The aim of theoretical lexicology is to provide the description of the grammatical structure of a language as a system the parts of which are closely connected and interdependent. Practical grammar provides with the set of normative rules; it teaches how to speak correctly Theoretical grammar analyses different parts of the language without giving any prescriptions; it doesn’t give a ready answer how this or that phenomenon should be used. Sometimes we come across contradictory – it’s very complicated; adj or pronoun – notional parts of speech. There are discussing points between the linguists = > 3 linguistic approaches: . formal approach (based on the form of the language). semantic approach (the meaning).
the combination of both different trends in mono linguistic Basic notions of the grammar structure In speech words are arranged into sentences or utterances. There are special means in every language to organize the structure of the language = > in English there are 4 means that organize the grammatical structure of a language: 1. word-change (see-saw-seen) 2. word-order (can change the meaning of the sentence: the man beat the dog ? the dog beat the man) 3. function words (auxiliary, conj. ? help to connect words into a meaningful sentence = > they live in (outside) London; I (have) bought a book) 4.
intonation (they are students. (? ) ) The Russian language has also these means; but f. e. word-change is more important in Russian. Grammatical meaning Besides expressing a certain lexical meaning every word in a sentence has a more general, a more abstract meaning which has nothing to do with its lexical meaning. book books the idea boy boys the idea of oneness man men of plurality child children Every grammatical meaning of a word has its own means of expressing it.
Grammatical category of a word is characterized by a number of features: There are must be at least 2 forms for a gr. category to be expressed and they should be mutually exclusive (he speaks | they speak). = > we can’t say that any 2 forms constitute a grammatical category (to write- wrote: wrote – is writing) = > they are different in more then one respect. Grammatical category is build up with help of the 2 mutually exclusive forms. He reads ? they read (number) – I read (person) – He read (tens) – He is reading (aspect) – He has read (correlation) – He would read (mood) – To be read (voice) One grammatical can’t express two opposite meanings at the same time. The division of grammar: .
Morphology – a part of grammar which deals with word-forms = > modification of words… Syntax – deals with laws governing the combinations of words into word-groups and sentences. However some scholars that it is difficult to draw a line of determination between these 2 parts of grammar. E. g. : the problem of tenses seems to belong to morphology, but the use of sentence often depends on syntax, on the type of a clause.
Help, attack, late, early = > it’s difficult to define without a context. = > Morphology and syntax are interdependent. For convenience’s sake the division is acceptable. The basic notions of morphology Most words can be divided into smaller meaningful parts: clear, clears, cleared, clearly, unclear, clarity. The root is a meaningful part because it conveys the lex. meaning of a word.
If we try to split it further the constitutes can be described as combination of phonemes which don’t convey the lex. meaning. The parts are also meaningful; they express a certain gr. meaning (not lex. ). these smallest indivisible units are called morphemes – Roots – the basic part of a word conveying its lex.
meaning – Affixes – are attached to the root; depending on their position they are divided into: suffixes and prefixes According to their functions affixes may be “u Derivational (word building affixes) – are used to build up new words and are studied by lexicology. “u Inflectional (form-building affixes) – are used to build up different forms of the words, the type of affixes that interests grammar. There are 3 basic means of form-building: 1. suffixation = >the number of suffixes is very small.
We distinguish productive and non-productive suffixes. Productive: -s {plur. form, gen. case, person, absolute forms of possessive pron.
} -ed {time, participle II} -ing {gerund, participle I} -er {comparative degree} -est {superlative degree} Non-productive: -en { plur. form, participle II} -ren {plur. form} -ne { absolute forms of possessive pron. } -m {the obj. case of the personal pron. } = >there are 5 productive suffixes, the rest are not.
Their characteristic al features: . Their number is small, frequency of currency is high… Their application is wide. Many English words are characterized by the absence of this or that suffix 2. sound interchange (morpho-phonemic alternation) = > foot – feet, take – took. Morpho-phonemic alternation is a meaningful change of vowels and consonants within a rot morpheme; it is used to express a certain gr.
meaning. It’s not a productive means; it’s not found in the forms of new words 3. supplition = >the extreme case of morpho-phonemic alternation, when the root of the word changes completely: be – was were – been good – better – best I – my – me we – us All these means of form-building are called synthetic means because they shaw the relation between the words by the change in the word itself. Besides synthetic means there are analytical means in English. The term analytical forms [A.
F. ] suggests that there are more then one word: he has arrived, the letter was written yesterday. Different approaches to the study of the A. F.
