Verb Tense Research Articles

Logical Spaces and Subjunctive Tenses

Apparently, Subjunctive tenses express temporal location, and, in some constructions, the past subjunctive can also express modal values. A long-standing debate exists over whether—even in the latter case—verbal tenses are temporal operators or whether in some constructions they convey temporal meaning, and in others they have a modal value, maybe derived from their basic temporal meaning. The assumption that the basic meaning of subjunctive tenses are of a temporal nature is challenged by the fact that the future subjunctive, which exists in Portuguese, has the same temporal interpretation as the present subjunctive, with which it is in complementary distribution. Moreover, no clear modal difference is observed between the future and present subjunctive tenses. In this paper, I present arguments against the separation of the temporal and modal values of the subjunctive tenses. I posit, instead, that a semantic analysis of subjunctive morphemes must consider ordered pairs of times and possible worlds; only in this way can we adequately capture the observed data and allow a comprehensive view of the system of subjunctive tenses in Portuguese (which will be extendable to Romance languages in general). If we accept this proposal, then the modal as temporal information associated with subjunctive tenses follows naturally, including the systematic futurate reading of subjunctive temporal clauses.

Dead or Alive: A Lifetime Effect of Pomak Nominal Tense in a Self-Paced Reading Experiment

Nominal tense is a cross-linguistically rare and understudied phenomenon, with past vs. non-past being the minimal distinction. In some languages, past nominal tense implies the reading ‘deceased’, while in others, lifetime effects (i.e., implicatures about whether an individual is dead or alive) restrict its use with permanent properties (as with kinship terms). In our study, we investigate for the first time the online processing of lifetime effects in sentences with past nominal tense and kinship terms following contextual information about an individual’s lifetime status (dead or alive). An end-of-sentence acceptability judgment task completes the study. Evidence comes from 25 speakers of Pomak (Slavic, Greece) who use the realis past suffix to form, among others, definite articles, contrasting with a generic suffix for the future, habitual, and irrealis. In collaboration with a local Pomak research assistant, we prepared 80 experimental sentences with past nominal tense in four conditions, manipulating Lifetime Status (dead × alive) and Tense Concord between nominal and verbal tense/aspect (congruent × incongruent). Our results suggest that past nominal tense with kinship terms triggers a lifetime effect which is apparent during online processing. In the sentence final region, dead referents with future verbal tense are read faster, possibly due to the overtness and severity of the violation. Reading disruptions for dead referents while processing nominal tense are also discussed. In the acceptability task, participants rated sentences only based on the agreement of the lifetime status with verbal tense/aspect as the violation is overt and severe. The present study therefore offers support to previous reports of lifetime effects in other languages with nominal tense, highlighting another similarity between nominal and verbal tense.

Written Narrative in Patients with Different Mental Disorders

Language disorders are criteria of psychopathology diagnostics listed both in the 10th revision of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) and the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, structure and grammar remain understudied in this aspect, which makes structural analysis a relevant research topic. A structural analysis of written narrative may objectivize particular language disorders, thus facilitating psychodiagnostics of different mental disorders. The research objective was to describe the structural features of written narratives obtained from 127 patients with schizophrenic, bipolar, and personality disorders. The narratives were subjected to structural and statistical analyses. Schizophrenic narratives demonstrated a poor vocabulary, a low volume, and a high degree of formality with a passive narrator. Bipolar texts tended to be long, detailed, egocentric, and active, with multiple participles. Patients with personality disorders emotionally relived their memories, producing reflective written narratives with a lot of actors. The final list of written speech indicators to be used to distinguish between schizophrenic, bipolar, and personality disorders included such variables as text volume, verb tense, non-finite verb forms, first-person singular pronoun, number of actors, passive / active narrator, and laconic / detailed narration.

Semantics and Micro-Parametric Variation: The Simple Future in Ibero-Romance

Cross-linguistic variation in future-tense sentences has been extensively documented in the literature. Despite this diversity, there is a prevailing sense that a common core meaning exists and that the various interpretations in each language are connected. To account for both the similarities and the differences, Escandell-Vidal proposes that the meaning encoded by verbal tenses can be analysed into two components: i) core meaning; and ii) semantic micro-parameters (additional fine-grained constraints on specific categories of the core meaning that account for subtle differences between related languages or dialects). The purpose of this paper is twofold. On the descriptive side, it aims to refine the approach in terms of microparametric distinctions by suggesting some modifications. On the theoretical side, it seeks to offer a simpler and more powerful tool to account for interlinguistic variation by restricting its range to a limited set of predictable combinations.

