A Perfect Piece?

The Present Perfect And Passé Composé

In Journalistic Texts
Dulcie M. Engel
University of Wales Swansea

Abstract. The French Passé Composé (PC) has long been a source of interest to
scholars, in particular in relation to the Passé Simple, which it is seen to have
replaced to some extent. The English Present Perfect (PP) has also aroused much
interest for its wide range of functions, and apparent emerging use in Simple Past
contexts. The aim of the present paper is to examine the PC and PP in a
comparative manner. The focus will be on the use of PP and PC in a particular
narrative context: faits divers (and other short articles) in French newspapers, and
its closest equivalent in the British press: news in brief. Finally, we consider how
far the PP has moved along the path trodden by the PC, i.e. to what extent perfect
forms can express past events.

*
1. Introduction

The English present perfect (PP) and the French passé composé have been
the subject of much scholarly discussion and research, both separately1 and
comparatively.2 They have often been considered with respect to their
functions in spoken and written narrative alongside other tenses, in particular
the English PP and the historic present and/or simple past (SP);3 and the
French PC and passé simple (PS).4 On the surface, the relationships would
appear to be strikingly similar, both languages possessing a compound tense
to express completed action in the (recent) past with current relevance, and a
simple tense form to express past action without current relevance. What is

Belgian Journal of Linguistics 12 (1998), 129–147. DOI 10.1075/bjl.12.08eng

ISSN 0774–5141 / E-ISSN 1569–9676 © John Benjamins Publishing Company
130 DULCIE ENGEL

more, both languages possess a form which can express continuous or

habitual action in the past; a form which is simple in French (the imparfait)
and compound in English (the past continuous). They also both possess
forms which can express anterior actions in the past, compound forms in
both languages (the past perfect and plus-que-parfait respectively).
After examining the changing roles of PC and PP, this paper will focus
on their use in short journalistic news items, usually known as faits divers in
French and news in brief in (British) English. We will highlight similarities
and differences in usage, and consider the usefulness of tense schema for
these types of text.

2. Present perfect and passé composé

According to Cotte (1987: 101), PP and PC are forms which, despite sharing
the same morphological pattern, are used very differently. Chuquet (1994:
137) sees this different usage in diachronic terms. Certainly, PP and PC
have had very different histories, the most marked difference being the
changes in function undergone by PC, which are reflected in current usage.
For the purposes of our study, PC will be considered to have a value of tense
(punctual past) and aspect (present perfect) and PS will be considered as a
tense (punctual past); PP primarily as an aspect (present perfect) and SP as a
tense (punctual/non-punctual past); although there may be transitional
functions/uses rather than a distinct one for each form (as Waugh 1987
points out for PC); indeed PP is recognised as having a range of uses.5

2.1. The changing role of PC

Changes in the function of PC are not recent;6 indeed, as Wilmet (1992: 13)
points out: "Depuis qu'il y a des grammairiens, 'qui pensent', le problème
du passé composé refait périodiquement surface". It is generally accepted
that PC has expanded its range from a present perfect to a punctual past,
encroaching on the territory of PS. 7 PC may now occur in discours and
histoire, whereas PS is mainly limited to histoire, and is still perhaps the
preferred tense for literary narrative.8 In the domain of journalistic
language, we see the frequent mixing of PS and PC within texts,9 in a
manner which is far from haphazard.
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 131

The factors which Engel (1990) found to be important for the choice of
PC rather than PS in newspaper articles related both to grammatical function
(such as PC being used as a present perfect, or being used in a main clause),
and grammatical form (such as PC being used more in first and second
person, or with intransitive verbs taking the auxiliary être). Furthermore,
text type, subject matter and style were also important: PC was preferred in
informal texts, in introductory paragraphs and in news reports. It was also
used to convey subjectivity. Our discussion of faits divers will illustrate
some of these findings.