I. Thus, the linguists of the past (Pr Smirnitsky) treated A. F in the following way: To their opinion the first component has no lex. meaning, it express only the grammatical meaning and it’s called functional word (F. W. ).
The 2 d element the notional word (N. W. ) is the main part, it expresses the lex. meaning.
Auxiliary verbs: has, was – express the gr. meaning (the categories of tens, voice, aspect, mood, correlation, number). Arrive, written – express the lex. meaning.
This approach is not quite correct. A convincing point of view was suggested by Pr Borkudarov. He has shown that the gr. meaning of an A. F.
is not expressed only by the F. W. he has arrived = > if we look at a perfect form ‘has’ refers an action to present. But the whole perfect form expresses an action performed in the past, before the moment of speech. Thus the gr. meaning of the whole word-combination “have arrived” is not identical with the gr.
meaning of the F. W… The new gr. meaning results from the combination of the gr.
meaning of the F. W. and the gr. meaning of N. W.
It becomes especially clear if we compare the form of the Passive Voice and Continuous: is written, is writing. Both forms contain the auxiliary ‘be’, but the gr. meaning of the whole construction doesn’t depend only on the aux. verb (R) the meaning is the same.
It also depends on the form of the N. W. When we use the -ing form the gr. meaning of continuousness is expressed; when we use -en the gr. meaning of the construction is quite different = > it is that of the Passive Voice. II.
Pr Borkudarov introduces a new type of form-building morpheme – a discontinuous morpheme. Such a morpheme consists of a F. W. + a form-building suffix in a N.
W. : have+en (Perfect form), be+ing (cont. form), be+en (Pass. Voice) Pr Borkudarov restricts the use of the A. F.
as a form-building means. In his opinion such constructions as: shallwill+inf (future action), which has also been treated as an A. F. in traditional grammar, can’t be regarded as such, because they do not contain discont. morpheme. Only the F.
W. shallwill express the gr. meaning of future action, while the N. W. remains unchanged. For the same reason the comparative and superlative degrees of adj.
and adv. formed with help of more and most, are not treated as A. Fs. either. The typical features of A. F.
are as follows: 1. they are characterized by the presence of a discont. morpheme. 2.
they form a unit whose over role meaning is not just a mere sum of the meaning s of the parts 3. A. F. may consist of more then 2 roots in which case we have complex A.
F. (Present Perfect Cont. ) 4. in spite of the fact that A. F. consists of 2 roots at least they function as a gr.
form of one word. Thus, there is a certain contradiction in A. F. on the one hand it’s a combination of words, on the other this combination functions as a form of one word. If we look at the paradigm = > A.
F. the part of the word contains both synthetical and A. F. Care should be taken not to consider any combination of a F. W. and a N.
W. as an A. F. Some grammarians (Corn) treat a combination of a preposition and a noun as an analytical case form, because as they put it such combinations express the same relation as a gen. case: The cover of a book (R) gen.
case He went to London (R) dative case He works with a spade (R) instrumental case A combination ‘a prep + a noun’ isn’t an A. F. , because: 1. a combination of ‘a prep + a noun’ doesn’t contain a discont.
morpheme. The gr. meaning is expressed with help of prepositions while the N. W. remains unchanged. 2.
a prep. refers not only to the preceding word but to the following word, too: a book on logic to depend on logic. The meaning of ‘on logic’ depends on a preceding word as well. But if a prep is connected with 2 words at the same time it can’t be regarded as pert of one word.
A. F. can be recognized outside the context (was is taken). A combination ‘a prep + a noun’ can’t be regarded as an A. F. Thus, there are no analytical cases in English.
General characteristics of the gr. structure of English It’s a common statement that modern English is an analytical language while modern Russian – synthetical. However, it is admitted that there are no rare analytical languages with the exception of Chinese and Vietnamese. The main features of an analytical language are: 1. comparatively few gr. inflections 2.
a limited use of sound interchange (morpho-phonemic alternation) 3. a wide use of prepositions to connect words in a sentence 4. a prominent use of word-order to express gr. relations. On the whole we may say that analytical features are typical of modern English. At the same time it would be wrong to underestimate the role of synthetic element in modern English.
As we have seen synthetic form-building affixes are few in number but they are very widely used, some of them are productive (-‘s, -ed). A. Fs. include Synth.
forms. Thus, Perfect forms are built with the help of Partic. II = > A. F.
contains S. F. which proves the importance of the S. Fs. in English. On the whole morpho-phonemic alternation is not productive, but this means is used in many irregular words: read – read – read (sound alternation) see – saw – seen (alternation).
