The grammar of the english verb phrase part 112 pdf

770 Glossary
Conjugation: the phenomenon that a lexical verb can be used in a number of
different forms, expressing such notions as person, number (ϭ singular or plu-
ral), tense and grammatical aspect, e. g. work, works, worked, will work, has
worked, is working, etc.
Constituent negation (or narrow scope negation): i. e. negation which has only
one constituent of the clause in its scope (e. g. I told her nothing about it; It
wasn’t John who was responsible).
Constitution reading (or constitution interpretation): particular type of up-to-
now reading of a clause in the present perfect, namely that reading in which
the speaker focuses on the situational constitution of the pre-present zone and
not only on the temporal location of a situation in that zone. The speaker as
it were looks back on the pre-present to ‘measure’ it (e. g. Nearly a year has
gone by since then) or to see how this period has been filled ‘situationwise’
(e. g. What have you been doing?; How many times have you met him in the
past week?).
Contain: verb indicating the temporal relation of containment that holds be-
tween the time of the full situation and the situation time or between an Adv-
time (ϭ time indicated by an adverbial like yesterday) and a situation time (or
other binding time). The temporal relation in question may be one of (strict)
coincidence or (proper) inclusion. Thus, in At five o’clock I was jogging, the
Adv-time contains the situation time in terms of coincidence, and the time of
the full situation is interpreted as including the (punctual) situation time. In I
was there from two to four o’clock the Adv-time (indicated by a bounding
bifunctional temporal adverbial) coincides with the situation time, and, because
it is bounded, the time of the full situation also coincides with the situation
time. In both these examples the Adv-time thus ‘contains’ the situation time in
the sense that the two coincide with each other; in contrast, in John left yester-
day the Adv-time ‘contains’ the situation time in terms of inclusion. (See also
containment.)
Contained orientation time: orientation time that is specified (i. e. ‘contained’

in terms of either inclusion or coincidence) by an Adv-time. For example, in
John left yesterday, the contained orientation time is the situation time, i. e.
the time of John’s leaving. In At five o’clock John had already left the office,
the contained orientation time is not the situation time but another (nonlexi-
calized) orientation time to which the situation time is T-anterior. See also
contained orientation time of the head clause.
Contained orientation time of the head clause: in a complex sentence with a
{when / after / before}-clause, the contained orientation time of the head
clause is that orientation time from the tense structure of the head clause that
Glossary 771
is contained by the Adv-time established by the time clause. For example, in
John had already left when Bill arrived, the contained orientation time of the
head clause is the orientation time to which the situation time of the head
clause is T-anterior.
Contained orientation time of the
when
-clause: in a complex sentence with a
when-clause, the orientation time which is part of the tense structure in the
when-clause and which is contained by the common Adv-time. This contained
orientation time is either the situation time of the when-clause (as in John left
when Bill arrived) or another orientation time to which the situation time of
the when-clause is T-related (as in John left when Bill had already arrived).
Containment: (a) temporal relation between the time of the full situation and
the situation time: the time of the full situation contains the situation time in
terms of either inclusion or coincidence. In bounded clauses the time of the full
situation coincides with the situation time (e. g. Yesterday John ran two miles
before breakfast), whereas in nonbounded clauses it may either coincide with
or include the situation time (e. g. [“What was John doing from 5 to 5.30?”] Ϫ
“From 5 to 5.30 John was running his usual two miles before breakfast.”). (b)
There is also a containment relation (again in terms of inclusion or coincidence)