Error Analysis of Grammatical Features in Saudi Undergraduate EFL Writing

Mastery of English grammatical accuracy is paramount for developing proficiency as a foreign language. However, research examining tendencies among Saudi undergraduate writers remains limited. This study aimed to address such gaps through a comprehensive identification and categorization of errors present in student essays. A rigorous mixed-methods approach analyzed over 350 grammatical mistakes across 50 female students' writing samples. Errors were systematically coded and categorized to reveal frequency data through quantitative analysis. Findings demonstrated spelling, subject-verb agreement, and capitalization as the most prevalent issue areas, collectively accounting for over 75% of errors. Examples uncovered specific challenges involving verb tense, sentence fragments, and article usage. While outcomes aligned with previous literature, linguistic influences on persistent spelling difficulties were explored to broaden understandings. Recommendations for targeted exercises strengthening weaker domains like phonics rules and irregular verbs were provided. Continuing periodic error analyses can optimally inform evolving pedagogy tailored to emerging needs over time. Significantly, this novel diagnostic approach begins addressing critical literature gaps through data-driven insights that meaningfully inform curriculum development to better support the still under-researched Saudi EFL student population.

ERROR ANALYSIS OF NON–ENGLISH STUDENTS IN WRITING NARRATIVE TEXT

This study aims to analyze the common errors that students made in writing Narrative Text. This study was made in November of their first semester. In getting data, the writer used descriptive analysis and purposive sampling to determine the subject of samtple. This study is undertaken at Islamic Education Major of Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam (STAI) Islamic Centre Demak in the first semester of the academic years of 2023/2024. The participants of the study were three students of Islamic Education Major of STAI IC Demak. The findings indicate that Word Form (13,25%), Word Choice (6,20%), Verb Tense (32,55%), Add/ Omit Word (12,04%), Spelling (7,22), Punctuation (7,22%), Capitalization (13,25%), Article (6,63%), Singular-Plural (3,61%), Word Order (1,20%), Incomplete Sentence (2,40%), Meaning Not Clear (6,02%), Run-on Sentence (5,61%). So, this study states that the most students’ error types are verb tense because of Intralingual Transfer and Overgeneralization.

Selective Impairment of Verb Tense in MazandaraniSpeaking Agrammatic Patients

Introduction: Among many grammatical problems affecting agrammatic patients, those of inflectional morphology, specifically tense, stand at the forefront. This study aimed to analyze tense properties in Mazandarani-speaking Broca patients to see which aspects of this inflectional system were more negatively affected. Materials and Methods: Utilizing inclusion/exclusion criteria, we chose 10 patients (mean age 47 years) in this descriptive-analytical research. To select our participants, some criteria including the results of the Persian aphasia test, monolingualism, and magnetic resonance imaging reports were considered which corroborated the involvement of the anterior frontal lobe, inferior anterior parietal lobe, Perisylvian, and Broca’s areas as well as inferior frontal gyrus. To monitor our patients’ performance in three separate tenses of present (progressive), future, and past (simple past, past perfect, and past continuous), we administered written sentence completion and sentence-to-picture matching tests. To investigate whether our patients’ performance in diverse verb tenses was significantly different, we utilized Wilcoxon statistics to analyze our data. Results: The results demonstrated a significant difference between the performance of the patients in past progressive tense compared to other tenses (P=0.02). Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the mean responses to past tenses and present-future tenses. Conclusion: Mazandarani-speaking agrammatic demonstrated selective poor performance in the past tense inflection. Regarding the crucial role of tense properties in verbal communication, specifically past tense, to talk about past events and memories, more attention is needed by clinicians and speech therapists to reinforce tense properties enhancing agrammatic communication capabilities.

Using learner corpus data for grammatical accuracy development in written productions

Abstract This study investigates the differential effect of various noticing activities on grammatical accuracy development in EFL learners’ written productions. We focus on different types of noticing activities based on an error-tagged learner corpus and report on effective practical experiments involving learner corpus data. A pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design is used with three experimental groups (receiving different treatments) and one control group. Error frequencies, at both group and individual levels, and proportions of learners producing errors on three specific error types (articles, verb tense, verb agreement) are compared. Our results suggest that accuracy in the use of articles and verb agreement could be more easily fostered through the comparison of learner output with native data (the BNC, in our case). As for verb tenses, the impact of a more traditional form of corrective feedback seems greater while the use of online machine translation tools does not seem to foster much accuracy development.

