对于TenseA试述Comprehensive试述Comparison试述of试述Tense试述and试述Aspect试述between试述Traditiona
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1 Introduction
Grammar is basically one of the most important elements for second language learners when learning English. Meanwhile， tense and aspect are two main items in English grammars. However， what are the different explanations that traditional grammars give for ‘tense and aspect’ with those offered by modern grammars of English？ How many tenses are there in English？ Do ‘perfect form’ and ‘progressive form’ belong to ‘tense’ or ‘aspect’？ What is the relationship between ‘tense’ and ‘aspect’ according to modern grammars？ What are their usages？ Towards these various problems， in order to make the comparison as clear as possible for second language learners， I will try to mainly present and describe the more general and more acceptable ideas in traditional and modern grammars respectively in terms of standard British English with active voice and give some implications for English grammar teaching as well.
2 Tense
e past， present and future tenses refer to the time that an action is performed； perfect tenses could indicate ‘the definitive completion of an action’ in the past， present or future time （Herndon， 1970： 55）. （See Table 1）
Table1： tenses and their corresponding forms in traditional grammar
（Table 1 from Herndon， 1970： 56）
To summarize， although there exist different arguments about the exact number of tenses in traditional English grammar， there are commonalities among them. First， traditional grammar claims that English has future tense. Second， traditional grammar tends to regard ‘perfect’ and ‘progressive’ as tenses. Third， traditional grammar largely depends on Latin grammar. （Blake， 1988； Crystal， 1997b）
Table2： one of popular traditional arguments about English tenses
3 Aspect
From the discussion about ‘tense’ in traditional and modern grammars in Section 2， a conclusion could be drawn that they differ greatly in the definition of ‘tense’. Traditional grammars commonly claim that ‘perfect’ and ‘progressive’ belong to the system of ‘tense’ whereas modern grammars point out that the two incline to another different category ‘aspect’. In modern grammars， ‘tense’ involves the basic location in time of an event or state of affairs while ‘aspect’ relates more to internal nature of events and states of affairs （Crystal， 1997b； Hurford， 1994）. Hence， here I will discuss ‘perfect and progressive’ in traditional grammars and ‘aspect’ in modern grammars respectively to present their differences.
3.1 ‘Perfect & Progressive’ in traditional grammars As has been discussed in Section 2.2， traditional grammars tend to treat ‘perfect and progressive’ crudely in the system of ‘tense’. A number of traditional theories argued that there are six tenses in English based on Latin grammar， namely， present， imperfect， future， perfect， pluperfect， and future perfect （McCawley， 1971）. It could imply that ‘perfect’ is one of the main tense in traditional grammars， which is said to indicate ‘the definitive completion of an action in the pastor future’ （Herndon， 1970：55）. However， there appears to be some different arguments about ‘progressive’. Some of traditional grammarians tend to regard it as a kind of form to combine with the tenses to indicate continuing action （Herndon， 1970）. Some of them treat it as one of the independent English tenses （Hurford， 1994）. （Hurford， 1994） （See Table 1 & Table 2 above）
3.
The perfect aspect used with stative verbs tends to signify states which already exist before （and may continue）. For example， the sentence we he known each other for many years can摘自：毕业论文www.618jyw.com
show this. The perfect aspect used with dynamic verbs， on the other hand， tends to indicate completed actions as in sentence we he cooked some nice dishes （it shows that we he finished cooking）. （Griffiths， 2006； Quirk et al， 1985）源于：论文致谢范文www.618jyw.com
4 The implications for the grammar teaching to second language learners
Since grammar teaching appears to be one of the most important and difficult tasks for both second language teachers and learners （Lock， 1996）. Here I will simply discuss about some general implications for second language grammar teaching based on the comparison between the traditional and modern grammars that he been made above.
