View source for Huddleston and Pullum's (2002) analysis of tense

According to Huddelston and Pullum (2002), English has a two-dimensional systems of temporal reference which comprises the categories [[primary tense]] and [[secondary tense]]. [[Primary tense]]s express the distinction between past and present time. For example, "She went to school" contains a verb in the preterite tense (''went''). In "She goes to school" the tense of the verb is present (cf. Huddleston and Pullum 20022: 116).

[[Secondary tense]] distinguishes perfect from non-perfect forms, the former being marked with the auxiliary ''have''. For example, "He may have known her" is a perfect form, whereas "He may know her" is unmarked (Huddleston and Pullum 20022: 116). 

Tense is regarded as a relationship between the time referred to and the time of orientation. 

==Primary Tense==
===Parameters of analysis===
* Time referred to (T<sub>r</sub>): time span about which information is provided 
* Time of orientation (T<sub>o</sub>): reference point, usually time of utterance/ moment of speech
* Time of the situation (T<sub>sit</sub>): time span covered by the situation 
* Deictic time (T<sub>d</sub>): type of encoding or decoding, normally the moment of utterance 

====Relationship between Tr and T<sub>0</sub>====
* past time   T<sub>r</sub> < T<sub>o</sub> (anterior)
* present time T<sub>r</sub> = T<sub>o</sub> (simultaneous)
* future time T<sub>r</sub>  > T<sub>o</sub> (posterior)

====Examples====
(1) I met Michael at seven in the morning. (T<sub>r</sub> < T<sub>o</sub>)

(2) I hereby confirm you husband and wife. (T<sub>r</sub> = T<sub>o</sub>) 

(3) I’ll take a nap at ten. (T<sub>r</sub> > T<sub>o</sub>)

* Time of situation (T<sub>sit</sub>) is not necessarily identical to time referred to (T<sub>r</sub>) 

(4) What did you do between four and five o’clock?<br>
(4a) I was sleeping.<br>
(4b) I slept. 

* Present tense: In most cases T<sub>o</sub> is contained in T<sub>sit</sub> 

(5) I live in Jena. 

* Deictic time is usually the moment of utterance. Under specific circumstances it can be shifted to the ‘decoding time’: 

(6) You are now leaving West Berlin. 

==Secondary Tense: The perfect ==

Parameters of analysis: the same parameters as for primary tense

===The perfect as a ‘non-deictic past tense’===

* it is a past tense because it is used when T<sub>r</sub> <T<sub>o</sub>; 
* it is non-deictic because T<sub>o</sub> is not (necessarily) identified with T<sub>d</sub>. 

(1) He was believed [to have written it the previous week]. T<sub>r</sub> <T<sub>o</sub> (past)

(2) He is believed [to have written it last week] T<sub>r</sub> <T<sub>o</sub> (present)

(3) He hopes [to have written it by next week]. T<sub>r</sub> <T<sub>o</sub> (future)

* One To functions as a time of orientation for a given T<sub>r</sub>; this T<sub>r</sub> is at the same time the T<sub>o</sub> for another T<sub>r</sub>. 

(4) Yesterday, he was believed to have written it the previous week. (Huddelston and Pullum 2002: 140).  

===Uses the of the perfect===

* The continuative perfect/universal (=states)

(5) She has lived in Berlin ever since she married. 

* The experiential perfect/existential (= occurrences within the time span up to now)

(6) His sister has been up Mont Blanc twice.

* The resultative perfect (=change of state)

(7) She has broken her leg. 

* The perfect of recent past (=news announcements)

(8) She has recently/just been to Paris. (Huddleston and Pullum 2002: 141f).

==Literature==
* Huddleston, Rodney D., Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). ''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.'' Cambridge: CUP.

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[[Category:Tense]]