2.2. The changing role of PP10

The situation in English is apparently more clearcut than that in French. PP

is a present perfect, and SP a simple past, which may be punctual or non-
punctual (in contrast to PS, which is always punctual). However, British
English appears to be undergoing a change not dissimilar to that in French,
although there is a certain amount of resistance to tense-switching: "II est
vrai que les restrictions sur l'alternance temporelle sont plus importantes en
anglais qu'en français , dans la mesure où les modes de construction du récit
au prétérit et au présent sont plus éloignés l'un de l'autre qu'ils ne le sont en
français" (Chuquet 1994: 227). Indeed, Vetters (1989: 137) points out that,
while the move in French from PS to PC can be seen as one of economy,
"l'anglais par contre ne peut pas éliminer son simple past parce qu'il n'y a
aucune forme de disponible pour le remplacer". Although SP is (as yet) in
no way threatened to the same extent as PS, PP appears to be expanding its
range11 and in particular occurring in contexts where one would expect SP,
for example with particular temporal adverbials. This is mainly a spoken
phenomenon, noticed by observers of British English. Cotte (1987: 94.156-
7) refers to Trudgill (1978: 13) who quotes such examples as:

(1) He's played for us last year; they've done that three years ago.

Fryd (1995) provides examples with dates, including a written example from
a newspaper:
132 DULCIE ENGEL

(2) Mrs Thatcher set up the group following a proposal from Mr

Ferdinand Mount (...). It met for the first time in July and has met
subsequently on September 10, November 30 and January 19. (The
Guardian Weekly, 27.2.83)12

Example (2) illustrates an iterative reading of PP: a situation is repeated a

limited number of times, and all of the instances can be interpreted as a
single situation, hence PP is acceptable (Comrie 1976: 27). A contrast is
made between the first meeting with the verb in SP, and the subsequent
meetings, which are grouped together as one with a verb in PP. The
reference time is seen here as a period rather than a particular moment, and
within this period the dates indicate when and how often the meetings have
taken place (see Smith 1976: 6). Indeed, it has often been remarked that in
such cases it is not unusual to use a perfect with a definite time adverbial
(see for example Dinsmore 1981: 492, Smith 1976: 5-7). Furthermore, in
this example, the time of the events is linearly specified by dates which are
connected to the present by their recentness and potential continuation up to
and beyond the time of writing (Dinsmore 1981: 485-7, 492). Although
there is justification for PP here, I would suggest that for many native
speakers, SP would be expected in (1), and perfectly acceptable in (2).
In American English the opposite tendency to that illustrated in (1)
seems current, i.e. use of SP in a context of current relevance:
(Palmer 1974: 52-3)13 gives the example Did you wash your hands?. This is
acceptable in American English, but less so in British English. Indeed,
Canavan (1990: 19-20) notes differences in the implications (i.e. the results
or effects) of verbs in PP when the context is varied, and suggests that such
differences may be dependent on this context rather than on any basic
meaning in the PP inflection.14 Furthermore, Declerck (1991: 327) suggests
that a certain amount of speaker choice between PP and SP pertains in those
cases where a particular adverbial (or other key contextual element) does not
determine usage of one or the other.15

2.3. PC/PP in 'faits divers''/'news in brief

2.3.1. Studies of PC in newspapers

Engel (1990) examines the use of PC and PS within the same newspaper text
and discusses other studies in the field (1990: 24-27, 118-119). Of interest
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 133

to us here are studies of faits divers, but we note also that researchers have
found interesting usage of PS/PC in obituaries (Galet 1977, Herzog 1981,
Simonin 1984), and sports reports (Cellard 1979, Herzog 1981, Judge and
Healey 1983).
Concerning faits divers, Engel (1990) found that this was one of the
prime text types for PS (along with articles on sport and the arts); and as she
specifically studied texts which mixed PS and PC, the observation is of
relevance here, and supports what is perhaps the most succint analysis of
faits divers construction, which can be found in Monville-Burston and
Waugh (1985: 156):

(1) "au PC: une ou deux phrases initiales qui mettent en scène l'incident ou
l'accident décrits (...) avec, souvent, quelques renseignements relatifs
aux dates, heures, identité des participants;
(2) au PS: développement, et
(3) avec retour au PC (...), ou adoption d'un temps narratif autre que le PC:
présent historique, imparfait de narration (...): description des résultats
ou conséquences de l'épisode..." 16

We will use this schema as the starting point for our comparison with PP.
The concept of foreground/background in narrative should also be
mentioned here. As noted by Vetters (1992: 369), it is an important feature
in the work of Monville-Burston and Waugh (1985); also Waugh and
Monville-Burston (1986) and Wolfson (1982).17 These scholars follow the
approach of Labov and Waletzky (1967), also Labov (1972) in viewing
narration in chronological order as a marker of foregrounding. In contrast,
Weinrich (1964) associates foregrounding in French with PS, and
backgrounding with I, considering PC a non-narrative tense, despite its clear
dual function (Vetters 1992: 369-373).18 Our corpus suggests a clear
foregrounding function for PC and PP, as exemplified in lead sentences, and
limited use in subordinate clauses, a typical context for background
information (Vetters 1992: 374-379).