On one hand， many textbooks tend to present the rules of grammars based on traditional rather than the authentic examples from modern grammars （Lock， 1996）. For instance， in terms of ‘tense and aspect’， traditional grammars appear to treat the two as one system of tense and accordingly there are many kinds of tenses in English. This may not to be good rules to teach second language learners since compared with modern explanations it is more complicated and difficult for them to understand and learn how to use. Hence， the rules of grammar in some textbooks are likely to be necessary to be radically revised. Additionally， it seems to be important for teachers to be informed of more modern approaches in linguistics.
On the other hand， Ellis （1993） points out that explicit grammar teaching can help learners acquire implicit knowledge. It could suggest that the way of teachers’ grammar instruction may affect a lot in the process of learning and acquiring. According to Lock （1996： 270）， most of the relevant studies appear to show that teaching grammar explicitly involves ‘teaching formal rules at a sentence level’ and appropriate ways of practice. Therefore， grammar instruction may need to be more practical and attractive to learners， which may be integrated into the teaching of language skills instead of being isolated （Lock， 1996）.
5 Conclusion
To sum up， the comparison could highlight the importance of the grammar rules’ selection in the textbooks for second language learners， since grammar in second language may be difficult and complex to learn. In conclusion， the comparison between the traditional and modern grammars could make us clear about their differences and advantages， which may direct us better at grammar learning and teaching.
References：
Blake， N. F. Traditional English Grammar and Beyond[J]. Basingstoke： Macmillan. 1988.
Crystal， D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language[J]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1997a.
[3]Crystal， D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language[J]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1997b. [3][4]Ellis， R. The structural syllabus and second language acquisition[J]. TESOL Quarterly， 1993，27（1）， 91-113.
[5]Griffiths， P. An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics[J]. Edinburgh： Edinburgh University Press. 2006.
[7]Herndon， J. H. A Survey of Modern Grammars[J]. New York Holt： Rinehart & Winston. 1970.
[8]Hurford， J. R. Grammar： A student’s Guide[M]. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press. 1994.
[9]Jespersen， O. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles （Part IV）[M]. London： George Allen & Unwin. 1961.
[10]Leech， G. N. & Svartvik， J. A communicative Grammar of English[M]. London： Longman. 1975.
[11]Lock， G. Functional English Grammar[M].Cambridge： Camb源于：论文格式字体要求www.618jyw.com
ridge University Press. 1996.
[12]Quirk， R.， Greenbaum， S.， Leech， G. & Svartvik， J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English lanugage[M]. London： Longman. 1985.
[14]McCawley， J. D. Tense and time reference in English[M]. In Fillmore， C. & Langendoen， D.T. （eds） Studies in Linguistic Semantics（pp. 99-113）. New York Holt： Rinehart & Winston. 1971. [3][4]
1 Introduction
Grammar is basically one of the most important elements for second language learners when learning English. Meanwhile， tense and aspect are two main items in English grammars. However， what are the different explanations that traditional grammars give for ‘tense and aspect’ with those offered by modern grammars of English？ How many tenses are there in English？ Do ‘perfect form’ and ‘progressive form’ belong to ‘tense’ or ‘aspect’？ What is the relationship between ‘tense’ and ‘aspect’ according to modern grammars？ What are their usages？ Towards these various problems， in order to make the comparison as clear as possible for second language learners， I will try to mainly present and describe the more general and more acceptable ideas in traditional and modern grammars respectively in terms of standard British English with active voice and give some implications for English grammar teaching as well.
