The grammar of the english verb phrase part 46 pot

Summary5.38.1 The semantics of the present perfect ⫺ its core meaning ⫺ is: ‘The situation time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere’.. 5.38.2 There are two se

X Summary

5.38.1 The semantics of the present perfect ⫺ its core meaning ⫺ is: ‘The

situation time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere’ This means that the situation time is contained in a period leading up to, but not including, t0, in terms of either inclusion or coincidence The length of the period conceptualized as constituting the pre-present depends on contextual factors, including temporal adverbials, but is always the shortest time required

to make sense of the clause concerned in context

5.38.2 There are two semantic types of present perfect ⫺ its tense inter-pretations (T-interinter-pretations) ⫺ which arise because of the two possible ways

in which a situation time can be contained in a period, namely by inclusion or

by coincidence One T-interpretation arises when the situation time is included

in the pre-present and does not include the terminal point of the pre-present That is, the time of the predicated situation is seen as finishing some time before t0 (Thus, although the situation is located in the present time-sphere, it

is seen as temporally cut off from t0.) The other T-interpretation arises when the situation time is co-extensive with the pre-present That is, the predicated situation is seen as taking place over an interval that occupies the whole of the pre-present period and reaches right up to (but does not include) t0 These two

semantic types of the present perfect are called, respectively, the ‘before now’ T-interpretation and the ‘co-extensive’ T-interpretation.

5.38.3 Depending firstly on the T-interpretation that a present perfect re-ceives, and then on many other contextual and pragmatic factors, there are three different ways in which the relation between the time of thefull situation

and the pre-present period can be interpreted The time of the full situation may be included in the pre-present and lie wholly before t0 (⫽ the indefinite

W-reading), it may extend throughout the pre-present and also include t0 (⫽

the continuative W-reading) or it may simply coincide with the pre-present,

leading up to, but not including, t0(⫽ the up-to-now W-reading) This means

there are three temporal W-interpretations of the present perfect (In fact, since W-interpretations only arise by taking into account the full grammatical and contextual information available about a clause in the present perfect, we should, strictly speaking, talk of W-interpretations of present perfect clauses.) 5.38.4 If the T-interpretation is a ‘before now’ interpretation, the time of the full situation usually coincides with the situation time (⫽ the time of the predi-cated situation) This time is included in the pre-present period and ends some time before t0 Even if the time of the full situation is longer than the situation time (because the progressive form is used), the full situation is interpreted as being over before t .The resulting temporal W-interpretation is called the

indef-inite reading This term reflects the fact that the situation time is not anchored

to another time: (a) unlike on the other temporal W-interpretations of the

present perfect, it is not anchored to t0by virtue of including t0or being

adja-cent to t0, and (b) the precise location of the situation time in the pre-present

must not be specified by an adverbial, e g.I have met her [*last night].

5.38.5 When the T-interpretation of the present perfect is a ‘co-extensive’

interpretation, the time of the predicated situation may either be included in

or coincide with the time of the full situation In the first of these possibilities,

the time of the full situation does not only fill the pre-present period but also,

necessarily, continues beyond it to include t0 (This interpretation has nothing

to say about whether or not the full situation extends into the post-present.)

This temporal W-interpretation is called the continuative reading (e g. I’ve

been a widow for the last five years) In the second possibility, in which the

situation time coincides with the time of the full situation, the time of the full

situation necessarily also extends throughout the pre-present period and up to

t0, thus including the terminal point of the pre-present (but not t0) This

tempo-ral W-interpretation is called the up-to-now reading (e g.What have you been

doing [since we last met]?).

5.38.6 Because these three categories of temporal W-interpretation of the

present perfect are intended to capture the different ways in which the time of

the full situation is interpreted as relating to t0 (i e as wholly before t0, as

leading up to t0or as leading up to and including t0), we naturally find that

there are differences between the three temporal W-interpretations as to their

compatibility with certain temporal adverbials For example,ever only occurs

with the indefinite interpretation By contrast, ever since or since childhood

only occurs with the continuative interpretation

5.38.7 The interpretation of a given present perfect (or more precisely, of a

clause with a present perfect verb) as either indefinite, up-to-now or

continua-tive always depends on various grammatical and pragmatic factors The former

include, notably, the effect of time adverbials (as mentioned above) and of the

progressive (as will be mentioned below) The latter include, for example, the

knowledge that being taller than someone who is already an adult is a more

or less permanent condition, so thatHe has already been taller than his mother

for a year is necessarily understood to be continuative and not indefinite or

up-to-now Often several factors are simultaneously at work in arriving at a

given interpretation of the present perfect (see part VII)

