The grammar of the english verb phrase part 118 pptx

812 Glossary
at which the habit is located. For example: I used to smoke weed when I got
hired for my first job.
Repetitive situation: hypersituation, i. e. situation whose actualization involves
the actualization of a number of similar subsituations, e. g. [All the time I was
speaking] John was nodding assent; She stabbed him six times with her pen-
knife.
Replay comment: comment on a replay (e. g. on television).
Reported speech: the phenomenon of reporting an utterance or thought. Re-
ported speech may be ‘direct reported speech’ (e. g. He said: ‘I am ill.’), ‘indirect
reported speech’ (e. g. He said that he was ill.) or ‘free indirect speech’. In the
latter case there is no reporting clause like He said … and what is a subclause
in indirect reported speech appears as an independent clause (e. g. [He let me
know that he couldn’t come.] He was ill. He had to stay at home.)
Reporting clause: the head clause of a sentence that is an instance of reported
speech (e. g. He said in He said he was ill).
Represented speech: cover term for indirect reported speech (e. g. Jill told her-
self that she was going to take revenge) and free indirect speech (e. g. She was
going to take revenge, when used to represent the thought of a character in a
past-tense novel). Note that in both types, and especially in the latter, speech
should be interpreted as also including thought rather than just spoken dis-
course.
Restrictive
when
-clause: term that is sometimes used as an alternative to case-
specifying when-clause. It is inspired by the fact that a case-specifying when-
clause can as a rule be replaced by a restrictive relative clause without any
obvious change in meaning: compare Children are orphans when their parents
are dead with Children whose parents are dead are orphans.
Result: see direct result and indirect result.
Resultative reading (or interpretation): a particular usage type (a functional

reading) of the indefinite perfect: the sentence in the present perfect is taken to
draw attention to a present direct result. For example, the reading triggered by
the sentence I’ve locked up the shop is that the shop is now locked up.
Rhetorical question: sentence that has the form of an interrogative sentence
but which is interpreted as a forceful statement (e. g. Who can blame him?,on
the interpretation ‘Nobody can blame him’).
Right boundary: the point at which the actualization of a situation comes to
an end.
Root modality: see nonepistemic modality.
Glossary 813
Scalarity: the phenomenon that a word (e. g. a focusing adjunct like even)is
interpreted as a ‘scalar operator’, i. e. as representing the constituent which it
focuses as extremely high or extremely low on a particular scale of values. For
example, Even Mary managed to do it implies that (of those who did it) Mary
was the least likely person (or one of the least likely ones) to be able to do it.
(Here the scale is a scale of unlikelihood, on which the values are people that
are increasingly unlikely to be able to ‘do it’.)
Seemingly sloppy simultaneity: in a complex sentence with an adverbial when-
clause, the phenomenon that the (actualization of the) situation of the head
clause and that of the when-clause are not interpreted as W-simultaneous (i. e.
as having at least one point in common), although the tense form in the when-
clause expresses T-simultaneity, e. g. When John sees this, he will phone the
police. This phenomenon differs from ‘real’ sloppy simultaneity, as in e. g.
You’ll arrive at 8.35 if you take the 7.56 bus, in that it is not a question of
tense choice (more specifically, choice of T-relation to be expressed) but follows
naturally from the semantics of when, which does not require that the two
orientation times that are contained by the durative common Adv-time be W-
simultaneous with each other.
Semantics of a tense: the invariant meaning of a tense, i. e. the tense structure
expressed by any form belonging to the tense in question. For example, the

