfective’. As Comrie (1976:12)
himself states, many works by English-speaking linguists used the term
‘perfective’ as a synonym for ‘perfect’, which the author characterizes
as “unfortunate,” since it leads to a “conceptual confusion.” Whatever
the case might be, Quirk et al (2005) can be considered part of these
11
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2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

linguists who adopt a different interpretation of the concepts of ‘perfect’

and ‘perfectivity’, since the authors use the term ‘perfective’ to refer
to the Perfect aspect, as indicated in Section 1. So, we could affirm
that perfectivity, in the sense Comrie presents it, is not assumed by the
English grammar books analyzed in this paper.
Nonetheless, this omission of the idea of perfectivity in the English
grammar books might be explained by the form-oriented paradigm they
follow. As Comrie (1976:3) highlights: English would not have the
perfective aspect if we consider having an aspect similar to not having
a special verbal form to indicate it. However, according to the author,
the difference between “was reading” and “entered” would indeed be
one of imperfectivity versus perfectivity.
In other words, we may suggest that the Simple Past might provide
a perfective or an imperfective point-of-view. Thus, presumably, this
would be the idea meant by Biber et al (1999:452) when they introduced
the existence of a so-called ‘unmarked/simple aspect’5, as we can see
in the examples transcribed from their original work:

tense: present or past (e.g. see(s) versus saw)

aspect: unmarked/simple, perfect, progressive (e.g. sees versus has seen
versus is seeing), or perfect progressive (e.g. has been seeing)

The term ‘unmarked’ is used as a synonym of ‘simple’, which

seems to indicate that the lack of markedness of the Simple Past and
the Simple Present might correspond to either the perfective or the
imperfective point-of-view. In contrast to the look of the situation from
the outside of the perfective aspect, the imperfective would indicate a
look at the situation from inside: the event would be opened up, making
“explicit reference to the internal temporal structure of a situation”
(COMRIE, 1976:24). So, the use of the Simple Past of the verb “to
study”, for example, might convey a perfective aspect in a sentence
such as “John studied a lot yesterday”, in the sense that the event is

5. For further discussion, we suggest verifying Hirtle (1967, 1988), which relates simple
aspect to the view of having necessary and sufficient conditions of the event satisfied,
and Leech’s (2004: 3-4) Introduction, outlining non-perfect and non-progressive forms
12 as unmarked aspects.
 35.4
Aspect in the English language 2019

reduced into a blob, or an imperfective aspect, as in the example “John

studied a lot when he was a child”, in which the internal constituency
of this habitual action is brought up.
Habitualness is one of the notions associated with Imperfectivity,
although this concept is not explicitly mentioned in the grammar
books. However, the internal constituency of a situation might also
be highlighted through the idea of continuity, as provided by the
use of the progressive form in English, such as in “John is reading
now”. Nevertheless, it is worth noticing that the notion of continuity
is not exclusively related to the progressive verb form. The Brazilian
progressive form ‘está lendo’, for instance, is represented as ‘está a
ler’ in European Portuguese. Both express the continuous aspect, but
the latter is considered a non-progressive form.
As we have seen, the idea of perfect and progressive as basic
aspects in the English grammar books here analyzed is differently
configured in Comrie’s proposal. The subdivision of the basic aspects
proposed by Comrie can be contemplated in Figure I.

Figure I – Classification of aspectual oppositions, according to Comrie

(1976:25)

13
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2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

According to Comrie (1976), there would be different groupings

of the semantic distinctions illlustrated in Figure I. Imperfectivity
may be expressed in some languages by a single category, whereas
other languages provide distinct categories to express its habitual
or continuous reading. For instance, in the past tense of the English
language, there are separate Habitual and Continuous aspects, e.g. John
used to eat here; John was eating, respectively. Otherwise, the Simple
form provides no further distinction of aspect, with a choice between
the Imperfective Habitual or the Perfective, as we have previously
illustrated. So, the sentence John ate here may have a perfective or an
imperfective habitual meaning.
This grouping of semantic distinctions are differently conceived
in other languages. In the past tense of the Brazilian Portuguese, for
example, the Pretérito Perfeito only conveys the Perfective aspect, e.g.
João comeu aqui. In contrast, the Pretérito Imperfeito may convey the
Habitual or the Continuous aspect, e.g. João comia aqui (antigamente);
João comia aqui (quando a bomba explodiu), excluding though a
perfective interpretation. These groupings of semantic distinctions in
English and in Portuguese can be better visualized in Table IV.