EXPLORING THE ACADEMIC NEEDS OF RURAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN PRE-INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR COURSE

In order to assist lecturers in customising their teaching strategies and course materials for pre-intermediate grammar students living in rural locations, this study focuses on doing pre-lecture needs analysis. Using a quantitative method, 24 students enrolled in Universitas Sulawesi Barat's English Language Education programme for the academic year 2023–2024 were given closed-ended questions via a WhatsApp group. To find patterns in the gathered data, statistical analysis and purposeful sampling were applied. The results shed light on a variety of student characteristics, including age, mother tongue distribution, performance in the basic grammar course, ability to build simple English sentences, mastery of verb tense formulas, lexical proficiency, preferences for learning and assignments, and skill targets. The study draws attention to a variety of factors, including student skill objectives, favourite activities, assignment preferences, performance gaps, and vocabulary problems. Teachers and policymakers can improve the quality of English language instruction, particularly in grammar classes, and establish a supportive learning environment for students in Indonesia's rural areas by acknowledging and addressing the issues and preferences that have been identified. Furthermore, teachers around the world can use the needs analysis tool, the WhatsApp polling technique, and the pre-lecture activities as a source of inspiration and guidance to deliver engaging, balanced, and professional lectures that are customised to the needs of their students and meet graduate competency standards.

EXPLORING GRADE 7 STUDENTS’ SECOND LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

This study investigated the second language difficulties of Grade 7 students in one national high school in Sorsogon province, Philippines, S.Y. 2023-2024. Specifically, it identified the grammatical errors of students in their narrative essays along with subject-verb agreement and verb tenses. It determined the second language difficulties leading to their grammatical errors and their implications for language teaching and learning. Based on the 45 essays analyzed by the 15 students, the results showed that the grammatical errors identified were along the verb tense, which ranked highest (66%), and subject-verb agreement (42%), indicating a high level of students’ writing difficulty. Several linguistic difficulties that contributed to these errors were vocabulary gaps, limited knowledge of grammatical rules, syntactic differences between the students’ local language (L1) and English language (L2), the challenging learning environment, lack of resources, distractions, and insufficient family support. The students’ L2 difficulties may have implications for teaching and learning, particularly in terms of communicative effectiveness, reading comprehension, shift in teaching approach, and balancing formal and communicative activities.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0977/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Exploring the Internal Structure and Rules of Irregular Patterns of Past Tense Verbs Applied in Vocabulary Acquisition by Chinese EFL Learners in UIC

Morphology as a branch of linguistics, has been proven to positively promote literacy skills, especially in the area of vocabulary acquisition in the aspect of spelling and reading, for example, infection of past tenses of verbs. However, there has been a dearth of research investigating the construct and proceeding process of transformation of irregular past tenses through EFL learners. This article conducted an experimental study in an English immersion teaching university — Beijing Normal University – Hong Kong Baptist University United International College in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China, which examined whether the Chinese EFL learners in UIC relied on lexicon memory or minor rules based on similarity to process the past tense of irregular verbs. This study focused on revealing whether there is internal structure and rules in irregular patterns of past tense verbs being applied in vocabulary acquisition, by EFL learners in UIC through a language test consisting of 45 fill-in-blank completion sentences. We set and verified the hypothesis that minor rules based on the similarity in the irregular’s clusters, exist in the inflection of irregular verb past tense during the process of transforming by EFL learners in UIC. This study involved 20 college students, adopted the quantitative research method and analyzes data through SPSS. The findings illustrate that the participants relied on grammatical rules in the conversion of the past tense of verbs, but at the same time, some could also find the similarity or associative patterns in the past tense of irregular verbs. The results of the data analysis show that among EFL learners of UIC, this hypothesis is not tenable, but we cannot deny that minor rules based on the similarity of the irregular’s clusters exist among inflection of the irregular verb. The experimental results will be of reference significance to the systematic design of teaching of past tense verbs based on the way language learners recognize and process words.

Repair Strategies in Chinese EFL Learners’ Story-Telling Conversation

This study investigates the repair strategies employed by English as foreign language of Chinese learners in response to communication breakdowns, with a particular focus on their role in facilitating the progressivity of storytelling conversations. The examination delves into specific repair strategies, including self-initiated repair and repetition strategies, to shed light on their utilization and effectiveness. The findings of the investigation reveal that among the array of repair strategies utilized, English as foreign language of Chinese learners demonstrate a pronounced tendency to rely on self-initiated repairs. Notably, participants in the study primarily addressed issues related to pronouns and verb tense, with a specific emphasis on addressing tense inconsistencies, word order discrepancies, and grammatical errors. This phenomenon underscores the concerted efforts made by Chinese learners to enhance the clarity, coherence, and fluency of their communicative endeavors. Furthermore, the prevalence of self-initiated repairs exemplifies the learners’ dedication to surmounting linguistic challenges, fostering mutual understanding, and navigating the complexities inherent in interactive discourse. Such endeavors not only signify their commitment to linguistic improvement but also underscore their proactive engagement in fostering effective communication in intercultural contexts.

