2006-12-03 18:54:42 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
There are three tenses in English, namely Present, Past and Future. Within these tenses there are different aspects (progressive, perfect, etc that is present perfect, future perfect, present continuous or past continuous etc.). Some linguists claim that there are only two tenses in English that is past and nonpast, but I don't find it logical.
Why are there two or three tenses in English? Because it doesn't need any more. Each language has its own perfect system that allows its speakers to talk about anything. They just do it in different ways. This doesn't mean that a language with lots of tenses is richer or vice versa. All languages are unique in their own ways.
2006-12-04 03:47:13 · answer #1 · answered by Earthling 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
There are only two tenses in English--past and nonpast. These are marked directly on the verb--nonpast with no suffix and past with either a vowel change or -ed suffix. The other things traditionally called "tenses" in English are actually aspects and are marked with auxiliary verbs or modals. This is a result of the historical development of Germanic tenses and aspects. There really isn't a "why" answer, that's just the way our language developed. Some languages in the world mark future on the verb and some languages mark different kinds of past (distant past versus recent past) or future (distant future versus recent future), but the Germanic languages only mark past and nonpast.
EDIT for next answer: Language isn't logical, so three tenses are not necessary. Consider the following: "I will kick the ball", "I shall kick the ball", "I'm going to kick the ball", "Tomorrow, I kick the ball". All of these are "future" tense, but there is no single way to mark future meaning in English. Therefore, there is no "future" tense in English. Now compare this with: "I kicked the ball", "Yesterday, I kicked the ball". Both of these verbs are clearly marked with -ed, the suffix of the past tense. Indeed, there are no other ways to mark past tense in English. Therefore, there IS a past tense.
2006-12-04 05:28:44 · answer #2 · answered by Taivo 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There are only present and past tense. Any other "tenses", like "Present Continuous" or even "Future Simple" are only aspects of those two.
2006-12-04 03:28:32 · answer #3 · answered by ~ B ~ 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
wot?? who said so? there are three major tenses and each has four sub-types. So total 12 tenses we have. And I do believe most of the languages have all of them in one form or the other. So both points in your question ("Why only two" and "Only in english") are invalid.
2006-12-04 03:08:21 · answer #4 · answered by ravish2006 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There are only the past and the non-past, because those are the only times we can know. The future is something we can only guess at, so it is expressed with modals or, if we're certain, as the present.
Tense refers to the time of an action. Aspect is what refers to the "status" of an action (completed, ongoing, repeating, eternal).
2006-12-04 04:24:26 · answer #5 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Sounds like most of the pages in your book fell out!
http://www.unl.edu/english/wac/resourceFiles/SummaryofVerbTenses.pdf
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tenses.html
2006-12-04 02:58:31 · answer #6 · answered by Bart S 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
What makes you think that there are only two, I wonder?
Future, present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, conditional future, conditional perfect.....
2006-12-04 03:04:53 · answer #7 · answered by Ross 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Whoa! Better saddle up that horse before you try to ride her, Little Lady
2006-12-04 03:04:15 · answer #8 · answered by Lorenzo Steed 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