UNIT 19: REAL TIME VS VERBAL TENSE. ASPECT AND MOOD.

1. Introduction
2. Verbal Tense and Real Time
3. Notion of Verbal Tense
4. Notion of Aspect
5. Notion of Mood
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography
Most discussions in the classroom happen because of exam schedules. The
accumulation of exams makes the students unable to agree on a specific date. That is
why, students should learn how to correctly use verbs and tenses, in order to talk about
the past, present, future and duration. The present study aims to provide a detailed
account of the expression of verbal tense in contrast to time. Moreover, the notions of
aspect and mood will be analysed by means of verbs.
To begin with, I would like to justify this topic in the English curriculum. The new
educative system focuses on a competency model based not only on learning but also
on performance and praxis. For this reason, The LOMLOE Organic Law for
Modification of the LOE 3/2020, its royal decree 217/2022, and the decree 39/2022 and
40/2022 which stablish the curriculum in Castilla y Leon have proposed a
communicative approach to foreign language. An approach which implies the
consideration of not only grammatical aspects, but also cultural, historical, and literal
characteristics of the countries where English language is spoken. In this context, topic
number nineteen plays a relevant role in the English curriculum as it deals with the
study of grammar being this an important feature of both linguistic and multilingual
competences.
All topics concerning grammar are interrelated and they should be treated as a whole.
For instance, in order to understand this topic much better, we should take into account
other themes, such as unit number 13,14,15,16,17,18,20,21,22 that deals with the
different forms of grammar.

I will divide the topic into four sections. To begin with, I will define the verb and
distinguish between verbal tense and real time. Second, I will deeply analyse the notion
of verbal tense. Then, I will develop the aspect. After that I will focus on the mood of a
verb. Finally, I will give a conclusion and the notes on bibliography.
1. VERBAL TENSE AND REAL TIME
Since the main means to express time, tense, aspect and mood are verbs, we shall
start by defining the notion of verb. Quirk defines a verb as a member of a word class,
like a noun or and an adjective, which is one of the elements in clause structure, like
the subject and the object.
We may distinguish two major types of verbs: lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs. First of
all, lexical verbs which do show inflection, and constitute the principal part of the
verb phrase by carrying a full meaning as come, believe, think, go, speak, sing. They
can be accompanied by auxiliaries, but they can also occur in verb phrases that do not
contain any other verbal forms as Sarah came last week .
On the other hand, auxiliary verb, are closed verbs since they cannot change their
form. Auxiliary verbs cannot stand on its own since it must be followed by a lexical
verb, except in cases where the lexical verb is understood, as in answers like ‘Can
Anthony come? Yes, he can.
We can also classify the auxiliary verb into two classes: modal auxiliaries comprise
the following items: can, may, must, shall, and will who do not show inflection and need
to be accompanied by a lexical verbs, and primary auxiliaries comprises the items: do,
have and be, as they can be occur with auxiliary verbs.
We must examine the different syntactic functions of these verb forms at sentence
level, that is, in finite vs. non-finite phrases. A non-finite verb phrase contains a non-
finite verb form that is, an infinitive (speak or to speak ), an –ing participle (speaking) or
an –ed participle (spoken/called). Secondly, a finite verb phrase is a verb phrase
which contains a finite verbal form, usually formed by an only word which is able to
show tense, mood, aspect and voice as in “Kendall bought a mini-dress”
Verb show different characteristics among we can find de the following:
Aspect contrast which establishes the distinctions perfect vs. nonperfect and
progressive vs. nonprogressive as She was cooking.
Mood contrast which requires a choice between the indicative, imperative, and
subjunctive as He looks and Look at me!.
Voice contrast: which involves the active-passive relation as He will read a magazine
vs. a magazine will be read by him, in which the object and the subject are exchanged
in order to highlight one or another.
Contrast in Finiteness which requires the choice between the finite and non-finite
forms as She likes video games vs. Playing video games is fun).
Questions and negative contrast which requires which generally require an auxiliary
as operator as Do you like him? Or I do not like him at all.
Tense contrast which requires a choice between present and past in the first or only
verb in a finite verb phrase as She cooks, or she cooked.
However, it is here where we must establish a distinction between real time and verbal
tense, Although both temporal dimensions, real time and verbal tense answer to the
questions When? Or How long...? they show important differences and just a low
percent of similarities. ‘Real time’ is independent of language and it is thought of as a
universal abstraction common to all human beings This non-linguistic concept is
conceived as a line on which the ‘present moment’ is located as a continuously moving
point. On the other hand, tense is considered to be a grammatical category that is
realized by verb inflection in order to express the concept of time. It is not common to
all countries. In English, for instance, there are only two verbal tenses; present and
past since there are no inflectional marks to show future. However, in the Spanish
language, there are three tenses shown by inflections: present, past and future.
2. VERBAL TENSES
After this introduction on verbs and time. I will continue developing the notions of tense,
aspect and mood along with their types and classification.
Regarding verbal tenses, as stated before, we can differentiate two main English
tenses which are present and past.
The present tense refers to present time situations in order to locate the situation in
present time. Regarding the simple present tense for present time situation; the primary
use of the is for ‘state present’ which refers to states of affairs which continue over
periods of time with a non-defined beginning or end, that is, with no definite time
reference as He is an architect or relations, for instance She is married. On the other
hand, dynamic situations refer to actions or events happening as a single occurrence
Regarding the simple present tense for past time situations, the primary use of the
present tense is, the historic present refers to past time, and is characteristic of popular
narrative style. It conveys the dramatic immediacy of an event happening at the time of
the narration (i.e. Just as we arrived, up comes Sarah and says hello as if nothing has
happened). Regarding present time for future time situations, they express a planned
future action or series of actions, particularly when they refer to a journey or scheduled
situation as The train leaves at 10.00 tomorrow.