between an Adv-time (ϭ adverbially specified time interval) and a contained
orientation time.
Continuative interpretation (or continuative reading): one of three possible W-
interpretations of a clause in the present perfect, namely that on which the full
situation is taken not only to fill the entire pre-present (ϭ period leading up
to t
0
) but also to extend beyond t
0
, so that the time of the full situation is
taken to include the situation time (which coincides with the pre-present zone).
Such a reading is realized, for example, in Ian’s been living in Lincoln since
1998, which implies that Ian is still living in Lincoln.
Continuative perfect: present perfect tense form used in a clause receiving a
continuative reading.
Continuous form: see progressive form.
Coordinate (adj.): said of two or more constituents of equal rank. For example,
in a compound sentence like John was angry and Mary was shocked, the two
clauses are ‘coordinate clauses’: the relation between them is one of ‘coordina-
tion’, not syntactic subordination.
Coordination: the phenomenon that a syntactic unit (construction) is formed
which consists of coordinate constituents only.
Copula (or copular verb, linking verb): verb like be, seem, become, etc., which
has to be followed by a subject complement (as in John is {ill / a nerd} and
which is incompatible with any other type of verb complement.
772 Glossary
Copular verb: see copula.
Core meaning: the semantics of a tense, i. e. the tense structure expressed by
the tense in question. For example, the core meaning of the present perfect is:
‘The situation time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present time-

sphere’. Given that containment can be defined in terms of either ‘inclusion’
or ‘coincidence’, there are two T-interpretations that are compatible with this
core meaning: the ‘before now’ T-interpretation , which gives rise to the ‘indefi-
nite’ W-interpretation (e. g. I have seen that girl before), and the co-extensive
T-interpretation which gives rise either to an ‘up-to-now’ W-interpretation (e. g.
Where have you been?) or to a ‘continuative’ W-interpretation (e. g. I’ve been
polishing this furniture for over an hour now).
Counterfactual: contrary to fact; incompatible with the actual world and there-
fore belonging to a counterfactual world. The situation referred to in the
counterfactual conditional clause If John had been here … is a ‘counterfac-
tual situation’.
Counterfactual world: possible world which is assumed by the speaker to be
incompatible with the actual world or with any future possible world which
might (or might not) eventually become the actual world. For example, If I
were you … creates a counterfactual world: it refers to a situation which is
incompatible with what is the actual world at any time.
Declarative question: sentence that combines the form (word order) of a declar-
ative sentence with an interrogative meaning (e. g. You’re his father?).
Declarative sentence (or statement): sentence which is not interrogative or im-
perative in form and makes an assertion rather than having the illocutionary
force of another speech act (such as a question or imperative).
De dicto
interpretation: see intensional interpretation.
Defective verb: verb which has only one or two forms, e. g. must, ought to,
can / could.
Definite: said of a referring expression which is assumed by the speaker to be
sufficient for the hearer to identify the referent. Yesterday, in 1983, the day
before, etc. are definite time-specifying adverbials. The man is a definite noun
phrase. Donnellan (1966) distinguishes between two kinds of definite noun
phrases: attributive noun phrases and referential noun phrases.

Deictic adverbial: see deictic time-specifying adverbial.
Deictic time-specifying adverbial (or anchored time-specifying adverbial): time-
specifying adverbial which relates the Adv-time which it specifies to an anchor
time. For example: in I heard that name yesterday, the temporal anchor is the
Glossary 773
temporal zero-point, since yesterday means ‘the day before t
0
’. The anchor time
may also be another time: see nondeictic time-specifying adverbial versus deic-
tic time-specifying adverbial.
Denotation: meaning of a linguistic unit (a word, a phrase, a clause, etc.). The
denotation of a verb (e. g. walk) is a simple situation-template; the denotation
of a verb phrase (e. g. walk to the church) is an enriched situation-template,
and the denotation of a clause is a situation. The denotation of a linguistic
unit is to be distinguished from its reference (or referential meaning): in John
walked to the church, the denotation of walk to the church is ‘go to the church
on foot’, whereas the referential meaning of John walked to the church is the
particular actualization of this kind of situation on a given past occasion. This
particular actualization is the referent of the clause John walked to the church.
Denote: ‘mean’, in the specific sense of ‘have as its denotation’. See denotation.
Dependent clause: alternative term for subclause.
De re
interpretation: see transparent interpretation.
Direct binding: the phenomenon that the situation time of a subclause is T-
bound by the situation time of its own head clause. Consider the following
example: [The police knew that] the girl had told her friends once or twice
that she was afraid to go home. Here, the situation time of the second that-
clause is represented as T-simultaneous with that of the first that-clause, whose
situation time is itself represented as T-anterior to the situation time of the
matrix clause. The fact that the situation time of the second that-clause is also