2 Tense
2.1 Time
Time and tense are two different concepts. The former is universal and independent of any particular language （Jespersen， 1961） whereas the latter is the ‘linguistic expression of time-relations’ and sometimes serves for other purposes （Jespersen， 1961： 2）. According to Jespersen （1961）， we could suppose that time could be represented by a straight line， which at least could be divided by three points--past time， present time， and future time. However， in the daily life， states and events may appear not only at these three points. In more details， we can he time before the past time and after the past time. Likewise， we can he time before the future time and after the future time. In this case， there are seven points of time on this time line. That’s why we need different tenses or tense forms to express these different time points or different time duration.2.2 Tense in traditional grammars
Traditional grammars he been greatly influenced by Latin. Since anything in Europewas most likely to be written in Latin， the study of Latin grammar was for what ‘grammar’ meant for over a millennium（Crystal， 1997b； Blake， 1988）. Most traditional grammarians claimed that English has six tenses， namely， past， present， future， past perfect， present perfect and future perfect tense （Herndon，1970）， although some of them he been labeled with different names by a number of grammarians （e.g.‘Present’ is called‘non-past’）. [For instance， another set of six tenses of traditional theories are present， imperfect， future， perfect， pluperfect， and future perfect （McCawley， 1971）.] Simultaneously， it had been argued that the simpl摘自：论文范文www.618jyw.come past， present and future tenses refer to the time that an action is performed； perfect tenses could indicate ‘the definitive completion of an action’ in the past， present or future time （Herndon， 1970： 55）. （See Table 1）
Table1： tenses and their corresponding forms in traditional grammar
（Table 1 from Herndon， 1970： 56）
To summarize， although there exist different arguments about the exact number of tenses in traditional English grammar， there are commonalities among them. First， traditional grammar claims that English has future tense. Second， traditional grammar tends to regard ‘perfect’ and ‘progressive’ as tenses. Third， traditional grammar largely depends on Latin grammar. （Blake， 1988； Crystal， 1997b）
Table2： one of popular traditional arguments about English tenses
2.3 Tense in modern grammars
It has been argued that there are many different modern theories or approaches in modern grammars， such as generative grammar （which hypothesizes that language is the mental structure of human mind and was pioneered by Noam Chomsky）， tranormational grammar （which is one of the many Chomskyan generative theories）， categorical grammar （which is an approach that focuses on the combinatorial properties of categories）， communicative grammar， functional grammar， construction grammar， cognitive grammar， role and reference grammar， etc. （the last four theories are included by functionalist grammars） （Crystal， 1997a； Lock， 1996； Quirk et al， 1985）. In addition， there are a number of different explanations of ‘tense’ and ‘aspect’ in English and many different names hing been used to label them.3 Aspect
From the discussion about ‘tense’ in traditional and modern grammars in Section 2， a conclusion could be drawn that they differ greatly in the definition of ‘tense’. Traditional grammars commonly claim that ‘perfect’ and ‘progressive’ belong to the system of ‘tense’ whereas modern grammars point out that the two incline to another different category ‘aspect’. In modern grammars， ‘tense’ involves the basic location in time of an event or state of affairs while ‘aspect’ relates more to internal nature of events and states of affairs （Crystal， 1997b； Hurford， 1994）. Hence， here I will discuss ‘perfect and progressive’ in traditional grammars and ‘aspect’ in modern grammars respectively to present their differences.
3.1 ‘Perfect & Progressive’ in traditional grammars As has been discussed in Section 2.2， traditional grammars tend to treat ‘perfect and progressive’ crudely in the system of ‘tense’. A number of traditional theories argued that there are six tenses in English based on Latin grammar， namely， present， imperfect， future， perfect， pluperfect， and future perfect （McCawley， 1971）. It could imply that ‘perfect’ is one of the main tense in traditional grammars， which is said to indicate ‘the definitive completion of an action in the pastor future’ （Herndon， 1970：55）. However， there appears to be some different arguments about ‘progressive’. Some of traditional grammarians tend to regard it as a kind of form to combine with the tenses to indicate continuing action （Herndon， 1970）. Some of them treat it as one of the independent English tenses （Hurford， 1994）. （Hurford， 1994） （See Table 1 & Table 2 above）
3.2 Aspect in modern grammars
3.2.1 Grammatical aspect
According to modern theories， there are two grammatical aspects in English： progressive aspect （be + present participle） and perfect aspect （he/ has/ had + past participle）. The situation may be presented as fixed or changing and may last for only a moment or for duration. A number of modern linguists argue that the combination of progressive and perfect aspects with tenses in English are called ‘tense forms’ or ‘tense constructions’ （McCawley， 1971）. Nevertheless， Hurford （1994） states that the combination of the tense and aspect can be called ‘compound tenses’. Hence， there are various combinations in English， such as present perfect， past perfect， present perfect progressive etc.3.