Thus, regarding morphology, the regular spelling of the present tense suffix is –s or –
es; as look to looks and try to tries.
On the other hand, the past tense is used to talk about events that occur before the
present, and it may express a various range of situations as the following: Compare the
sentences: ‘Kim lived in Frankfurt’, and ‘Kim ate a cake’ The past tense serves
straightforwardly to locate the situation in past time by static situations which extend
beyond the time as the first sentence whereas dynamic situations will be wholly in the
past as the second sentence.
Moreover, past tense can also be used to locate the situation in future time when there
is a change in the time at which the arrangement is said to hold as The party started
tomorrow.
Past tense can also show backshifting. Compare ‘Jane said that James had two cats’
vs. Jane said that James has two cats’. In the first sentence, we have a past tense
instead of the original present tense. This shift from present tense to past tense is
known as backshifting. Finally, past tense can also show hypothetical ideas in
conditional and I-wish sentences as If I won the lottery, I would buy a house, or I wish I
had more money
Regarding the spelling of the past simple, we use the suffix -d or -ed as in looked, and
loved. Regarding pronunciation, the past tense morpheme –ed of regular verbs are
realized in three ways: first, /t/ after bases ending in voiceless sounds except /t/ (i.e.
walked); second, /d/ after bases ending in voiced (i.e. played ); and /id/ after bases
ending in /t/ or /d/ (i.e. demanded).
3. ASPECT ON VERBS.
The term aspect refers to the manner in which a situation is experienced, that is, as a
completed action or in progress. We namely recognize two aspects in English, the
perfect and the progressive. Regarding the ‘perfect’ have, it is made by the
complement (have/has/had) + the form of a past-participial clause (-ed/written), such
as ‘She had cooked/written’.
In order to explain the present perfect, let us have a look at these sentences: ‘Kate
was ill’ and ‘Kate has been ill’. The difference is that the simple past involves a point or
period in the past, whereas the present perfect involves a period that is inclusive of the
present as well as the past. This is why certain types of temporal expressions cannot
occur with one or other of them. For instance, yesterday, last night, four weeks ago are
hence incompatible with the present perfect, however, yet, or already which express
something that started in the past and interfere with the present can be present on
present perfect phrases. Moreover, present perfect also express habit and repetition as
I have walked home every day.
Whereas the past perfect is refers to a time earlier than that indicated by the simple
past as in They had arrived before we realized it was too late, also past perfect is used
for an action which began before the time of speaking in the past, and was still
continuing at that time. For instance: Ann had worked in that factory for sixty years.
On the other hand the progressive be is formed by the construction be in any of its
tenses + present participle inflection (-ing) and indicates that the action is in progress
and has a limited duration both in the present or in the past. For instance; He is singing
now and They were playing cricket last night. Progressive be is also used in order to
express future, especially for arranged plans. For instance: I am seeing the doctor
tomorrow a 10 o’clock.
4. THE MOOD ON VERB
As we must distinguish between tense, and aspect, it is relevant as well to distinguish
grammatical mood. Mood is defined as the grammatical term used to show the manner
in which the action is thought by the speaker, that is, as ordinary statements or
questions (the indicative mood), as wishes or recommendations (the subjunctive mood
as nonfactual predication) or as order (the imperative mood).
First, the indicative mood indicates ‘facts’ and ‘states’ concerned with the truth-value
of the speakers’ speech, that is, with their attitude . It is seen in ordinary phrases and
questions as He is a doctor and Do you have any pencil I can borrow?
Second, the subjunctive mood is used to express the actions from as subjective point
of view, not as a real fact but as hypothetical or wish and, hence, it is common to find it
in subordinate and that-clauses. For instance: I wish you were here and I prefer that
you come with me. The subjunctive mood is also expressed in certain expressions
such as: God save the Queen, well, King in this case.
Third, the imperative mood expresses commands, orders and requests. The
imperative verb, however, is restricted as to tense, aspect, voice, and modality, and it
has no subject. For instance; Open your books. Moreover, commands with ‘let’ are
formed by let + us/me/you + bare infinitive to indicate an objective point of view, for
instance: Let us examine this point
As stated before, unlike languages as French and Latin, English has no future tense.
Yet, there are a considerable number of lexical items with modal meanings, among
which we include the class of modal operators which are may, must, can, will, shall,
should, ought, need, and also be and have in some of their uses. These modal
operators are used to convey a great variety of mood meanings as; obligation, ability,
permission, possibility, advice, prediction and, last but not least, future, especially using
the operator “will” as in I will see you tomorrow.
CONCLUSION
In order to sum up, this study has looked at the notions of tense, mood and aspect
which have been deeply developed. As these notions are mainly represented by verbs,
also verbs and verbal phrases have been presented and classified.
Our students should be able to properly express themselves in order to communicate
and exchange information. Verb tense, aspect and mood play an important role on
language as since English a chronological language, speakers simply always need to
know when some action or event took place and if it still goes on or not. Chronology,
duration and the reality of an event are expressed by means of verbs and its
inflections. Otherwise how would students set an exam date in the future?
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Jespersen, O. 2006. Essentials of English Grammar. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Murphy, R. 2019. English Grammar in Use. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Stockwell, R. 2001. English Words: History and Structure. Cambridge. Cambridge
University Press
Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage. Oxford. Oxford University Press.