2.3.2. Studies of PP in newspapers

From my own observations, studies of English tense usage in journalistic

texts do not seem to be common compared to those for French, and indeed
Chuquet (1994: 208-209) confirms that French newspaper studies are fairly
134 DULCIE ENGEL

common, whereas English studies tend to concentrate more on oral corpora

(such as Schiffrin 1981, Wolfson 1982).19 However, in many of the more
general studies, examples from newspapers do crop up amidst the plethora of
artificially constructed single sentences; and relevant comments can be
extracted. For example, there is a clear parallel between Monville-Burston
and Waugh's points (1) and (2) (op.cit.) and this claim by Michaelis (1994:
114-115): "the resultative PrP can be used in the 'lead sentences' of news
reports, when later preterite-form assertions provide further information
about the event expressed by the PrP-form sentence".20 Salkie (1989: 11)
also notes the use of PP for setting the scene before a narrative in SP. This
"rhematic" use, which introduces the past event as a topic of discourse is
referred to by Fenn (1987: 129-131) as the hot news perfect, a term coined
by McCawley (1971). However, Fenn notes that SP can also appear in this
context, and sees the case for hot news as a separate category of perfect as
rather weak.21 Here are examples from Fenn of hot news contexts with PP
and with SP:

(3) A runaway priest has shocked a village by quitting his post and walking
out on his heartbroken family. The Rev. Barrie Hinksman, 38,
vanished from his vicarage home at Offchurch, Warwicks, after telling
his congregation he would not be taking any more services... (Daily
Mirror, 3.8.79, quoted in Fenn 1987: 129. My italics).
(4) An immersion heater blew its top today and brought most of George
Lewis's house down. (Evening News, 10.8.79, quoted in Fenn 1987:
131. My italics).

Although Chuquet (1994) is primarily concerned with the use of the

historic present in French and English in a range of texts, some points which
are of particular concern to us here do emerge. Firstly, PP can be used to
mark a break between points of view, such as a change in speaker or location
(Chuquet 1994: 141-2); and as has been noted elsewhere for French
(Engel 1990: 13, 90-91), focus switch in a text can be associated with a
(perhaps unusual) tense switch. Chuquet (1994: 152-155) also notes the use
of PP in diary type reports, and connects it to the parameter of subjectivity.
This is her example:
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSE COMPOSE 135

(5) 1940 revisited - 11 September.

The London Blitz continues. Fires burn all day (...). For the last three
nights the German night bombers have been unopposed. Tonight,
searchlights weave in the sky and the anti-aircraft guns open up. (The
Independent, 11/9/90, quoted in Chuquet 1994: 152-153. My italics.)

This idea of subjectivity connects to recent analyses which have found that it
is the added feature of present relevance which marks the difference between
the perfect and other past tenses (Comrie 1985: 32). This concept of present
relevance is often a subjective interpretation of pertinence on the part of the
speaker/writer: compare We've won the cup! chanted by celebrating football
fans, to United won the cup, spoken by a non-participant explaining the
celebrations to an out-of-town visitor.
It is clear from our brief survey that comments on PP often reflect
those on PC, despite the fact that PC is considered to have a broader function
than PP, in that it acts as a punctual past as well as a present perfect.
Studies of PP and PC emphasise current relevance (often linked to use with
appropriate adverbials); rhematic use (the hot news perfect); scene-setting (as
in introductory sentences); foregrounding (use of the perfect in main
clauses); and resultative use (often found in concluding sentences). These
features will also emerge from an examination of our data.

