Volker gast: extracted from a term paper by Nadin Wiegandt

2009-10-21T17:44:45Z

extracted from a term paper by Nadin Wiegandt

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==Absolute and relative tense==
According to Comrie (1985), [[absolute tense]]s take the present moment as a deictic center, i.e. the time of utterance. The three [[absolute tense]]s are 'present', 'past' and 'future'. [[Relative tense]]s are defined relative to an additional reference point which does not (necessarily) correspond with the moment of utterance (Comrie 1985:122f). In [[absolute-relative tense]]s, the "reference point is established relative to the present moment, and a situation is located in time relative to that reference point" (Comrie 1985:125).

==Representation of temporal reference==
Comrie adopts Reichenbach’s (1947) primitives 'S' (time of speech), 'E' (time of event) and 'R' (reference point). Unlike Reichenbach, he uses three ordering relations: ‘simul’, ‘before’ and ‘after’ (Comrie 1985:122). Absolute tenses express a relation between S and E. The reference point R only plays a role in the expression of absolute-relative tenses.

Tenses express two types of temporal relations: (i) between R and S, and (ii) between R and E. It is important to note that the relative position of E and S is not specified (Comrie 1985: 125).

{| border="1"
|-
! !! Schema !!Tense !!Example
|-
|1. ||E simul S ||present tense ||I promise you to pay you 10 pounds
|-
|2. ||E before S ||past tense || Five minutes ago John was in the garden.
|-
|3. ||E after S ||future tense ||I will become 30 next week
|-
|4. ||E before R before S ||past perfect ||John left for the front. By the time he would return, the fields would have been burnt to stubble.
|-
|5. ||E before R after S ||future perfect ||In a fortnight I will have left the town.
|-
|6. ||E after R before S ||future in the past ||I never thought he would write the best exam.
|-
|7. ||E after R after S ||future in the future ||I will be going to buy the book.
|}

A distinction between the English Simple Past and the Present Perfect is not made, so "[i]n terms of location in time, [...] the perfect is not distinct from the past" (Comrie 1985: 78).

==Literature==
* Comrie, Bernard (1985). ''Tense''. Cambridge: CUP.

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[[Category:Tense]]

Comrie's (1985) theory of tense - Revision history

Volker gast: extracted from a term paper by Nadin Wiegandt