5.38.8 Another important factor in determining the W-interpretation of

pres-ent perfect clauses is one that lies on the borderline between grammar and

pragmatics, namely boundedness The role of boundedness is evident when we

consider the continuative reading The continuative reading is not possible if

the full situation is bounded (either explicitly or by interpretation in context) This is because the predicated situation, being contained in the pre-present, cannot include t0, so that the full situation must be longer than the predicated situation if it is to include t0, and such a relation is only possible if the full situation is conceived of as homogeneous, and thus nonbounded The only exception to this constraint on the continuative reading is when a time

adver-bial specifies the length of the ‘factual full situation’, i e the situation as it has

actualized up to and including t0, thus bounding it, but does not exclude the possibility that in fact the situation will continue beyond t0, so that the ‘poten-tial full situation’ is nonbounded For example: Meg has been talking to the elephant for an hour now [I wonder if the elephant is getting bored.] In such

a case, we still have a continuative interpretation despite the fact that the factual full situation is bounded

5.38.9 The indefinite perfect has a variety of functional uses which are often identified in the literature These uses give rise to particular functional

read-ings We note the experiential reading, and the recency reading, which includes

a ‘hot news’ reading The experiential use typically refers to a bygone situation

seen as having relevance as part of the (current) experience, knowledge or history of a person or other entity, for example: Have you ever made lemon meringue pie? or I’ve read most of Raymond Chandler’s novels The recency

use of the indefinite present perfect is unsurprising, given that the location of the bygone situation time in the present time-sphere emphasizes that the speaker, in talking about the situation, is concerned with NOW, and given that (perhaps because of this) the default temporal location of a present perfect situation is the most recent one that makes sense in the context in question In Br.E., the recency use of the indefinite perfect is normally signalled by an adver-bial such as just or recently, or by a context which invokes a ‘hot news’ use

interpretation, such asRun! The river has burst its banks.

5.38.10 As we have mentioned above, when the T-reading of a present perfect

is that the situation time occupies the whole of the pre-present, and when the temporal W-reading is that the full situation also leads up to t0(and is therefore bounded), we have the ‘up-to-now’ W-reading of the present perfect In many cases, this reading occurs when the speaker is concerned with the temporal or situational constitution of the pre-present That is, the utterance or question scans the pre-present, either to quantify the length of time that separates the situation time from t0, or to give the number of times that a situation has actualized in the pre-present, or to consider how the pre-present has been filled

We call this ‘pre-present scanning’ function of the up-to-now perfect the consti-tution use and the corresponding reading the consticonsti-tution reading When the

speaker using an up-to-now perfect does not make an assertion about or ask a

question about the constitution of the pre-present, we speak of the unmarked

up-to-now use, or reading, of the present perfect clause An example isHi! I’ve

been wondering where you were The unmarked up-to-now use of the present

perfect often has an explanatory-resultative function That is, it is used to give

or request an explanation for some result that has come about during the

actualization of the situation referred to E.g [I won’t shake hands.] I’ve been

cleaning out the drains or Have you been cleaning out the drains? [You smell

a little strange.]

5.38.11 As for the constitution reading of (the up-to-now W-reading) of the

present perfect, it has three main functions:

When it is duration-quantifying, it refers to a duration-specifying situation

which fills, and in doing so describes the length of, the pre-present period An

example isThree weeks have gone by since your last letter.

When it is number-quantifying, the constitution use of the perfect refers to

the number of actualizations of a situation that there have been in the

pre-present period (The number may be zero) For example:That’s the third glass

I’ve broken this week or [How often have you taken cocaine?] I’ve never taken

it (Note that I’ve never taken cocaine, outside the sort of context given, will

probably receive an (experiential) indefinite perfect reading, since there is no

implication that it specifically provides the number of instances of cocaine

taking that have taken place in the pre-present, but rather refers to the

non-actualization of a situation in the pre-present.) These two readings are jointly

quantificational readings of the constitution perfect.

Finally, when the constitution use of the perfect is nonquantificational, the

speaker looks back on the pre-present and describes or asks what sort of

situa-tion(s) has or have filled it For example, both the perfects in the following

example receive nonquantificational constitution use readings:

“What has kept you so long?” ⫺ “ I’ve been checking that the windows were all

closed.”

5.38.12 Figure 5.1 (repeated here) gives an overview of the various readings

that can be attributed to a clause in the present perfect

5.38.13 Constitution readings of the up-to-now present perfect involve what

are often referred to as specificational sentences A specificational sentence

specifies or asks for a value for a presupposed variable For example, It was

Meg who gave the elephant John’s dinner presupposes ‘someone gave the

ele-phant John’s dinner’ and specifies the value ‘Meg’ for the value ‘the x who gave

the elephant John’s dinner’ (Nonspecificational sentences, which are called

predicational sentences, do not similarly presuppose a ‘gap’ in knowledge that

needs to be filled: Meg gave the elephant John’s dinner does not, on its

un-marked reading, supply a value for a presupposed ‘gap’ or variable.) All

wh-questions are specificational, because a question word always represents a

vari-Figure 5.1 The various readings of clauses in the present perfect.

able Thus, Who gave the elephant John’s dinner? makes it clear that there is

a gap in knowledge concerning the variable ‘the x who gave the elephant John’s dinner’ All replies to awh-question are similarly specificational: Bill gave the elephant John’s dinner or It was Bill who gave the elephant John’s dinner

specifies the value ‘Bill’ for the variable ‘the x who gave the elephant John’s dinner’