3. The data

For our English data, we will be using a corpus of 332 'news in brief
articles from The Guardian (141 articles over 9 days) and The Independent
(191 articles over 12 days), all published in February 1996. Given the wider
availability of French newspaper studies which we have already noted, we
will be comparing these data with a smaller corpus of 54 short articles,
including faits divers, extracted from Le Monde on CD-ROM for 2/2/95.,22
Table 1 summarises the findings. While acknowledging the smallness of our
sample and the lack of statistical validity, these percentages can still give us
indications of tendencies in our data. The most striking point to emerge is
the overwhemingly frequent occurrence of PC/PP in lead sentences, a point
we have seen noted by other scholars, and which the statistics above show,
not only account for the largest percentage of tokens (42.22% of PP, 37.86%
136 DULCIE ENGEL

of PC), but also for a large amount of articles where PP/PC occurs,
especially for French (54.3% of English corpus; 88.89% of French corpus).
SOURCE The Guardian (G) & Le Monde,
The Independent (I), 2.2.95
2.96
1 No. of articles G. 141 , 1 . 191 54
No. & % of articles with G. 49 = 34.8% 48 = 88.89%
PP/PC I. 56 = 29.3%
Total no. PP/PC tokens 135 103
Lead sentences 57 = 42.22% 39 = 37.86%
Conclusion 30 = 22.22% 10 = 9.71%
IF NOT ABOVE
1 Passive 12 = 8.89% 4 = 3.88%
Sub. Cl./Inf./ Pres.Part 11 = 8.15% 16 = 15.53%
1 Plus Adverbial 6 = 4.44% 11 = 10.68%
1 Other 19 = 14.07% 23 = 22.33%

Table 1 : Findings for the English & French newspaper data

Here are some typical examples from the data (all italics are mine):

(6) Chinese police have seized 105 fake police cars which had wreaked
havoc on roads in the Guangdong province, the Beijing-funded China
News Agency said yesterday. ("Police car racket", The Guardian,
6.2.96)
(7) VANESSA, Anglia's afternoon talk show, has been censured by the
Independent Television Commission for a discussion on multiple
partner sex which "provided a platform... to publicise promiscuity with
no discernible purpose other than entertainment". ("Vanessa
criticised", The Guardian, 13.2.96)
(8) Britain has opened two branch offices in India to make social security
payments, the Benefits Agency confirmed. ("Benefits abroad", The
Independent, 26.2.96)
(9) Marc NORMANT, comédien, conteur, metteur en scène et directeur
de la compagnie "Le Chant des hommes", est mort il y a une semaine
à Paris. Il était âgé de cinquante et un ans. ("Disparitions", Le
Monde, 2.2.95)
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 137

(10) Les donateurs internationaux en faveur de l'autonomie palestinienne

ont décidé, mardi 31 janvier, de mieux orienter leur aide financière
vers la création d'emplois dans les territoires et de renforcer la
coordination, au terme d'une réunion de deux jours à Gaza.
("Territoires autonomes", Le Monde, 2.2.95)
(11) Le groupe suédois d'électroménager a annoncé mardi 31 janvier un
bénéfice plus que quadruplé, à 6,35 milliards de couronnes...
("Finances et marchés: Electrolux", Le Monde, 2.2.95)

These examples of lead sentences highlight some of the features we have

discussed. Firstly, announcement in PC/PP, is often followed by a verb of
statement in PS/SP, as in examples (6) and (8). Indeed, most of the lead
sentences could be interpreted as announcements, or hot news (also
example (3) above). However, the verb of statement can often be the first
verb in the text, and occur in PP/PC: example (11) is a case in point, and
indeed in the 39 lead sentences from our French data, 13 start in this
manner, with a annoncé as the most common verb (5 cases). For English,
this is most striking in the business news (the same category as
example (11)): in The Independent for 5.2.96 and 7.2.96, we find 5 cases in
the 9 articles in this category.
Secondly, we find, in contrast to the English examples, the three
French examples occur with adverbials, including dates, which would be less
usual in English, as Table 1 suggests, although example (2) shows it is
possible.
Thirdly, we note the use of 3 different past tenses in example (6),
which illustrates the foreground/ background contrast of main and
subordinate clauses where the chronological sequence has been rearranged
(see 2.3.1. above). This example illustrates how the ordering of clauses and
clause type can take precedence over chronology in foregrounding. In
chronological sequence, the order would be: 1. fake police cars wreak
havoc; 2. police seize cars; 3. news agency announces seizures. The order
we actually have is: 2 - 1 - 3. Thus action number 2 is foregrounded by
appearing in the first clause, which is also a main clause, and being
expressed by a PP verb form. In contrast, action number 1 is in the second,
subordinate clause, with a past perfect verb form.
Finally, in example (7), we note the use of the passive, which is more
frequent in our English data, and the ambiguity of the title: the missing
tensed auxiliary before criticised could be SP was or PP has been. As the
138 DULCIE ENGEL

reader normally processes and interprets the title before reading the first
sentence, subsequent interpretation of the text may well be influenced by the
individual's processing of the title.
We will now turn our attention briefly to some of our concluding
sentences, before considering the validity of a schema such as that of
Monville-Burston and Waugh (1985: see 2.3.1. above). In the examples
below, the introductory sentence (SI) is also given in brackets:

(12) (S1: A special Polish parliamentary committee recommended that...)