W-anterior to the situation time of the matrix clause is not expressed by its
tense form (was afraid).
Direct reported speech: reported speech in which the reported utterance or
thought is not reported in the form of a subordinate clause (e. g. He said that
he was ill) but is quoted as an independent sentence (as in He said: ‘I am ill.’).
Direct result: resultant state that inevitably comes about when the actualization
of a situation is completed. For example, in I’ve locked up the shop, the com-
pletion of the action of locking up the shop automatically (and immediately)
produces the state of the shop being locked up (even though this state is not
likely to be a lasting one).
Discontinuation: the phenomenon that (the actualization of) a situation is no
longer continuing at a given orientation time. See also implicature of discontin-
uation.
Dissective: typical characteristic of homogeneous clauses or homogeneous time
adverbials. It means that any part of the referent of the clause or adverbial (i. e.
774 Glossary
the actualization of a situation or an Adv-time, respectively) can be referred to
by the same clause or adverbial that refers to the actualization or Adv-time as
a whole.
Do
-insertion: insertion of the periphrastic auxiliary do in clauses that require
an auxiliary but would not contain one if there were no do-support.
Domain (or temporal domain): set of orientation times each of which is tempo-
rally related to another by means of a tense. At least one of these orientation
times is a situation time (since any tense form locates a situation in time). A
domain is normally established by an absolute tense form and expanded by
one or more relative tense forms. The latter establish temporal subdomains.
Thus, in John said he had prayed, the tense form said establishes a past domain
and had prayed creates a subdomain within that domain.
Do

-support: the phenomenon that in cases where an auxiliary is required the
periphrastic auxiliary do is added to a lexical verb (except to be) because other-
wise the clause would not contain an auxiliary. For example, because sentences
like *I smoke not or *Smoke you? are ungrammatical, we have to apply do-
insertion: I don’t smoke, Do you smoke?.
Double pluperfect: the form ‘had ϩ perfect infinitive’, which is sometimes
found instead of the past perfect in the conditional clause of a conditional
sentence of the type illustrated by I would have been happier if she had come.
For example: Had he have lost this frame [it would have been all over for him].
Duration adverbial: nontechnical term for any temporal adverbial that specifies
the length of a situation. In other words, a cover term for pure duration adver-
bials (e. g. for a split second, for two hours) and bifunctional temporal adverbi-
als (e. g. from six to eight). (The latter specify both time and duration.)
Duration-quantifying constitution reading (or interpretation): particular type
of constitution reading of a clause in the present perfect, which arises when
the speaker is specifically concerned with the length of the pre-present zone
and indicates this by a bounded sentence referring to a duration-specifying
situation (e. g. Nearly a year has gone by since then).
Durative (or nonpunctual): ontological feature, the opposite of punctual. Said
of a situation-template which is conceived of as having a certain duration. By
extension, the term can also be applied to a verb phrase (e. g. write a book)
denoting such a situation-template, as well as to a situation that is conceived
of as having duration, even if this situation is in fact a durative hypersituation
consisting of consecutive punctual subsituations (e. g. Someone was knocking
at the door). The term durative is also applied to time-specifying adverbials
that indicate a specific time which has some duration (e. g. yesterday) – see
Glossary 775
durative time-specifying adverbial – and to nonpunctual duration adverbials
(e. g. for two hours).
Durative situation verb: verb which denotes a durative situation-template.