The Acquisition of English Verb Tense and Aspect of L2 Learners

The Acquisition of English Verb Tense and Aspect of L2 Learners

The Factors of the Distribution of Grammatical Categories and Phenomena in Contemporary Czech

As to the application of the grammar within communication, we distinguish between two contingencies: a) grammatical categories which attach to the objective reality (verbal tenses, number, gender etc.), b) those which do not (in Czech for example the category of case). The relation between grammar and objective reality is not naturally rectilinear and troublefree. It could be complicated by various factors - not only the different type of language but also actualization which we comprehend as the unusual application of a grammatical form (often in order to gain more expressive term) - for example the sentence in the future tense Budeš psát (You will write) functions as that in the stressed imperative mood. To speakers with the advanced knowledge of Czech it is possible to present also special unmarked grammatical categories where a respective grammatical form can have more than one meaning. In the sentence Studuje český a německý jazyk (He studies Czech and German languages) the word jazyk (language) has the form of singular but the meaning of plural. There are many factors which influence the adequate choice of a grammatical category. In this respect the semantics are applied to a large extend and in various ways. The important role can be also played by number and so-called signal words which need the usage of a concrete morphological category (for example after the adverb včera (yesterday) must the preterite tense follow). From the linguo-didactic point of view this theme is very important and it is necessary to go on working it out.

Error Analysis of English Narrative Essays of Secondary School Learners in Kirinyaga Central Sub-County, Kenya

The study examined the types of language errors made by learners in the English narrative essays. It also assessed the feedback techniques employed by teachers of English in the handling of language errors in the English narrative essays. A descriptive research design was employed to examine errors of English narrative essays of 181 form two learners obtained through stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques. The eight teachers of English selected through purposive and simple random sampling completed interview schedules. Qualitative data generated from the essays of the learners was analyzed using Error Analysis and Content Analysis. The findings reveal that a total of seven categories of language errors which include: word order, verb tense and form, subject – verb agreement, spelling, plurality, word choice, and capital letter errors were made by the learners in their English narrative essays. The most preferred corrective technique was to involve the learners actively by encouraging them to read extensively and write severally on various narratives in the target language. The findings will provide reliable feedback to teachers of English because it will guide on the development of teaching methods and evaluative measures to narrative essays. The study will also be useful to curriculum developers in designing materials for teaching English language in secondary schools. It will also be of invaluable benefit to learners of English as it will guide on the way narrative essays need to be written.

L1 Influence on the Use of the English Present Perfect: A Corpus Analysis of Russian and Spanish Learners’ Essays

Background: Mastering verbal tenses, especially those expressing aspect, in a second language presents a challenge as learners frequently link the semantic nuances of verbal forms in their second language (L2) to the characteristics of the verbal systems in their native languages (L1). This study explores the impact of L1 on the usage of the English Present Perfect (PP) among non-native speakers. Purpose: In an effort to contribute to the ongoing research on the mechanisms governing the acquisition of English tenses, this study focuses on the variations that affect the usage of the PP in the writing of English learners. The investigation is particularly centered on university students whose L1 is Russian and Spanish, seeking to delve into the ways in which their first language influences the utilisation of the PP in their English writing. Method: Analysis of L2 English by Russian and Spanish learners, based on corpora of argumentative essays written by undergraduate Russian and Spanish learners of English, controlled by a corpus of essays produced by native speakers of English; frequency and distribution of the PP in learner writings; examination of semantic contexts; identification of error types. Results: The findings indicate that, despite a higher occurrence of the PP in texts produced by Spanish learners compared to Russian learners, the rate of errors in its application is nearly identical in both learner corpora. These errors are likely attributable to challenges in comprehending the functions of the PP and in distinguishing its semantics from those of other English tenses, particularly the Past Simple. Conclusion: The study suggests that the increased prevalence of PP usage by L2 learners may be attributed to positive transfer from their L1 when it exhibits structures analogous to the English PP. Conversely, patterns indicative of, for example, undergeneralisation of semantic contexts suggesting the relevance of an action, or of overgeneralisation of adverbs compatible with the PP can be interpreted as evidence of negative transfer. The results of this study hold significance for language pedagogy, as they highlight potential challenges in acquiring the PP that learners from diverse L1 backgrounds may encounter.