The general has always argued that he acted to avoid the greater evil of
a Soviet invasion. ("Jaruzelski off hook over martial law", The
Independent, 14.2.96)
(13) (S1: Gulf veterans last night accused...) The Legal Aid Board has been
told to start the process again. ("Gulf veterans accuse lawyers", The
Guardian, 10.2.96)
(14) ( S1: Antoine Waechter a affirmé, mardi 31 janvier, que...) Près de six
mois après sa création, le MEI a établi son siège au 132, rue du
Faubourg-Saint-Denis, Paris 10. ("Ecologistes", Le Monde, 2.2.95)
(15) (S1: Le tribunal administratif de Lyon a déclaré...) M. Morin, maire
de Bourg-en-Bresse, inéligible pendant un an au conseil général, a
décidé de faire appel. ("Dépenses électorales", Le Monde, 2.2.95).

In this set of examples, the most striking point to emerge is that the
concluding PP in the English texts contrasts with an introductory SP,
whereas in the French texts, PC both introduces and concludes the piece.
These are typical examples from the corpus, and reflect the wider range of
PC usage as opposed to PP; certainly many texts use PC as the main tense
throughout. Indeed, in our French data, PS occurred in only 2 articles (=
3.7%), only 1 of which also used PC. This figure appears to be particularly
low: for example, Engel (1990: 38) gives figures of 63.3% articles with PC,
15.69% with PC and PS, 1.75% with PS in her sample of all 2,226 articles
from 23 newspapers and magazines.
We note also in example (13) use of the passive, and as with
example (7), an ambiguous verb form in the title: this time a present, which
becomes SP in the first sentence. In example (12), the use of PP with an
adverbial such as always is typical, whereas we see use of PC with
expressions of periods of time in examples (14) and (15).
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 139

So does our corpus confirm the classic construction of faits divers?

Firstly, we must note the limitations of a very small corpus from a narrow
range of sources over a limited amount of time: other newspapers and other
dates might well have yielded different results. Secondly, we note that not
all our short articles may be classified as faits divers; they include business
news and obituaries. Thirdly, we acknowledge that while the faits divers
schema proposed by Monville-Burston and Waugh (op.cit.) is specific to
French, we are using that schema in a comparative manner.
However, there is still enough evidence here to support what other
scholars have also noted: PP/PC seem to have an important 'framing'
function in the introduction and conclusion of short newspaper articles,
where narrative is usually in SP or present for English; in imparfait, présent,
PS, and more and more, plus-que-parfait - or, as this particular corpus has
shown, in PC for French. Let us examine briefly the temporal construction
of 2 articles fitting the schema: the English example is from our corpus, the
French example from another source, given the preponderance of articles
almost entirely in PC in our sample.

(16) Tense sequence: "Asian women form fastest growing pool of cheap
labour", The Guardian, 6.2.96:
Para 1 PP- Pr.: Left out of Asia's economic success story, women
from poorer parts of the region have become the world's fastest
growing pool of cheap and often abused migrant labour, according to
the International Labour Office, writes Andrew Higgins in Hong Kong.
Body Pr. - SP - Pr. - Pr. - SP - SP - Pr. - Pr. - Pr. -SP - SP: work,
accounted, equal, outnumber, was, said, trade, are, are, were, said
Final para. PP - Pr. - Pr. - Pr. - PP: The abuse of women workers has
become a sensitive political issue across Asia, straining relations
between countries that send and those that employ them. Poorer
countries sporadically vow to halt sending citizens overseas but have
become too dependent on their earnings to take real action. (A
relatively long "brief" article).
(17) Tense sequence: "Skin interdit de bus", France-Soir, 26/12/92:
PC-PQP-PQP-PC: La ville de Marburg, en Allemagne a interdit à un
skinhead qui avait attaqué dans un bus un Noir... d'utiliser les
transports... Un seul passager était venu au secours du jeune
homme... La municipalité a envoyé une lettre à tous les conducteurs
de bus... 23
140 DULCIE ENGEL