Superlative forms are found in only a few words: the word ‘to be’ is a good example of supplition, its forms are built from different roots. = > modern English is not a pure analytical language; it’s more correct to define it as mainly analytical. Parts of speech Parts of speech (PoS) are classes of words which have certain gr. meaning common to other words of this class. Within this or that PoS we may single out subclasses of words.
These smaller subclasses are also characterized by certain gr. properties. Within the noun? count. un count. ; within the verbs? trans. intrans.
On the whole the boundaries between the subclasses of words are less definite than the boundaries PoS themselves. Since PoS are different classes of words, a word can belong only to one PoS at a time. If a word seems to belong to several PoS simultaneously, it in fact a group of homonyms: The leaves are yellow (adj) This soap might yellow your lines (v) The yellow of an egg is called the yolk (n) Principles of classification The present day traditional classification of PoS traces back to Ancient Greek. Latter on it was applied to Latin and thus got into gr. books describing different languages. It has been criticized a lot especially when it was applied to languages whose structure is completely different from that of Latin.
At the same time the accepted classification seems to be natural = > it is easy to remember and understand = > it is still found in many gr. books. Different principles of classifying PoS: I. the semantic approach = > implies that we take into account the meaning of a word. This principle has been criticized by many grammarians F. ex.
Otto Espersen in his book “Philosophy of grammar” gives the following argument: traditional grammar says that by means of verbs smth is said about smb or smth. But in the sentence “you are a scoundrel” the word ‘scoundrel’s ays smth about smb. But it’s a noun; and according to the semantic principle it should be regarded as a verb. In traditional grammar nouns are said to denote things, substances… verbs? action, states.
adj. ? qualities and properties. But there are nouns such as: action, arrival, flight, discussion etc. = > they denote actions; or witness, stubbornness = > denote qualities. All this proves that the semantic criterion isn’t a reliable principle for the PoS classification. II.
formal approach = >some grammarians believe that the form is the only criterion according to which words should be divided. According to this approach nouns are defined as: words having the pl. ending -s. But we can’t accept this approach either, because such PoS as must, then, for, sheep – should be classed together > they don’t change their form. III.
functional approach = > According to the approach mentioned above there are lexico-semantic fields (LSF) = > a PoS can be presented as field with its center and periphery. Within every PoS there are words, which possess all the characteristic features of this PoS. These units constitute the center of the field. E. g.
if we take up a noun its center is made up by nouns denoting objects and substances and which can be used in the sg and pl – which are count. But there are nouns which don’t possess all the above mentioned features: those denoting actions. They constitute the periphery of the field. The PoS classification accepted in Russian linguistics is based on 3 principles: 1. The semantic principle = > classifying words into PoS we should take into account the lexico-grammatical meaning (LG). The general lex meaning doesn’t and can’t coincide with a concrete lex meaning of every word belonging to it, but it’s closely connected with it.
In the same way the general gr meaning of a PoS doesn’t coincide with a gr meaning of every word belonging to it, but it’s also closely connected with it. = > the general meaning of a PoS is neither lex nor gr, but it’s connected with both and s called the lexico-grammatical meaning. nouns denoting substances are characterized by substancivity. verb denoting actions and states which together mean process. adj denote qualities in very broad meaning. 2.
The morphological principle = > we take into account 2 factors: – The morphological categories of a PoS – Its word-building affixes (derivational affixes) Each PoS possess certain morph categories which are not found in other PoS. nouns have categories of number and case. Adv have degrees of comparison Verbs have a number of categories It’s obvious that this principle can be applied only to those PoS which have certain gr categories and special form-building means of their expression. If certain PoS are unchangeable other criteria should be taken into account for their classification. As far as word-building affixes go some of them are typical of this or that PoS: Nouns – -shen, -ment, -ness; Verbs – -er; Adj – -able, -ful. Out of 2 morphological principles the 1 st one is more important because every word belonging to a PoS always has gr properties typical of this PoS.
while only a few English words contain derivational affixes characteristic of a PoS. E. g. all nouns have the category of number, but very few have affixes -dom, -ness.
