Rinoceronte
Junior Member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2010
- Member Type
- English Teacher
Those who teach English to those in whose languages there is the category of aspect, might find the following recommendations helpful:
1. Look for the correspondences of English tenses in the target language. Although English is considered to be aspectless, in fact, what we know as Simple, Indefinite, Progressive (Continuous), Perfect and Perfect Progressive are aspects of English verb system. While what we know as tense is a correlation between time and aspect. Find the correspondences of Perfect and Imperfect Aspects among English aspects.
2. Don't let your students be misled by the names of English tenses. Several of them are extremely contradictory. Find the analogues of Present Perfect in other European languages and analyse the difference in the way they are named. Think about the contradiction within the "Perfect Continuous". Try to understand the reason why the term Progressive (Continuous) emerged in English grammar. Find its equivalent in international grammar (aspectful grammar).
3. After having established the correspondences of aspects, rethink the stative verbs rule. Rephrase it from the aspect point of view. Learn the biography of rule's introducer. Find out why he had no right to introduce such a rule.
4. List all the cases when Present Perfect is used to reflect an ongoing action. Analyse them deeply. Prove that Present Perfect can never be present.
Meanwhile you might want to entertain yourselves a bit by giving a hand to James Bond who seems to be out on a limb:
gobuentan.com/bond_eng.htm
1. Look for the correspondences of English tenses in the target language. Although English is considered to be aspectless, in fact, what we know as Simple, Indefinite, Progressive (Continuous), Perfect and Perfect Progressive are aspects of English verb system. While what we know as tense is a correlation between time and aspect. Find the correspondences of Perfect and Imperfect Aspects among English aspects.
2. Don't let your students be misled by the names of English tenses. Several of them are extremely contradictory. Find the analogues of Present Perfect in other European languages and analyse the difference in the way they are named. Think about the contradiction within the "Perfect Continuous". Try to understand the reason why the term Progressive (Continuous) emerged in English grammar. Find its equivalent in international grammar (aspectful grammar).
3. After having established the correspondences of aspects, rethink the stative verbs rule. Rephrase it from the aspect point of view. Learn the biography of rule's introducer. Find out why he had no right to introduce such a rule.
4. List all the cases when Present Perfect is used to reflect an ongoing action. Analyse them deeply. Prove that Present Perfect can never be present.
Meanwhile you might want to entertain yourselves a bit by giving a hand to James Bond who seems to be out on a limb:
gobuentan.com/bond_eng.htm