basic semantics of the present tense is ‘The situation time is T-simultaneous
with the temporal zero-point’.
Semelfactive aspect: kind of grammatical aspect: the speaker uses a special verb
form to represent a situation as actualizing only once (rather than as being a
repetitive situation).
Semelfactive situation: situation that actualizes only once, i. e. a nonrepetitive
situation. A semelfactive situation is not a hypersituation consisting of subsitu-
ations of the same kind.
Sentence: linguistic unit which is prototypically made up of a clause or a combi-
nation of clauses and which can function as an independent utterance.
Shift of domain: the creation of a new temporal domain by the use of an
absolute tense. In other words, the choice of an absolute tense form to create
a new temporal domain (as in John left after I arrived, where the past tense
form arrived does not temporally subordinate its situation time to the situation
time of the head clause but establishes a new domain) rather than the use of a
relative tense form to expand an already established domain (as in John left
after I had arrived, where the past perfect is used to express T-anteriority
within the domain established by the past tense form left).
Shift of temporal domain: see shift of domain.
814 Glossary
Shift of temporal focus: deviation from the unmarked choice of temporal focus
by the use of a marked tense form. Consider the following example: [I asked
John about the colour of the paint.] It is white. In the second clause, the
speaker no longer focuses on the past time when he asked John about the
colour of the paint – which he would do if he said It was white – but locates
the actualization of the situation of the paint being white in the present zone,
thus shifting the temporal focus from the past to the present.
Shift of temporal perspective: the selection of a tense, not in order to locate a
situation time in a particular time-zone but in order to represent it as if lying
in that time-zone; in other words, the creation or expansion of a temporal

domain by a tense that is typical of domains lying in a different time-zone. For
example, in They leave tomorrow, the present tense represents a post-present
situation as if it were a present one. In I hear you have been promoted, the
present tense represents a pre-present situation as if it were a present one. In
Next time his excuse will be that he is ill the time of the post-present excuse
is treated as if it were the present. The historic present is another typical case.
Shift the domain: effect a shift of domain, i. e. create a new temporal domain.
In He said that Gordon and Jill are married, the tense form are shifts the
domain (from the past to the present).
Simple situation-template: what is denoted by a lexical verb.
Simultaneity: type of temporal relation between two times. As a T-relation (ϭ
relation expressed by a tense form), T-simultaneity means strict coincidence
(between a bound situation time and the binding orientation time). Simultane-
ity that is not T-simultaneity may be a relation of either coincidence or overlap.
An example is the containment relation that exists between an Adv-time and
a situation time. See also W-simultaneity.
Simultaneous: see T-simultaneous and W-simultaneous.
Since
-cleft: it-cleft whose second clause is introduced by since (rather than by
that or by a wh-word as in It was John {who / that} did it). The highlighted
(focused) value constituent is always an indication of duration. For example:
It’s been three weeks since I have heard from him.
Single-zone adverbial: see single-zone time-specifying adverbial.
Single-zone time-specifying adverbial (or single-zone adverbial): deictic time-
specifying adverbial which refers to only one absolute time-zone. For example,
yesterday specifies an Adv-time which can only lie in the past zone.
Situation: cover term for the various possible types of contents of propositions,
i. e. for anything that can be expressed in a clause: an action, event, process,
Glossary 815
or state. The verb actualize is used as a cover term for the predicates that are

typically associated with one of these categories.
Situation-template: cover term for simple situation-template (denoted by a
verb) and enriched situation-template (denoted by a verb phrase or a possibly
longer predicate constituent). Situation-templates can be characterized in terms
of ontological features.
Situation time (or time of the situation): the time of a predicated situation, i. e.
the time of actualization of a situation as it is located in time by a tense form
(i. e. as it is temporally related to the temporal zero-point or to another orienta-
tion time) and to which the situation time of another situation can be tempo-
rally related by a tense form. In homogeneous clauses, the situation time may
be shorter than the time of the full situation. Thus, in At five o’clock I was in
my bed, the situation time is that portion of the full situation (of my being in
my bed) that is contained in (in this case: coincides with) the Adv-time specified
by at five o’clock.
Situation-time adverbial: time-specifying adverbial denoting an Adv-time which
‘contains’ (in terms of either inclusion or coincidence) a situation time (e. g. [I
left there]{yesterday / at five o’clock}).
Situation type: In this work, a situation type is a type of situation (as denoted
by a complete clause), such as an action or a state. For example, John smokes
denotes a permanent habit, which is a kind of state. Where necessary, we distin-
guish ‘situation type’ (or ‘type of situation’) from ‘type of situation-template’
(as denoted by a verb, verb phrase or predicate constituent). (Other linguistic
studies use the term ‘situation type’ to refer to both kinds of types.)
Situation-unbounding constituent: see unbounding constituent.
Sloppy simultaneity: the phenomenon that a situation time is linguistically rep-
resented as T-simultaneous with a binding situation time even though the bind-
ing situation time and the bound one are not strictly simultaneous (ϭ coincid-
ing) with each other and the full situations are not even W-simultaneous (ϭ
interpreted as having at least one point in common). Thus, both in If John
received a letter, he replied almost at once and in If John receives a letter, he