Besides most word-building affixes ambiguous because they can be found in several PoS: -ly = > in adj (kindly) In adj (lovely) In nouns (daily) In mod. verbs (probably) Particles (merely, solely) 3. The syntactical principle = > we must take into account 2 points: – The synthetical function of a word in a sentence (there are some sorts of functions which are typical of this or that PoS [verbs – always predicate; adj – always attribute]) – The combinability of a word (non-finite forms; tr 4 ansi tive verbs are always followed by obj, adj are preceded by verbs) Noun Noun as a PoS is recognized in English by all linguists. It’s defined morphologically, synthetically and semantically. It’s characterized by the following features: 1. if we characterize it semantically we must say that it has the meaning of substance.
2. morphologically it has category of number and case, it has certain word-building affixes (freedom, friendship) which are not found in other PoS. 3. synthetically it perform a function of subject, object and predicative which are typical of the number and can be performed by other PoS.
from the point of it’s combinability it can be modified by adj, numerals, articles and other determinants which usually precede the noun. It can be also preceded or followed by prepositions. The category of number This category is presented in English by 2 form-classes = > the sg form-class and pl form-class. The 2 opposite forms show if the noun has the gr meaning of oneness (denote 1 object) or more than oneness (denote more than 1 object). Formally the category of number is represented by the opposition of 2 morphemes: SS the morpheme of singularity which is often a zero morpheme SS the morpheme of plurality which is represented by a number of variants: – (e) s has phonologically conditioned variant of [s].
but if we take such nouns as tooth-teeth, ox-oxen, the morpheme of pl-ty is morphologically conditioned. Very often the meaning of category of number is defined as oneness or more than oneness, but not all grammarians find this definition convincing. They do agree that the pl-ty of nouns has the meaning of more than oneness, as to the morphology of the sg-ty we can’t say that it always denote oneness: Silence harm over the valley. He doesn’t like tea. The telephone was invented by Bell. The nouns silence, tea, telephone used in the sg don’t express oneness because they don’t denote one object = > they denote abstract notions or materials which can’t be counted at all (uncountable).
= > it is more logical to say that the meaning of a noun in the sg is not oneness, but non-plurality, it’s better to use a negative form. The meaning of non-plurality includes a number a meanings a. that of oneness (a pen) b. that of un countability (tea, silence) c.
that of generalization (telephone) The meaning of the unmarked form of the category of number is broader and less definite than the meaning of a marked form (pl) = > it’s better to definite in negative form. There are such nouns in English which have got only one form: advice, information ? sg tantum trousers ? pl tantum The question: are they outside the category of number or not? – for the seminar The category of case includes the form, meaning and function as necessary criteria for PoS classification: jump, play, dress – can’t be determined as PoS; in order to define it properly it’s easier to analyze them in a sentence and take into account their morphological and syntactical features. These are the most obvious and reliable formal criteria, which should be regarded in any PoS classification. Passive Voice The gr meaning of combination ‘to be + Part.
II’ 1. the whole affair was soon forgotten 2. the affair was forgotten 3. she is tired she is convinced she is right In the 1 st example ‘to+Part II’ denotes an action. in the 2 nd sentence it denotes a state which is the result of a previously accomplished action (smb forgot the affair, now it is forgotten). In the 3 d sentence we also find a state but it is not represented as the result of a previously accomplished action.
Word-combination ‘is convinced, is tired’ are not connected with idea of an action at all. All grammarians agree that the 1 st is an analytical form of a PV. The 3 d is regarded as a compound nominal predicate consisting of a link-verb ‘to be + adjectivized Part. As for the 2 nd it seems to present difficulty = >on the one hand it denotes a state (some grammarians treat it as compound nominal predicate), but on the other hand it is a state resulting from a previously accomplished action. Many scientists think that it is a variety of a PV, they call it the state Passive. Reasons for the frequent use of the PV in English It’s common knowledge that Passive constructions are widely used in English.
the use of PV make it possible to change the word-order in a sentence. the end-position in a sentence is connected with conveyed new information. As a rule it’s a most strongly stressed position in a sentence. the boy wrote a letter the letter was written by a boy In the 1 st ex. a letter is the center of communication = > it conveys new information.
In the 2 nd the boy is the center of communication. these sentences are not parallel and are used in different situations. By way of comparison we can say the same thing. The use of PV 1. when the doer of the action is not known, unimportant or self-evident.
If we don’t use by-phrase attention is shifted to other parts of a sentence which become more important and the center of communication. the telegram was delivered in time. he was invited to dinner 2. there are lots of passive constructions while in Russian there is only one. There are many transitive verbs which take the direct object. the direct passive constructions seem to be the most widely used passive constructions.
Aspect Aspect is a grammatical category which characterizes the way (manner) in which the action expressed by the verb is carried out. Russian has 2 aspect too: – the imperfective aspect – the perfective aspect it’s a gr category on Russian because there are special means of expressing it (suffixes and prefixes -:’ e’o’a’o”u /”id^i:’ e’o’a’o”u) As for the English grammarians in past they didn’t find aspect characteristics in English verb and spoke of 4 groups of tenses: indefinite, cont. , perfect, perfect cont. this classification may be found even nowadays in many gr books.
However, the majority of linguists both abroad and in Russia believe that the English V has the gr category of aspect. These linguists also admit that aspect in English can be expressed in 2 ways: 1. by lexical means 2. by gr means May be expressed by lex meaning of V.
English Vs fall into 2 classes: 1. terminative = > amply a limit beyond which an action can’t continue (break, cease) 2. non-terminative (durative) = > don’t amply this limit, the action can continue non-stop There are also poly semantic words which may be durative in one meaning and durative in another (see – ^a’e”aa’o”u, ‘o^a’e”aa’o”u). the distinction between terminative and non-terminative is lexical and not gr.
because it is clear only from their meaning and moreover the meaning becomes clear only from the context. It’s not expressed grammatically because there are no formal means of expressing. At the same time aspect characteristics can be expressed in English grammatically = > through the opposition: common and continuous aspects. The forms of cont aspect are marked, the marker is a discontinuous morpheme ‘to be + – ing’, the form of the common aspect is unmarked. Most grammarians agree that the difference between cont. and discont morpheme is not a temporal one.
From the point of view of time the action is the same in the following 2 sentences: he speaks English he is speaking English the time is the same – present The cont. aspect has a specialized meaning, it’s used for incomplete actions which are in process at the moment described (present, past) or during a certain period he was taking his exam at 5 yesterday we are studying theoretical grammar this year = > period in present The common aspect describes events in a general way: a verb in common aspect may denote a complete (or incomplete action), but it’s form doesn’t state it. Pr Borkudarov states that it’s better to define it negatively as non-cont. The lex meaning of its form is determined by its context. Nouns in the common aspect may denote: – a momentary action – a recurrent (repeated) action [ I get up at 7] – an action which occupies (-ied) a long period of time [ he lived in Moscow] – an action of unlimited duration [the Volga flows into the Caspian see ] There is no direct corresponds between the Russian and English aspects. The English common aspect may corresponds both to the Russian perfect and imperfect aspects.
the girl played the piano well (imperfect) the girl played the waltz and everyone applauded her (perfect) The English cont. aspect may correspond only to the Russian Imperfect. Tense There are must be distinction between time and tense = > time – logical category; tense – gr category and it shows the time of the action expressed by the form of the V. The main distinctions of objective time are: present past future. However it doesn’t follow that tense-system of various languages are identical. On the contrary there are wide differences in them.
As far as English is concerned there are different opinions among grammarians on the number of tenses. Some of them think that there are 3 tenses (present, past, future), others think that there are only 2. Traditionally the V is believed to have 3 tenses (present, past, future). The Present tense denote actions ranging from taking place at the moment of speaking to action taking place at a very prolonged period of time and to the so-called timeless actions.
I hear a noise I’m watching TV we live in Moscow (prolonged period) the Earth moves around the Sun (timeless action) The Present tense is sometimes used to express past action, it is known as a historical or durative present and is used to make past event more vivid. I entered the room and who do you think I see? The important feature of the present is also its ability to express future action I’m leaving tomorrow I have dinner with him on Monday In some cases the use of the Pr tense for future action is structurally dependent. We find this use of form in: . clauses of time condition. objective clauses (Pr is used and it denotes future action simultaneous with F action in the principle clause – I’ll do what you say) = > The Present tense expresses action taking place within different period of time and even future actions. Its meaning can’t be clearly defined, it’s understood only from the opposition to the past tense = > many grammarians suggest the negative term ‘non-past’ instead of the term present tense.
they say the meaning of the past tense can be clearly defined = > it denotes an action which is prior to the moment of speaking and not correlated with this moment. The non-past denotes an action which is outside the past-time sphere. The past tense is the marked member of the opposition while the non-past (present) is the unmarked member. The marked member is singled out formally by the morpheme of the Past tense which in regular verbs is represented by the phonologically conditioned allomorphs (variants) [t, d, id] and in irregular verbs by the morphologically conditioned allomorphs (sent, spoke).
