3.1. Field and river, the grammatical Aspect

Whether English is spoken or written, shapes of be and have are the most usual to occur. If we join views on the fields and the river of time,
we can see two patterns that grammar books name the Progressive and the Perfect: we do not abandon the school classics, for generative grammar; we nurture own thinking.

We may refer to verb infinitive or base forms, as in ■subchapter 2.1, and extract the two patterns. One pattern uses the verb to be with particle ING. The other has particle 3RD with the verb to have.

Infinitive or base forms do not belong with any field of time in particular: they are not PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE. If we view language patterns without a particular field of time on mind, grammars say the picture we get is the Aspect.

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The word aspect comes from Latin. The word aspectus meant “a seeing, looking at”; aspicere said, “to look upon, behold”.

There is no “objective grammar” to decide how we people should see the world. Grammar is only to help think and tell a view. To say how we perceive people, the world, events, own self, or even the Universe — we join the Aspect and grammatical time.

The Progressive Aspect is for matters in progress. Progress may be a changing condition, state, or activity. It may mean betterment, but it not always does.

The Perfect Aspect says the regard is to a point in time. The name “perfect” comes from Latin. For grammar, it has nothing to do with faults, flaws, or their absence. It tells about outcome and time.

To say we view an event or activity as a matter in progress, we adapt the verb to be for the PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE, and make Present, Past, or Future Progressive tenses. In simple words, we use the verb to be in a field of time, with the particle ING.

To say we regard matters with some mark in time, we use to have in a field, with verb 3RD form.

The tenses always belong with a field; they are always PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE. When the verbs to be or to have are part in a tense pattern, they are auxiliary verbs, or auxiliaries, in short. We mark them in green.

In Latin, the word auxiliaris meant “helping”, “accompanying”. Today, auxiliaries can help us render “where” we are in our thoughts about time: in our linguistic PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE.

The “place, where” is a figure of speech. There is no singular or specific brain area for thought. Own language activity is the strongest single factor to unite the working of the human brain entire (!)

Auxiliaries keep company to head verbs. There are thousands of verbs in English that can head phrases and tell faculties or activities, as to learn, to read, or to write.

Let us try the Progressive Aspect in our Future field.
The grammatical tense we make is the Future Progressive.

The Perfect pattern takes the third form. It ends in –ED, for regular verbs. For irregular verbs, the ending can be –EN.

In the field for grammatical PAST,
it makes the Past Perfect tense.

The fields and the river of time have a yet another pattern. Grammars name it the Simple. The name comes from the Latin word simplus. The form is “simple”, because it can work without an auxiliary.

An activity or faculty may be not simple at all,
and we might use the Simple Aspect, still:
I love my grammar
(though loving grammar is not an easy feeling).

We capitalize, that is, use big letters, to write Aspect names. We use the words “simple”, “progressive”, or “perfect” as parts of noun phrases where the noun
― Aspect ―
is a ■proper noun.

The words Simple, Progressive, Perfect, or Aspect do not have any sense other than grammatical.

To reckon on the Simple Aspect, let us try the verb to learn. It is a regular verb, in American English. We can begin with the PAST field. Regular verbs take the ending ―ED, for the PAST.

In the PRESENT field, the third person singular has the feature “S”.

■CHAPTER 2 shows the verb form will mapping on the FUTURE with its PRESENT form.

The infinity symbol is to mean that something cannot be exactly calculated, similarly to the ■PI, π. It is impossible to calculate natural languages mathematically.

Nobody can count all thinkable phrases or even words. To ascribe numerical values to alphabets, words, or phrases, we could be only arbitrary — our code would not represent any objective linguistic reality.

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We might think it takes at least two words to shape a phrase, and the Simple does not have the phrase, sometimes. Phrases yet can work as room we make in our speech and language. Verb phrases are the room for grammatical time, and one word is enough for the Simple pattern.

Let us see language mapping in big letters, for all the Aspects so far.

Some grammars use the label “Continuous” for the “Progressive”. They mean the same pattern and Aspect in practice. Travelers in Grammar remains with the name Progressive.

We have noted on three Aspects so far.

There is one more Aspect in English, the Perfect Progressive. We may get to know it better in Part 2 of the journey. Now and here, we may appreciate some clarity about ■3.2. THE GRAMMATICAL PERSON “YOU”.

■This text is also available in Polish.

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