![]() ![]() ![]() As writers, however, it’s worth noting that when writing in the present tense, all of the present tense aspects are still available to you: “I eat,” “I am eating,” “I have eaten,” “I have been eating.” In past, the same holds true: “I ate,” “I was eating,” “I had eaten,” “I had been eating.”Īs languages go, English is actually fairly light on tense (although some languages actually are considered tense-less!). In school, we usually don’t distinguish between tense and aspect rather, we refer to each of the different tense-aspect combinations as actually its own tense. Both are present tense, but each extends from the present time differently. So “I eat” refers to a general, habitual action, while “I am eating” situates the action specifically at the time of speaking. ![]() Note that English also has a number of grammatical aspects, which mark the extension of an action through time. In English, “I eat” happens in the present, while “I ate” happens in the past. Linguistically, tense denotes how languages mark the time an action occurred. You can find more of Rackham’s illustrations here. The images in this post are selected from Arthur Rackham’s illustrations for “Rip van Winkle.” This story, with its playful treatment of time, is a worthy accompaniment for a discussion of tense. ![]()
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