? Traditional grammarians suggest 3 divisional tenses which reflect the 3 of time. Linguists who belong to this trend (‘E”e”u’eo, ~N’i’ed’i’e”o^e’e’e) understand the notion of analytical forms traditionally: as a combination of auxiliary verb which expresses only the gr. meaning and a lex form which expresses only the lex meaning. They believe that the combination of “shall / will + inf” answers all these requirements.
= > in their opinion it may be regarded as an analytical form of the future tense. The words shall / will which originated from modal verbs have lost their modal meaning. This can be proved by the fact that will is freely used for all the persons without expressing any modal coloring. There are only a few constructions where shall / will have preserved their modal meaning [ Will you join us? ‘a request, Who shall answer the phone? ‘a obligation]. These grammarians admit that the combination “shall / will + inf” on the whole has a modal meaning of uncertainty, but they all argue that the modal meaning of uncertainty is always present because we are never sure of the future and they consider it as a special kind of modal meaning from all the other modal meanings. ? However, many other linguists are of the opinion that English has a 2-folded system of language (Otto Espersen, Alien, Pr Vorkudarov).
These linguists believe that the category of tense in English is expressed through the opposition of Past and non-past (present) [live-lived]. Pr Vorkudarov in his book states that the combination “shall / will + inf” can’t be regarded as a gr. form because it can’t be singled out either formally or semantically. His arguments are as follows: 1. formally “shall / will + inf” is in no way different from the combination of “modal verb + inf”, they can’t be combined… as to the meaning of “shall / will + inf.” Modal meaning is always present in this combination; sometimes it is very weak, sometimes it’s even prevails over the meaning of the future.
But a future action according to Vorkudarov is never real – it’s either possible or probable or planned. 2. “shall / will + inf” doesn’t answer the requirement for an analytical form. It doesn’t contain a discontinuous morpheme which is always found in a true analytical form. 3. “shall / will + inf” is not the only construction in English expressing a future action [ to be going to, to be to, to be due to, to be about to].
Purely analytical forms are usually the only means of expressing this or that gr. meaning. 4. the verbs “shall / will ” like other modal verbs have past forms which can be followed by different forms of the infinitive = > it’s more correct to say that “shall / will ” form the same type of opposition as can – could, may – might. ‘e the 2 nd group of linguists believe that English has no special gr for the future tense, it doesn’t mean that future action can’t be expressed in English.
They are expressed with the help of modal verbs “shall / will + inf” and a number of gr and lex meaning. This point if view prevails among linguists abroad. It was first put forward by Otto Espersen. Category of phase The category is made up by the opposition of perfect and non-perfect forms. In linguistic literature we may come across with the category of priority, correlation, order and so on. Many modern linguists use the term the category of phase’a it was suggested by American linguists Trader and Smith in their book “An attitude of English structure.” The term ‘phase’ came from the electric circuit theory a special relation between the action and its effect.
There are 2 phases: 1. the current phase = >a verb in this denotes an action which is simultaneous (is in phase with) its effect [He comes swiftly ‘a shows that the action ” he was there” and its effect are simultaneous; He was seen the moment he came ] 2. the perfect phase = > a verb in this phase denotes an action the affect of which is delayed (is out of phase with the action). This phase removes our attention from the action itself and relocates it on the effect [He has opened the book – the action itself was performed in the Past, but its effect “the book is opened now” is in the Present, it is delayed.
The problem of the perfect form has always been a controversial one in English grammar. There are 2 points to discuss: to what gr category do Perfect forms belong? What is the gr meaning of Perfect forms? Grammarians of classical school treated non-perfect forms as primary tenses and non-perfect forms as secondary tenses. Primary tenses refer an action to a certain time in the Pr, P, F while secondary tenses express priority to a certain point in the Pr, P or F. ‘the Pr.
perf form denotes an action that takes place before the moment of speaking. The Past perf denotes an action that takes place before a certain moment in the Past; the Future perf denotes an action that takes place which will be completed before the moment of speaking. Later on the terms ‘relative’ and ‘ absolute tenses’ were introduced, but their treatment is practically the same. Some linguists treat the perfect form as a special aspect. For ex, Pf ‘E”e”u’eo suggests that the future perf and the past perf could be regarded as relative tenses ? they express priority, while the Pr perf tenses should be treated as a special aspect ? the result ative aspect.