User:Robbiemuffin/Using English Grammar Graphics
I've generated graphics for english grammar -- as I learned it. There is a bit of a divide between people who want a system that maps cleanly to grammar in linguistics in general and grammar that maps well to the way we think in english. We tend to think very strictly in 3 tenses: past, present, and future. But our grammar has only two absolute tenses (in the standard sense): past, and non-past.
I've done up these images in a consistent fashion to provide visual cues to grammatical tenses as one would expect coming from the perspective of english grammar. A good reference is: Verb tenses, and is the standard form taught in schools (at least it was in my youth). There are differences for now in that: the images here sometimes generalize many usages (see the habitual states), the use of "time" simple instead of simple "time" in the tense names, and the particular choice of continuous versus progressive in the tense names.
Usage
[edit]For the most part you can just include the images like normal. It is useful to note the name of the image when you include it though. For consistency, it would be best if these images were only called when associated with the usage for which they were drawn up.
An example:
the Preterite is a past tense generally similar to the Simple Past. So it would make sense to use the Past Simple image. Likewise the Present Perfect Progressive is usually best represented with the Present Continuous image, however in some coverage of the topic a binary relation between "Present Continuous" and "Present Perfect Progressive" is made, so that Present perfect progressive started in the unspecified past, while Present continuous started in a definite point in the past. (Very much in the fashion of the binary relation between the Future Perfect and the Non-Continuous sense of the Future Perfect.) This use of the Present perfect progressive would need a different image, like this one:
(which I've just now drawn up from the templates — please feel free to use the templates if you need to!)
Editing / Derivative work
[edit]see Image:EGG shells grammar.svg for an editable template, ready to go in any vector editor. It contains both Enpanded and unexpanded versions of most text.
Meet the Tenses
[edit]Here are the graphics, divided by the time when the principle action occurs:
The Past tenses
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transcluded from User:Robbiemuffin/Using English Grammar Graphics/Past tense
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thePast Simple
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the During sense of the Past Simple
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the habitual sense of the Past Simple
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the Past Continuous
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the Past Perfect
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the Present Perfect
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the During sense of the Present Perfect
Past Simple
[edit]English's preterite — usually called its simple past or, somewhat loosely, its past-tense form — is generally formed by adding -ed or -d to the verb's plain form (bare infinitive), sometimes with some spelling modifications:
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Past Continuous
[edit]The construction of a past continuous is similar to the present continuous tense, be it that it has a past simple form of 'to be' instead of a present simple form preceding the present participle.
An example of a past continuous inside a sentence would be 'I was painting the house.' There's the past simple form of 'to be' in the finite position (was), with the present participle of 'to paint' (painting) following it. | |
note this is the same Image:EGG_Past_simpleHabitual.svg see the Habitual sense of the Past simple v. the Habitual sense of the Past Continuous |
Past Perfect
[edit]There are generally two types of pluperfect, corresponding to the two types of perfect:
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note this is the same Image:EGG_Past_continuous.svg see the Past continuous v. the Past Perfect Continuous |
Present Perfect
[edit]transcluded from User:Robbiemuffin/Using English Grammar Graphics/Present Perfect
This is a Present Tense which is wholly in the past.
When presenting this information to language learners, it is presented as a present tense. Many people logically categorize this in the past tense however. In the lens of grammar in general (and not english grammar in particular), English has only two tenses: past and non-past. Present Perfect is clearly not non-past tense.
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The Present tenses
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transcluded from User:Robbiemuffin/Using English Grammar Graphics/Present tense
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the Present Simple
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the Near-future sense of the Present Simple
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the Habitual sense of the Present Simple
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the Present Perfect
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the During sense of the Present Perfect
Present Simple
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This sense is for facts, recurrent events, and the like.
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Present Continuous
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note this is the same Image:EGG_Present_simpleNearFuture.svg image | |
This sense is for facts, recurrent events, and the like.
note this is the same Image:EGG_Present_simpleHabitual.svg |
Present Perfect
[edit]transcluded from User:Robbiemuffin/Using English Grammar Graphics/Present Perfect
This is a Present Tense which is wholly in the past.
When presenting this information to language learners, it is presented as a present tense. Many people logically categorize this in the past tense however. In the lens of grammar in general (and not english grammar in particular), English has only two tenses: past and non-past. Present Perfect is clearly not non-past tense.
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The Future tenses
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transcluded from User:Robbiemuffin/Using English Grammar Graphics/Future tense
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the Future Simple
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the Future Perfect
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the Non-continuous sense of the Future Perfect
Future Simple
[edit]In normal use, it expresses a future event. It includes a continuous-like form (are doing/will do) which nonetheless still expresses an event wholly contained in the future.
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Future Continuous
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Future Perfect
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on a personal note, I have no idea why this distinction The Non-Continuous sense (contrast with Future Perfect Continuous) of the Future perfect is just like the general sense, except that it implies a definite beginning prior to the now of the sentence. In some sense, all sentences imply a definite beginning and end (try creating a timeless phrase), but here we exclude durations that go to the beginning of their context (my age, the history of mankind, the age of the earth, the age of the universe). For example:
but not:
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Future Perfect Continuous
[edit]The dotted line in this image details the point after which the continued event is instantiated.
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See also
[edit]With the tenses as presented on this page you could construct an english grammar chart which would be functionally equivalent to any other english grammar chart for natives. For the linguistic sense of grammar, or for L2 learners, there are different requirements:
Other Linguistics grammar topics: