The grammar of the english verb phrase part 44 pps

294 5. The absolute use of the present perfect He has often tossed the ball at me while I {wasn’t / haven’t been} looking. I’ve noticed some hair loss while I’ve been doing Atkins [ϭ the Atkins diet]. (www) (The past tense could not be used.) A lot of stuff has changed while you’ve been gone. (www) (The past tense could also be used, especially in American English.) Reading a few sites on CSS has brought it home to me how much I’ve forgotten while I’ve not been adding anything to any sites. (www) (The past tense could not be used.) Has anything really embarassing ever happened to you or anyone while you’ve been performing? (www) (The past tense could also be used.) The precise rules governing the choice of tense here are not clear, but we notice the following interpretational difference between the tense options in the first example (repeated here): Has he ever mentioned his son while he has been talking to you? Has he ever mentioned his son while he was talking to you? The first example presupposes that ‘he has been talking to you’ is true, i. e. that this is not within the scope of the question. The sentence is interpreted as ‘During the time(s) that he’s been talking to you, has he ever mentioned his son?’. In contrast, in the second example, the question has scope over both clauses: ‘Has it ever been the case that he was talking to you and mentioned his son in the course of that conversation?’. As we will see in 9.9, it is only in the latter example that the situation time of the while-clause is ‘temporally subordinated’ (see 2.49) to the situation time of the head clause. 5.32.6 Unlike up-to-now perfects, indefinite perfects are compatible with ad- verbials denoting an indefinite time in a period leading up to now, without saying anything about the precise location of the situation time in that period. Adverbials like before, in the past, recently, lately, just and this minute can be used in this way: [Don’t worry.] I have dealt with problems of this kind before. This has often happened in the past. This telegram has just arrived. I have this minute heard that the deal is off. I have recently met him. The company has been sold just lately to an engineering firm. VIII. Factors blocking the location of a situation in a ‘period up to now’ 295 VIII. Factors blocking the location of a situation in a ‘period up to now’ 5.33 Introduction The conceptualization of a pre-present period may be excluded by certain se- mantic or pragmatic elements (in the clause or in its context) which force the speaker / hearer to conceptualize the bygone period in which the situation is to be located as past rather than pre-present. In such cases we cannot use the present perfect, since, in the terminology of our tense model, the meaning (se- mantic structure) of the present perfect is: ‘The situation time is located in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere’. If it is impossible to conceptualize the bygone period as a ‘pre-present zone’, there is no possibility of using the present perfect. That is, the present perfect cannot locate a situation time in the past time-zone (which is defined as being separated from, rather than form- ing part of, the present time-sphere). Conversely, the past tense cannot locate a situation time in a period which is conceived of as pre-present rather than past. 5.34 Reference to entities that no longer exist 5.34.1 When the referent of the subject or of another argument NP is a person who is now dead or something that no longer exists, the situation time is normally located in the past time-sphere, i. e. in a period which is seen as ‘completely over at t 0 ’ and conceptualized as separated from the present time- sphere: My late uncle {was / *has been} a commercial traveller. My late uncle {never lived / *has never lived} in Spain. (never ϭ ‘never in his life’, which is a past period) King George IV {turned / *has turned} Brighton into a tourist resort. Brighton {was / *has been} turned into a tourist resort by King George IV. Keats {died / *has died} in Italy. {Did you see / Have you seen} our latest exhibition? (The present perfect is only acceptable if the exhibition is not yet over.) My father worked in a bank all his life. (The past tense implies that my father is now dead or has retired. At any rate, all his life refers to a period which is conceived of as forming part of the past time-sphere.) I {played / *have played} tennis with Elvis Presley. However, there are speakers for whom the idea of an implicit period leading up to now (i. e. a pre-present zone) is not automatically excluded by the fact 296 5. The absolute use of the present perfect that the reference is to ‘bygone’ people or things. These speakers accept exam- ples like the following under certain conditions. President Roosevelt has visited our cathedral. Our cathedral has been visited by President Roosevelt. For some people these sentences are acceptable, for instance, if the speaker is thinking of the many famous people that have visited the cathedral so far; or if he is discussing the topic ‘American presidents and how many of them have visited our cathedral over the years’, etc. At any rate, the discourse topic is not President Roosevelt but something else, and the case of President Roosevelt is just brought up as an example. Since this ‘something else’ (i. e. the discourse topic) implies the idea of a time span leading up to now (e. g. the history of the cathedral up to now), the speaker uses the present perfect. 21 Speakers who accept the above examples will also distinguish between pairs like the following: D. H. Lawrence never lived in Brighton. (The speaker is concerned with the situa- tions that Lawrence was (not) involved in in the course of his life, which is a period that is over.) D. H. Lawrence has written several excellent novels. (The speaker is concerned with the structure of the world now. The message is that there exist several excellent novels written by D. H. Lawrence.) However, for many speakers the present perfect in the latter sentence is unac- ceptable. 5.34.2 Still, there are a few cases in which the combination of a present per- fect with an NP referring to a deceased person is acceptable even for speakers who do not accept sentences like President Roosevelt has visited our cathedral or D. H. Lawrence has written several excellent novels in isolation. (a) The first case is when the relevant NP forms part of a list of names that currently exists and is treated as relevant at t 0 : 21. Palmer (1974: 53) finds President Roosevelt has visited our university acceptable under the given conditions. However, an informal search of the internet failed to produce any examples of this kind from sources that could be identified as British English. There were, however, several from Am. E. sources. For instance: (i) Anything which Joseph Conrad has written is worth reading! (www) (ii) Jane Austen has written six major novels: Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Ab- bey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. [An overwhelming amount of readers have chosen their favorite Austen novel to be Pride and Prejudice in this poll.] (www) A Google search yielded 193 examples of Queen Victoria wrote and none of Queen Victoria has written. And there were 237 examples of Disraeli wrote and none of Disraeli has written, except one by Trollope, presumably written during Disraeli’s lifetime. VIII. Factors blocking the location of a situation in a ‘period up to now’ 297 In recent years our university has given an honorary doctorate to Prince Charles, the businessman Jimmy Smith, and the late John Lennon. (The sentence gives a list of names, which together with in recent years sets up a ‘package’ Ϫ a composite entity which exists now Ϫ of people given an honorary doctorate in recent years. Within that package it does not matter whether people are alive or dead. It also does not matter whether the honorary doctorate was given to the late John Lennon while he was still alive or posthumously.) Among those to whom our university has given an honorary doctorate are Prince Charles, the businessman Jimmy Smith, and John Lennon. (Note the use of the present tense form are in the head clause, which is consistent with the idea of a current list.) This estate has belonged to my grandfather, it has belonged to my father, it has belonged to me, and now it is yours. (My grandfather and father may well be dead, but they figure on the currently existing list of people who have ever owned the estate in question.) All the great thinkers of our time, including Einstein, have visited Princeton. Listed in the Domesday Book, this castle has been a Norman stronghold, a royal residence for six of England’s medieval queens, a palace of Henry VIII, and a retreat for the powerful and influential. (www: website of Leeds Castle) [Along with the Single Cube, this is probably the finest surviving room in England from the mid-17th century. A perfect Double Cube, it is 60 feet long by 30 feet wide and 30 feet high. Designed by Inigo Jones as the central feature of his suite of State Rooms] it has been visited by virtually every British monarch since Charles I. (www) (b) A second type of exception (to the rule that the combination of a present perfect with an NP referring to a deceased person is unacceptable) is il- lustrated by the following: Great news! Our university has awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate to Mar- tin Luther King! What distinguishes this from examples like D.H. Lawrence has written several excellent novels and President Roosevelt has visited our university, which are questionable for some, is that the above example is used to express ‘hot news’: a recent situation is introduced into the discourse for the first time (see 5.14). For this reason, this sentence is only acceptable because it is understood that the bestowal of the doctorate on the late Martin Luther King is posthumous. Since ‘hot news’ is linked up with t 0 (both in terms of recency and relevance), it can only be expressed by the present perfect. It is in keeping with this analysis that the following is odd, because it is difficult to assign a hot news interpreta- tion to a sentence beginning with in recent years: ?? In recent years our university has given an honorary doctorate to Martin Luther King. 298 5. The absolute use of the present perfect The present perfect can more easily be used if there is a constituent in the sentence making it clear that the reference is to a posthumous situation that has present relevance. Compare: He has bought some flowers for his late grandfather. (This is fine as long as one has a scenario in mind in which the flowers go on the grandfather’s grave and are seen as a tribute to the grandfather despite his being dead.) He {bought / *has bought} this book for his late grandfather. (Unacceptable if we assume that buying a book for someone cannot be interpreted as a posthumous tribute to that person.) He {gave / *has given} this book to his late grandfather. (idem) In