Table IV – Semantic Distinctions in English and in Portuguese

Semantic Distinctions English Portuguese

Imperfective Habitual John used to eat here João comia aqui

John ate here (when he was (antigamente)
a child)
Imperfective Continuous John was eating here João estava comendo aqui
(when the bomb went off) João comia aqui (quando a
bomba explodiu)
Perfective John ate here (yesterday) João comeu aqui (ontem)

Still regarding Figure I, it is clear that Comrie does not consider

the Perfect a basic aspect, diverging from the English grammar authors.
However, we may assume that they take for granted a classification
somehow parallel to Comrie’s proposal, since his Perfective-
Imperfective opposition would correspond to the Perfect-Progressive
14 aspectual opposition presented by the other authors.
 35.4
Aspect in the English language 2019

Finally, regarding the Perfect aspect, we would like to provide a

much more comprehensive analysis, but we will need to leave this to
a new paper. In a nutshell, we may state that the idea of the Perfect
indicating the relationship between two time frames or the relevance of
a situation are compatible to Comrie’s definition. Nonetheless, Comrie
(1976: 56) goes further and presents particular types of perfect, i.e.
the perfect of result, the experiential perfect, the perfect of persistent
situation, and the perfect of recent past.

Conclusion

The teaching/learning process related to aspect in English as a

foreign language has been considered a challenge for international
students. We acknowledge the existence of major referential books
which provide interesting analysis on the difficulties faced in this
learning process (cf. CELCE-MURCIA, LARSEN-FREEMAN, 1999;
SWAN, SMITH, 1987). However, it is well known that most students
– and even English teachers – can only resource to the traditional
descriptive grammars. One possible explanation is the accessibility
and pervasion of this material both in academic and non-academic
contexts.
In our practice as professors of English dealing with this kind
of material, we have noticed that the concept of aspect has been
didactically described and formulated in various ways, which makes the
topic become even more complex. Given the relevance of the theme,
in this paper, we reviewed and compared the various ways aspect is
presented in traditional descriptive grammar books.
In the analysis, it comes into view that, although aspect is
approached in a considerably comprehensive way in four out of five
grammar books analyzed here, there is consistent variance in the
categorization and terminology adopted by the authors which might
cause confusion for students or teachers who resource to them. In
order to thoroughly examine these categories and terminologies, we
have contrasted them with an alternative perspective based on cross-
linguistic studies, thus, more focused on meaning.
15
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2019 Adriana Lessa, Maria das Graças Salgado

Using Comrie (1976) as a benchmark, it is noticeable that the

definition of aspect is common sense in the literature, always referring
in some way to the speaker’s point of view associated with the internal
time of the situation. However, the most valuable contribution of
this endeavor has been to compare the classification of aspectual
oppositions, illustrating the main conceptual differences and similarities
among the different authors.
Regarding the terminology adopted in the description of these
points of view, some of the secondary variance relies on the use of
the term ‘perfective’ as a synonym for ‘perfect.’We highlight that
this confusion might be related to the debate on whether the English
language would have the perfective aspect, since there is no special
verb form to indicate it. Since perfective is considered a basic aspect
by Comrie (1976) due to its notability in language systems, this
disambiguation may be of considerable importance for students and
teachers of English as a foreign language.
Most importantly, Comrie’s basic aspects and its subdivisions may
help understand the proposals of ‘unmarked/simple aspect’ opposition
and ‘non-perfective’/‘non-progressive’ neutral aspects, by Biber et
al (1999) and Quirk et al (2005), respectively. They also help clarify
the categorization of aspect in two classes - progressive and perfect -
offered by Carter & McCarthy (2006) and Greenbaum (1996). Based
on this comparison, we may assert that the classification of the former
assume that aspect is present in every verb form and the latter approach
aspect strictly based on compound forms (auxiliary + main verb)
complementary to the simple forms, which would only mark tense.
In conclusion, we believe this contrastive analysis contributes to a
richer debate on the categorization offered by these English grammar
books with an alternative approach offered by studies more focused
on meaning. Furthermore, this clarification might enable students and
teachers of English as a foreign language to reflect more deeply upon
aspect, comparing aspectual forms and meanings in English and in
their mother tongue.

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Aspect in the English language 2019

References

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Recebido em: 03/06/2018

Aprovado em: 20/08/2019

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