A present perfect sentence receiving a constitution reading is always specifi-cational.Shirley has met Tim four times so far, which yields a

‘number-quanti-fying constitution reading’ specifies the value ‘four times’ for the variable ‘the

x number of times that Shirley has met Tim’ Three years have elapsed since then specifies the value ‘three years’ for the variable ‘the time x that has elapsed

since then’ These two readings are ‘quantificational constitution readings’ In

What have you been doing? ⫺ I’ve been feeding the elephant, both sentences

receive a nonquantificational constitution reading The speaker asks the hearer for the situational constitution of the pre-present (which is conceptualized as

a very recent period), and the hearer specifies the value ‘I’ve been feeding the elephant’ for the variable ‘the x that I have been doing’

5.38.14 On an up-to-now reading, the time of the full situation extends right

up to t0(without, of course, including t0) However, this is not to say that the

extralinguistic situation to which the speaker refers extends right up to t0 ⫺

rather, it is conceived as doing so This means, first, that a situation may

evidently end shortly before t0‘in reality’ but still be considered as occupying

the entire pre-present For example:The American president has been in Beijing

all day today [Now he is on his way to Shanghai.] In a similar way, when the

full situation is a hypersituation composed of a number of subsituations, the

total of these subsituations is seen as filling the pre-present The fact that there

may be gaps between the subsituations is discounted ⫺ the subsituations are

conceived of as collectively accounting for the totality of the period up to now

(In addition, of course, it may be that in the extralinguistic world there is a

gap between the last subsituation and t0, but, as we have just seen, this does

not mean that the hypersituation is not considered to extend up to t0.) Thus,

when a speaker replies to the questionWhat have you been doing since I last

saw you? by saying: I’ve been raising three adopted children and running a

small company, it is clear that other activities have gone on in the

extralinguis-tic pre-present However, the reported activities are conceived of as filling the

pre-present for the purposes of the discourse in question

5.38.15 The different temporal W-readings of the present perfect⫺ the

con-tinuative reading, the indefinite reading and the up-to-now reading⫺ variously

affect the possibility of using the progressive, and, conversely, the use of the

progressive affects the possibility of arriving at a given reading of the perfect

For example, if a speaker wishes to express continuative meaning, then if the

situation is nonstatic (at least in the absence of a continuative-enforcing context

such as the adverbial ever since), he will normally use the progressive The

progressive means that the full situation is nonbounded and thus, in the case

of a ‘co-extensive T-reading’ (i e the situation time coincides with the

pre-present zone), it (i e the full situation) is capable of including t0 If the speaker

does not use the progressive in a context which permits it, the assumption is

likely to be made that he does not want to represent the full situation as

(non-bounded and) including t0 Conversely, the progressive will normally block an

indefinite interpretation of the present perfect because the progressive does not

normally combine with boundedness and the full situation on an indefinite

reading of the perfect is bounded Thus Meg has been washing the elephant

will be interpreted as continuative or up-to-now rather than as indefinite

5.38.16 Finally, there are two general issues concerning the present perfect

that need to concern us These are, first, that certain elements of meaning

exclude the possibility of locating the situation time in a ‘period up to now’,

and second, that the notion of ‘present result’ is closely associated with the

present perfect, but is not completely straightforward

5.38.17 The semantics of the present perfect, we have said, is: ‘The situation time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere’ The fact that the speaker who uses a present perfect is focusing on NOW rather than THEN means that it is normally presupposed that entities referred to in a present perfect clause exist now Thus Marilyn Monroe has read my book is

not normally acceptable (if uttered after her death) because the topic of this sentence relates to THEN rather than to NOW: the present perfect is blocked because the time zone which the speaker has in mind is past rather than pre-present However, when a no-longer existing entity is not part of the topic of the clause, in the sense that it is not ‘what the speaker is talking about’ but forms part of what the speaker is sayingabout the topic, then for some

speak-ers the present perfect is not excluded, provided it is possible for the speaker

to conceptualize a pre-present period For example: This hotel has one claim

to fame: it has been slept in by Marilyn Monroe.

5.38.18 Because the present perfect links a bygone situation to t0, as relevant

to ‘now’, there is usually an assumption that some sort of result of the bygone

situation is relevant at t0 The result that we can identify may be direct, as in

I’ve locked the door, which entails that the door was locked after the situation

was completed and implicates that the door is locked now or The tomatoes have ripened, which implicates that the tomatoes are ripe, but it may also be

an indirect result A direct result is the resultant state that inevitably comes about when the situation is completed Any other result is indirect For

exam-ple, The tomatoes have ripened may implicate the indirect result It’s time to pick them or it may implicate It’s therefore too late to make green tomato chutney Only indefinite perfects can implicate clear direct results Compare I have bottled the chutney, which is indefinite, and I have been bottling chutney since 9 o’clock, which is continuative The former implicates the direct result

‘The chutney is bottled’ The latter can be used to refer to such indirect results

as ‘The house smells of tomato chutney’ or ‘That’s why I’m tired’, but will not

be used to suggest ‘The chutney is bottled now.’