will reply almost at once, the if-clause situation is interpreted as W-anterior to
the head clause situation, but the if-clause uses a relative tense form expressing
T-simultaneity (received / receives) rather than a relative tense form expressing
T-anteriority (had received / has received).
Special Present Time-sphere System: systematic use of present-time-sphere
tenses to refer to situations that are interpreted as actualizing in the past, the
pre-present or the post-present. For example: the historic present.
816 Glossary
Specificational clause / sentence: clause or sentence which specifies a value for
a presupposed variable and in doing so focuses (highlights) the value. For ex-
ample, each of the following sentences specifies ‘a book’ as the value that
satisfies the variable ‘the x that I gave him’ and implies ‘nothing else’ (ϭ con-
trast): It was a
book
that I gave him, What I gave him was a
book
,A
book
was what I gave him, I gave him a
book
.
State (or static situation): type of situation (i. e. situation type) which is con-
ceived of (and represented as) existing (rather than as being done, taking place
or developing) and as being unchanged and hence homogeneous throughout its
duration. A static kind of situation is not agentive and is not conceived of as
needing a continuous input of energy to continue. For example: Bill’s baby is
a girl.
Statement (or declarative sentence): sentence making an assertion rather than
having the illocutionary force of another speech act (such as a question or com-
mand).

State verb (or static situation verb): verb that can only be used to refer to a
state, e. g. seem, contain, know, consist of, etc. Also known as ‘verb of state’.
Static: kind of ontological feature, viz. the opposite of dynamic. The term can
be applied to a situation-template denoting a state, a verb phrase lexicalizing
the situation-template in question (e. g. is a boy), a situation (e. g. Kim’s being
a boy) or to a sentence referring to a concrete actualization of a situation (e. g.
Kim is a boy). In other words, ‘static’ is the quality of being a state, denoting
a state or referring to a state.
Static situation: see state.
Static situation verb: see state verb.
Stem (or verb stem): that part of the verb that remains constant in the different
forms of the verb, e. g. unchain in unchains, unchained, unchaining. The stem
of a verb is homophonous with the present infinitive form and the present
subjunctive form of that verb.
Strong intensional verb: verb like imagine, fancy, dream, wonder, which estab-
lishes an intensional domain (ϭ possible world which is different from the
actual world) which is so strong that the clause(s) in the scope of the verb can
only receive an intensional (opaque, de dicto) interpretation. Such a strong
intensional domain is treated as a temporal domain from which a shift of
domain is very difficult or impossible. Thus, we can say Helen dreamed that
she was pregnant, but not *Helen dreamed that she is pregnant.
Strong verb: see irregular verb.
Glossary 817
Subclause (or subordinate clause, dependent clause, embedded clause): clause
that forms part of a complex sentence and is syntactically dependent on an-
other clause (the head clause), e. g. if you leave in I’ll be glad if you leave. Most
subclauses are either nominal clauses, adjectival clauses or adverbial clauses,
depending on their syntactic function.
Subdomain: kind of temporal domain inside a temporal domain. See temporal
subdomain.