An Error Analysis of Expository Essay Writing of English as Second Language (ESL) Undergraduate Learners in Pakistan

This study focuses on the expository essay writing of undergraduate of English as Second Language (ESL) learners in Pakistan. The study aims to identify the most common errors made by these students and analyze the reasons behind those. The study uses the quantitative method to conduct error analysis. To conduct error analysis, a sample of eight expository essays written by undergraduate second language learners of the selected college is analyzed, and the errors are identified and categorized. The data analysis identified the errors made by second language learners in expository essays, including grammatical, vocabulary, syntax and organization errors. The sample students also struggled with using the correct verb tense, forming proper sentence structure, or accurately using prepositions. The results of the study provided insights into the areas that need improvement in the learning of English as a second language in Pakistan, as well as the strategies to address the identified errors. Further research may include more areas of grammar.

Being and Greenness: Phenomenology of the Poetic Persona and Nature in Dylan Thomas’s Green Poems

Ecopoetry, a relatively recent approach in ecocriticism, refers to nature poems which are closely linked to environmental issues. Deliberating nature in poetry is indeed not something new, yet, what is new in ecopoetry, which is a characteristic that discerns it from, especially Romantic poetry, is that it delineates the relationship between the human and non-human worlds. In other words, ecopoetry stands out from both contemporary nature poetry and Romanticist poetry. It is characterized by the eco-centric view it provides, which axiomatically brings with it the principle of reciprocity, interrelationship, and egalitarianism. In this perspective one might argue that the majority of Dylan Thomas’s (1914-1953) nature poems could be rendered ecopoems as they see nature and natural phenomena as components of a unified and closely connected whole. In these poems Dylan Thomas’s poetic eye adopts an eco-centric verb tense and functions as a camera which record the harmonised movements of the poetic persona and the natural phenomena manifesting the intentionality of the eye of the ecopoet. Through this particular vision Dylan Thomas generates a place out of space in which both human and the other-than-human are deployed, thereby creating a specific subject-object relationship according to which the existence of the human and the non-human are interrelated. This study focuses on the ontological relationship between the poetic persona and nature and analyses the subject-object relationship in Thomas’s “Poem in October”, “The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower”, and “Fern Hill” through the lens of phenomenology and object-oriented ontology.

Idiosyncratic Expression: Analysis of the Junior Students’ Paragraph Writing Test

The study analyzes the errors in the idiosyncratic expressions of 2nd-semester undergraduates in the English Language Education Program at Tanjungpura University. The objectives of the study are to describe the types of errors encountered in the students’ idiosyncratic expressions. The method of research is descriptive. The research participants were the 2nd-semester undergraduate students of the English Language Education Program of Tanjungpura University. The data were collected from corpora written by the students. Idiosyncrasy occurred in the students’ text. 187 constructions, out of 244, were deemed idiosyncratic. the types of errors found in the students’ idiosyncratic expressions were verb form errors (24,60%), subject and verb agreement errors (19,25%), plurality errors (9,63%), pronoun errors (9,09%), preposition errors (9,63%), verb tense errors (8,56%), word form errors (8,56%), article errors (5,88%) and word order errors (4,81%).

COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS FOUND IN STUDENTS’ WRITING

This study aimed at exploring the types of common grammatical errors are found in the students’ writing and finding out the dominant type of common grammatical errors found in students’ writing. This study used descriptive qualitative and quantitative method. The data were taken from the 21 compositions of students who took Basic Writing Class in English Letter Study Program, Faculty of Language and Literature of Flores University. Each writing has three kinds of writing. They are about family member, individual favorite object, and natural objects descriptions. The upshots of the study indicates there are 9,1% students who made errors in verb tense, 12,6% students who made errors in subject-verb agreement, 15,3% students made error in article, 4,5% students made error in preposition, 6,3% students made error in number, 4,5% students made error in pronoun, 1,8% students made error in possessive, 1,8% students made in word choice, 11,7% students made error in spelling, 19,8% students made error in word order, 7,2% students made error in capitalization, and 5,4% students made error in punctuation. The errors are caused from many factors; the students are still confused to choose the right word in a sentence because of the lack of knowledge or poor vocabularies and its use. Besides, errors happened because of their first language (Indonesian logical thinking), or we could say the learners’ mother tongue interference (interlingua source), some students tried to translate the words one by one from Indonesian language into English without paying attention to the English structure rules.