GRAMMATICAL SYNONYMY WITH PRESENT AND PAST TENSES IN ENGLISH AND ROMANIAN

Abstract

An important source of grammatical synonymy is represented by the various ways of expressing the same meaning by using different tenses. Time, tense and aspect play an important role within the linguistic expression of meaning. Present Tenses, Past Tenses, Future Tenses as well as other constructions can be used to convey similar or almost similar meaning. The fact that there seems to be no change in meaning between such constructions as “I have been learning English for 6 years” and “I started learning English six years ago” or between “to be about to” and “to be on the point of” or “be going to” in utterances such as “They are about to leave”, “They are on the point of leaving” and “They are just going to leave”, makes linguists speak about equivalence of meaning. However, the difference is the grammatical regimen of the constructions as well as the different nuances of meaning suggested. Considering that synonymy implies both a degree of similarity as well as difference between synonymous terms, the present paper will give a brief account of the similarities and differences between the constructions having different time reference both in English and Romanian. The matter of grammatical synonymy will be further applied to the translation process with a view to show that there is both contrast and similarity between language systems.