Durative time-specifying adverbial: time-specifying adverbial which specifies
an Adv-time that has some duration (e. g. yesterday).
Durative verb phrase: verb phrase which denotes a durative situation-template.
Dynamic (or nonstatic): ontological feature of some (punctual or durative) situ-
ation-templates. It means that the kind of situation referred to is not a state,
and therefore involves change and requires an input of fresh energy to continue
(e. g. walking). The term ‘dynamic’ is also applied to a verb phrase or predicate
constituent lexicalizing a dynamic situation-template (e. g. walked a mile), as
well as to the actualization of a dynamic situation (e. g. John’s walking a mile
yesterday) and to a clause referring to such a concrete actualization (e. g. John
walked a mile yesterday).
Effected NP: noun phrase referring to the entity that comes into existence as a
result of an action (typically expressed by a verb of creation). For example, in
I’ve written a poem, the direct object refers to an effected NP.
Egressive aspect (or terminative aspect): kind of grammatical aspect. A speaker
expresses egressive aspect when he uses a special verb form to represent the
actualization of a situation as ending. Since English lacks a special verb form
to express egressive meaning, this aspect is not grammaticalized in English. (If
we want to refer to the terminal part of a situation, we have to add an aspectu-
alizer like stop, finish, end, leave off, etc. to the verb referring to the situation.)
Embedded clause: alternative term for subclause.
Enriched situation-template: what is denoted by a multi-word verb phrase (e. g.
walk to the church). An enriched situation-template can be further enriched by
elements that do not belong to the verb phrase proper but to the predicate
constituent (e. g. walk to the church merrily on Sundays).
Epistemic: see epistemic modality.
Epistemic modality: modality having to do with the possible degrees of the
speaker’s commitment to the truth of a proposition. For example, This must
be the answer! expresses epistemic necessity, while This cannot be the answer!
expresses epistemic impossibility (which can also, of course, be seen as a kind

of epistemic necessity). Epistemic modality can be expressed by modal adverbs
like certainly, perhaps, possibly, etc. or by auxiliaries like must, should, ought
to, will, can, could and need. The representation of (the actualization of) a
situation as factual, counterfactual or not-yet-factual also belongs to the realm
of epistemic modality.
776 Glossary
Event: type of dynamic situation (i. e. a dynamic situation type), e. g. bursting,
exploding, falling off a ladder, snowing. An event differs from an action in
that it does not actualize under the control of an agent but just happens. It
differs from a process in that it is not evolving.
Event verb: verb denoting an event (e. g. evolve, burst, take place, rain, occur,
happen, break down, snow).
Evidential
because
-clause: clause which is introduced by the subordinating con-
junction because and which explains the basis on which the speaker comes to
the conclusion that the head clause proposition is true. For example: [There
must be someone in the house] because there is a light on in one of the rooms.
Evolving: ontological feature typical of processes (e. g. growing, getting dark,
diminishing, deteriorating, etc.). This means that [ϩ evolving] is a feature of a
situation-template which is at the same time dynamic, durative and non-
agentive, and which is denoted by a verb phrase representing the kind of situa-
tion as gradually developing, i. e. as moving on a (usually implicit) scale. The
term evolving can also be applied to the actualization of a process.
Expand (a domain): incorporate a new situation time into an existing temporal
domain by using a relative tense form.
Expanded domain: temporal domain which comprises more than one situa-
tion time.
Experiential perfect: see perfect of experience.
Explanatory-resultative: said of a clause in the present perfect which receives

an up-to-now reading and whose communicative function is to explain the
origin of a present result. For example, [Sorry I’m dirty.] I’ve been cleaning
the cellar. By extension the term is also applied to the tense itself. However,
‘explanatory-resultative (present) perfect’ is really short for ‘clause in the pres-
ent perfect having an explanatory-resultative function’.
Extensional interpretation: see transparent interpretation.
Factual: being, or having become a fact, in the actual world. Synonym of fac-
tual at t
0
.
Factual at t
0
(or t
0
-factual): said of a situation that has already actualized at
the temporal zero-point (t
0
) or is actualizing at t
0
. For example, John left before
Bill arrived represents both situations as having actualized before t
0
and there-
fore as being past facts (i. e. as being ‘factual at t
0
’). (By contrast, in John
wanted to leave before Bill arrived, the before-clause is not interpreted as fac-
tual at t
0
because it refers to a situation which may or may not have actualized

in the past: the situation of Bill’s arrival was expected to actualize by John,