2.2 Lexical aspect
In addition to the‘grammatical aspect’， the lexical meaning of the verb may convey aspectual meaning， which is usually called ‘lexical aspect’. According to the aspectual meanings， verbs can be divided into two large groups--stative verbs （which could be further divided into two aller groups， namely cognition verbs like believe， hate， enjoy and relation verbs like be， contain， own） and dynamic verbs （which also could be further divided into two aller groups， namely punctual verbs like hit， cough， throw and durative verbs like eat， write， become）. （Quirk et al， 1985）The perfect aspect used with stative verbs tends to signify states which already exist before （and may continue）. For example， the sentence we he known each other for many years can摘自：毕业论文www.618jyw.com
show this. The perfect aspect used with dynamic verbs， on the other hand， tends to indicate completed actions as in sentence we he cooked some nice dishes （it shows that we he finished cooking）. （Griffiths， 2006； Quirk et al， 1985）源于：论文致谢范文www.618jyw.com
4 The implications for the grammar teaching to second language learners
Since grammar teaching appears to be one of the most important and difficult tasks for both second language teachers and learners （Lock， 1996）. Here I will simply discuss about some general implications for second language grammar teaching based on the comparison between the traditional and modern grammars that he been made above.
On one hand， many textbooks tend to present the rules of grammars based on traditional rather than the authentic examples from modern grammars （Lock， 1996）. For instance， in terms of ‘tense and aspect’， traditional grammars appear to treat the two as one system of tense and accordingly there are many kinds of tenses in English. This may not to be good rules to teach second language learners since compared with modern explanations it is more complicated and difficult for them to understand and learn how to use. Hence， the rules of grammar in some textbooks are likely to be necessary to be radically revised. Additionally， it seems to be important for teachers to be informed of more modern approaches in linguistics.
On the other hand， Ellis （1993） points out that explicit grammar teaching can help learners acquire implicit knowledge. It could suggest that the way of teachers’ grammar instruction may affect a lot in the process of learning and acquiring. According to Lock （1996： 270）， most of the relevant studies appear to show that teaching grammar explicitly involves ‘teaching formal rules at a sentence level’ and appropriate ways of practice. Therefore， grammar instruction may need to be more practical and attractive to learners， which may be integrated into the teaching of language skills instead of being isolated （Lock， 1996）.
5 Conclusion
To sum up， the comparison could highlight the importance of the grammar rules’ selection in the textbooks for second language learners， since grammar in second language may be difficult and complex to learn. In conclusion， the comparison between the traditional and modern grammars could make us clear about their differences and advantages， which may direct us better at grammar learning and teaching.
References：
Blake， N. F. Traditional English Grammar and Beyond[J]. Basingstoke： Macmillan. 1988.
Crystal， D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language[J]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1997a.
[3]Crystal， D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language[J]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press. 1997b. [3][4]Ellis， R. The structural syllabus and second language acquisition[J]. TESOL Quarterly， 1993，27（1）， 91-113.
[5]Griffiths， P. An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics[J]. Edinburgh： Edinburgh University Press. 2006.
[7]Herndon， J. H. A Survey of Modern Grammars[J]. New York Holt： Rinehart & Winston. 1970.
[8]Hurford， J. R. Grammar： A student’s Guide[M]. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press. 1994.
[9]Jespersen， O. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles （Part IV）[M]. London： George Allen & Unwin. 1961.
[10]Leech， G. N. & Svartvik， J. A communicative Grammar of English[M]. London： Longman. 1975.
[11]Lock， G. Functional English Grammar[M].Cambridge： Camb源于：论文格式字体要求www.618jyw.com
ridge University Press. 1996.
[12]Quirk， R.， Greenbaum， S.， Leech， G. & Svartvik， J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English lanugage[M]. London： Longman. 1985.
[14]McCawley， J. D. Tense and time reference in English[M]. In Fillmore， C. & Langendoen， D.T. （eds） Studies in Linguistic Semantics（pp. 99-113）. New York Holt： Rinehart & Winston. 1971. [3][4]
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