There are certainly cases such as examples (16) and (17) that show classic
use, but in many more cases the picture is not so clearcut. Indeed, in
example (16), Pr. occurs frequently in the body of the article, and the only
verb in PP is become: however the division between text position for SP and
PP is consistent. Despite the use of PP/PC in the important positions of lead
and conclusion, this positioning cannot be considered to be the main reason
for tense choice: it is more that the functions associated with these forms
lend themselves to the role of lead and concluding sentences in this type of
text. Present relevance/hot news/resultative are all terms used to express
functions of PP/PC which fit well with these textual positions. We should
not be surprised that most hot news examples from newspaper texts occur in
the opening sentence where immediacy will draw the reader into the text
(examples (3), (6), (7), (8), (17)). Furthermore, the expression of present
relevance, associated with adverbial expressions of recent past or continuing
action, finds a logical place in the opening sentence (examples (5), (9), (10),
(11), (14)) or the closing sentence (example (12)) of a text: relevance to the
present situation is an important part of scene-setting and concluding.
Another typical element of a conclusion is the reporting of results, and the
resultative PP/PC is often found here (examples (13), (14), (15), (17)).
However, writers may choose to start their report with a result, as Michaelis
(1994: 114-5) points out, and we can find evidence of this strategy in our
data (examples (6), (7), (10)).
Nevertheless, the various functions are not restricted to PP/PC: we
have noted for instance that Fenn (1987: see 2.3.2. example (4)) finds the
use of SP in a hot news context, and Chuquet (1994: 214: see note 16) finds
PS in concluding sentences.
Tense choice depends on a whole range of factors, many of which
concern the VP itself, rather than text position. Examples of these factors
would be verb type, grammatical person, use with adverbial, and clause type
(see Engel 1990). Indeed, we have noted above the association of PP/PC
with certain temporal adverbials in our examples, and we can also see the
use of PP/PC in main clauses (examples (6), (7), (12), (14)). It is because of
these other factors that, while a "formula" such as that of Monville-Burston
and Waugh (op.cit.) is a useful device for the analysis of text structure,
many texts which appear to be faits divers by their subject matter, lexicon,
style, layout and position in the newspaper, will not correspond exactly to
the suggested pattern.
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 141

4. Conclusion: what is the future of the perfect?

Our examination of PP and PC has thrown up many similarities between the

two forms. However it has highlighted differences which would suggest that
PP still has some way to go before it is on a par with PC as a tense of
narrative as well as of comment. Historical and observational evidence
indicate that this is not completely out of the question, although the opposing
tendency in American English (i.e. SP taking over some of the functions of
PP) must not be forgotten. The status of journalistic discourse as a halfway-
house between the spoken language and more formal written codes gives us
an insight into linguistic changes which are establishing themselves. The fact
that there is so much interest and speculation about changes in the simple
past/present perfect relationship in both French and English (on both sides of
the Atlantic) is indicative of a rich vein for further observation and research.
Indeed, as Vanneck (1958: 237) points out: "The distinction between
preterite and perfect is one that many Indo-European languages have
alternately lost and reintroduced at various times in their history".

Dulcie M. ENGEL
French Department
University Of Wales Swansea
Singleton Park
Swansea SA2 8PP UK
d. engel@swansea. ac. uk
142 DULCIE ENGEL