Subject complement: the complement of a copula. It says something about the
referent of the subject, i. e. it either ascribes a characteristic to that referent, as
in He seems a reliable man, or identifies the person or entity in question, as in
The chair is that woman over there.
Subjunctive: see present subjunctive and past subjunctive.
Subordinate clause: see subclause.
Subordinating conjunction: conjunction (ϭ nonadverbial connector) introduc-
ing a subclause (e. g. because, if, that, unless, etc.).
Subordination: (a) as a syntactic term: the phenomenon that the combination
of two clauses produces a complex sentence, consisting of a head clause and a
subclause, rather than a compound sentence; (b) in connection with tenses: see
temporal binding.
Subsituation: any of a series of repeated situations that make up a durative
hypersituation. For example, in [All the time I was speaking] John was nodding
assent, any single nod of the head is a subsituation of the repetitive hypersitua-
tion. Habitual-repetitive situations are also hypersituations consisting of subsi-
tuations: She comes to see me very evening.
Superordinate clause: see head clause. Such a clause may or may not be the
matrix of a complex sentence.
Syntactic subordination: the syntactic relation (often, but not necessarily, corre-
sponding with a T-relation) between a subordinate clause and its head clause.
t
0
: abbreviation of temporal zero-point.
t
0
-factual (or factual at t
0
): said of a situation whose actualization is (interpre-
ted as being) a past, pre-present or present fact.

T-anterior: showing the relation of T-anteriority. For example, in Helen admit-
ted she had made a mistake, had made represents the situation time of the
situation of Helen making a mistake as T-anterior to (ϭ preceding) the time
of Helen’s admission.
T-anteriority: anteriority expressed by a tense form; more specifically: the T-
relation when the situation time is linguistically (viz. by a tense) represented as
818 Glossary
preceding the binding orientation time in one of two ways. Either the bound
situation time lies completely before the orientation time (as in I knew I had
locked the door) or it begins before the orientation time and leads up to it (as
in I told them that we had been friends since we had first met).
T-binding: see temporal binding.
T-bound: see bound.
T-bygone situation: predicated situation which is represented as T-anterior to
the temporal zero-point (t
0
) by the use of a tense. Thus, in Ten minutes ago,
Jane was working in the garden, the time of the predicated situation (which
coincides with the punctual Adv-time of ten minutes ago) is represented as
lying wholly before t
0
by the use of the past tense form was working, even
though the full situation may still be continuing at t
0
.
T-concept: concept relevant to the description of the tense system. (contrasted
with W-concept)
Telic: ontological feature. Said of a situation-template if the verb phrase de-
scribing it represents any actualization of the situation as tending towards a
natural (inherent) point of completion, i. e. a necessary terminal point, beyond

which the actualization of the situation cannot continue. For example, in Betty
ran three miles, the situation of Betty running three miles is complete and
naturally comes to an end when Betty finishes running the third mile. If Betty
happened to go on to run another three miles, this would not constitute a
continuation of the same (instance of the) situation of Betty running three
miles. The term telic is also applied to verb phrases representing a situation-
template as telic, and, by further extension, to clauses and sentences containing
a telic verb phrase.
Telicizing constituent: constituent which renders a verb phrase telic, for exam-
ple a mile in walk a mile.
Telos: point of completion. In a telic verb phrase the telos may be indicated by
a measure phrase (as in walk a mile) or may be pragmatically implied (as in
write a book).
Temporal adverbial (or time adverbial): cover term for three kinds of adverbials
giving temporal information: time-specifying adverbials (e. g. at six o’clock),
pure duration adverbials (e. g. for two hours) and bifunctional adverbials (spec-
ifying both time and duration, e. g. from six to eight).
Temporal anchor: see anchor time.
Temporal binding (or temporal subordination): the phenomenon that a situa-
tion time is T-related to another situation time (or other orientation time)