Perfective
Revision as of 11:57, 1 February 2008 by DavidKGray (talk | contribs) (Perfective denotes a complete action)
If a language has a perfective aspect in its verbs system, then the verb form describes the whole action, beginning, middle and end in one go. This means that the perfective describes a complete situation, but it is no 'completed', according to Comrie, 'The use of "completed"... puts too much emphasis on the termination of the situation, whereas the use of the perfective puts no more emphasis, necessarily, on the end of the situation than on any other part of the situation.' (Comrie, Aspect, 18)