NOTES

* The title of this paper is a pun on the (translated) title of a novel by Israeli writer
Amos Oz: A perfect peace. I would like to thank anonymous readers for their
comments on an earlier version of this paper. Any remaining shortcomings are my
own.
1. For PP, see Canavan 1990, Depraetere 1996, Dinsmore 1981, Dusková 1976,
Elsness 1997, Fenn 1987, Feigenbaum 1981, Guenthner 1977, Klein 1992, Matthews
1987, McCawley 1981, McCoard 1978, Michaelis 1994, Slobin 1994, Smith 1976,
Vanneck 1958. For PC, see Bres 1992, Engel 1990, Labelle 1987, Lebek 1965,
Martinet 1973, Pohl 1958, Saettele 1971, Waugh 1987, Wilmet 1992.
2. See for example Chuquet 1994, Cotte 1987, Guéron 1996, Salkie 1989, Trévise 1990
(Salkie concentrates on the relationship between perfect and pluperfect in a range of
languages, including English and French). De Vuyst (1985) compares Dutch and
English.
3. On the use of English tenses in narrative, see for example: Berman & Slobin 1994,
Schiffrin 1981, Wolfson 1982. Chuquet (1994: 211) discusses these last two studies.
For general discussion of English tense usage, see Declerck 1991, Leech 1971,
Palmer 1974, Quirk et al. 1972.
4. On the use of French tenses in narrative, see for example: Benveniste 1959, Bres
1992, 1993, Fleischman 1990, 1991, Labelle 1987, Monville-Burston & Waugh
1985, 1991, Simonin 1984, Vuillaume 1990, 1993, Waugh & Monville-Burston
1986, Weinrich 1964.
5. See for example Feigenbaum 1981, Fenn 1987, Matthews 1987, McCawley 1971,
1981, Michaelis 1994.
6. See Waugh 1987, Wilmet 1992.
7. For a detailed discussion and references, see Engel 1990.
8. Terms used by Benveniste (1959).
9. See for example the studies of Blumenthal 1986, Engel 1990, Galet 1977, Herzog
1981, Monville-Burston and Waugh 1985, Savic 1979, Simonin 1984, Waugh &
Monville-Burston 1986, Zezula 1969.
10. We will not be discussing here differences between non-progressive and progressive
PP: see Bauer 1970, Cotte 1987, Fenn 1987, Leech 1971, Matthews 1987.
11. For Romance, see Harris (1982: 49-50). For English, see Cotte (1987: 101),
McCoard (1978: 241-246), Michaelis (1994: 115). Indeed, Cotte (1987: 121ff) links
the expansion of PP to the development of the present perfect progressive has been
Ving.
12. See also Cotte (1987: 91-92) for further examples; Bauer (1970: 192ff), Declerck
(1991: 327ff), Dinsmore (1981) for a discussion. Michaelis (1994: 150-153)
discusses use with manner adverbials. For constraints on PP and past time
adverbials, see Comrie (1985: 32-35), Klein 1992.
 PRESENT PERFECT AND PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 143

13. See also Cotte (1987: 99); Declerck (1991: 331 note 48), Dusková 1976,
Elsnessl997, Fenn (1987: 94-98), Harkness (1987: 106-107), McCoard (1978:
241-246). For possible connections with Irish English usage, see Matthews (1987:
123-125), McCoard (1978: 243), Vanneck (1958: 241).
14. See also Bauer 1970 on this point.
15. See also Leech (1971: 38).
16. Indeed, in his analysis of a radio interview, Boyer (1985: 80) notes the use of PC:
"qui englobe une séquence (narrative) au PS". However, Chuquet (1994: 210),
discussing texts in the présent historique, notes: "Dans le discours journalistique
français, l'emploi du passé simple "de clôture" est fréquent pour conclure une série
de présents". And in an analysis of oral narratives in Acadian French, Gesner (1979:
126-7) notes the use of PS in lead and closing sentences, where the narrative is in
PC.
17. See also Labelle 1987.
18. For a critique of Weinrich 1964 (and Benveniste 1959), see Boyer 1985.
19. There are some exceptions. Duskovâ (1976) uses a written corpus of British and
American plays, and finds that SP is more frequent in American English, and PP in
British English. Fenn 1987 uses a corpus of British literary and journalistic texts,
and criticises the use of constructed examples (1987: 2), as does Feigenbaum (1981:
403), who uses a corpus of written and oral texts from academic courses at American
universities, plus elicitation tests. Elsness (1997) uses a corpus of printed British and
American English, and non-printed British English. He also finds more SP in
American English, and more PP in British English.
20. Her example is: "Hayward police have arrested the prime suspect in last week's
string of laundromat robberies. Two off-duty officers confronted the suspect as he
left a local 7-11. A back-up unit was called in to assist in the arrest"
(Michaelis 1994: 142). As this example is unattributed, we cannot be sure that this is
an authentic newspaper example.
21. Indeed, McCawley (1981: 81-83) accepts that this category does share features with
other categories of PC.
22. Feb. 1996 was not available to the author at the time of this research. The 54 articles
comprise all 63 articles in that category for the day, less those marked dessins, which
did not print out.
23. The same item also appears in Libération, 26-27/12/92: PC-PQP-PC.
144 DULCIE ENGEL

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