The Tense System in English Relative Clauses: A Corpus-Based Analysis

452 Pages·1996·10.511 MB·English

by  Ilse Depraetere

The Tense System in English Relative Clauses
W
DE
G
Topics in English Linguistics
16
Editor
Herman Wekker
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
The Tense System
in English Relative Clauses
A Corpus-Based Analysis
Ilse Depraetere
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York 1996
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.
@ Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the
ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Depraetere, Ilse, 1964—
The tense system in English relative clauses ; a corpus-
based analysis / Ilse Depraetere.
p. cm. - (Topics in English linguistics ; 16)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-11-014685-1 (cloth ; acid-free paper)
1. English language - Relative clauses. 2. English
language - Tense. I. Title. II. Series.
PE1385.D46 1995
425-dc20 95-42930
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Depraetere, Ilse.
The tense system in English relative clauses ; a corpus-based
analysis / Ilse Depraetere - Berlin; New York : Mouton de
Gruyter, 1996
(Topics in English linguistics ; 16)
ISBN 3-11-014685-1
NE: GT
© Copyright 1995 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mecha-
nical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printing: Gerike GmbH, Berlin. Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer, Berlin.
Printed in Germany.
To Luk
Perhaps if the future existed, concretely and in-
dividually, as something that could be discerned by
a better brain, the past would not be so seductive:
its demands would be balanced by those of the fu-
ture. Persons might then straddle the middle stretch
of the seesaw when considering this or that object.
It might be fun. But the future has no such reality
(as the pictured past and the perceived present pos-
sess); the future is but a figure of speech, a specter
of thought.
(Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent things)

Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof. R. Declerck: not only
did he introduce me to the intriguing field of tense and aspect in En-
glish, but his careful and rigorous comments on my text have con-
tributed considerably to shaping it into its present form. He has set
standards of professional excellence that will provide a continuous
challenge to my work.
I am grateful to Prof. J. Buysschaert, Prof. S. Greenbaum and Prof.
O. Leys and Prof E. Vorlat for their comments on various chapters of
this book.
I am indebted to a large number of native speakers who were will-
ing to offer their views on the acceptability of the verb forms in the
many examples of the book. As a complete list of the often acciden-
tal informants would be too long, I have to restrict myself to naming
the most dedicated among them: T. Caldicott and E. Lee.
I would like to thank P. Bonte, for the exceptional patience he dis-
played in drawing and redrawing the diagrams in this book.
The completion of this project would have been twice as hard
without my colleagues at the university, whose good humour helped
keep me sane.
It is my parents, my sister and my husband, though, who remain
my most faithful supporters: their love is reflected in all that I do.

Contents
List of abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
Definition of the concepts bounded-unbounded and telic-atelic
1.1. Definition 6
1.2. Tests to distinguish unboundedness from boundedness and
atelicity from telicity 17
1.2.1. Test 1 17
1.2.2. Test 2 20
1.2.3. Test 3 22
1.2.4. Test 4 23
1.3. Factors influencing (un)boundedness and (a)telicity 25
1.3.1.NPs 25
1.3.2. Directional PPs 27
1.3.3. Tense 28
1.3.3.1. Past tense 28
1.3.3.2. Present perfect 30
1.3.3.3. Present tense 31
1.3.3.4. Conclusion 32
1.3.4. Adverbials 33
1.3.4.1. Adverbials affect (a)telicity 34
1.3.4.2. Adverbials affect (un)boundedness 38
1.3.4.3. Effect of adverbials on implicature past tense 42
1.3.5. Progressive 47
1.3.6. Non-indicative mood and negation 49
1.3.7. Interaction of the different factors 50
1.4. Zero-boundedness and zero-telicity 50
1.5. Left boundedness and right boundedness 52
1.6. General conclusion 53