other words, it is an act of present relevance to buy flowers for a dead person, because the flowers pay tribute to that person, but people do not buy a book for a dead person in order to pay tribute to him. (c) A final exception to the rule that the present perfect is not used with reference to people and other entities that no longer exist is illustrated by the following: (The speaker is describing an official US document) [The large, wide-bordered document is attractively printed.] President Roosevelt has signed at the lower right, and Cordell Hull has countersigned as Secretary of State at the lower left. [There is an intact U.S. seal of white paper, embossed with an eagle, at the lower left.] (www) Rembrandt has placed the figure of a little girl at the centre of ‘The Night Watch’. (This could be an entry in a guide to Rembrandt’s paintings.) In these examples the use of the present perfect is similar to the use of the present tense in summaries, captions underneath photographs, etc. Ϫ see 3.3.3. The only difference is that the present perfect represents the situation time as (if it were) T-anterior to t 0 (ϭ the time of writing the summary, caption, etc.) rather than as coinciding with it (as in the caption American policeman arrests illegal immigrant underneath a photograph). 5.35 Verb of creation ϩ definite ‘effected’ object NP 5.35.1 The second case in which the idea of an implicit period leading up to now is excluded concerns sentences that contain a ‘verb of creation’ (expressing the bringing or coming into existence of something) and an ‘ effected’ NP (i. e. an NP referring to the entity that comes into existence) which is semantically definite in the sense that the existence of the referent is assumed to be known to the hearer. VIII. Factors blocking the location of a situation in a ‘period up to now’ 299 John {wrote / *has written} this poem. (verb of creation ϩ definite effected NP) John has read this poem. (no verb of creation) Who {built / *has built} this wall? (verb of creation ϩ definite effected NP) Who else has built a wall? (indefinite effected NP) Who has papered this wall? (no verb of creation) Who {discovered / *has discovered} America? (This sentence refers to the ‘creation’ and coming into existence of America in a metaphorical sense, in that America did not ‘exist’ for Europeans until it was discovered by Columbus.) The painting over the fireplace {was / *has been} done by my daughter. (verb of creation ϩ definite effected NP) The explanation for this restriction is as follows. An NP with definite reference as a rule implies the existence of a referent that is assumed to be identifiable to the hearer. That is, a speaker using such a (semantically) definite NP con- siders the current existence of the referent as given (i. e. known or inferrable) information. It follows that when he uses a sentence involving a verb of cre- ation he is not concerned with the fact that the referent has come into existence and is now part of the structure of the world Ϫ this information is given. Instead he is concerned with providing new information, i. e. information con- cerning one of the aspects (when?, how?, who?, etc.) of the situation that led to the existence of the referent Ϫ a situation which is necessarily seen as lying entirely in the past and separated from the present. Thus, in sentences like Peter built this wall, It was John who wrote the novel, Columbus discovered America, etc. the focus of interest is on the agent of the action, i. e. the question ‘Who did it?’. (This is in keeping with the fact that the nuclear accent each time falls on the name of the agent.) Clearly, the speaker focuses his attention on some past aspect of the situation, on THEN rather than NOW. Consider also: My brother {wrote / *has written} that poem. (verb of creation ϩ definite effected NP) My brother {wrote / *has written} that poem in London. (id.) My brother has written an impressive poem. (indefinite effected NP) In the last sentence, the speaker is concerned with the fact that there now exists an impressive poem written by his brother. In the first two examples, by con- trast, the existence of the poem referred to is taken for granted (as is clear from the use of the definite object NP that poem); the speaker is not concerned here with NOW but with an aspect of the actualization of the situation that happened THEN, viz., in these cases, with the question of who was the agent performing the action or where it was that the action was performed. This actualization focus (ϭ focus on the actualization of the situation itself Ϫ see 4.7) requires the use of the preterite. The following sentence can be ac- 300 5. The absolute use of the present perfect counted for in a similar way: the focus is not on the current existence of Rome, which is taken for granted, but on the duration of the building activity: Rome {was not built / *has not been built} in a day. (This is the passive version of an active clause involving a verb of creation and a definite effected NP.) 5.35.2 It goes without saying that not every formally definite NP represents information that is assumed ‘given’ (in the sense of ‘already known or inferra- ble’). In some cases a formally definite NP has indefinite reference in that it is used to introduce the existence of a new referent, without there being any assumption that the existence of the referent should be known to the hearer prior to the use of the NP. For example: Please come in. My stepdaughter will be here in a moment to take you to the lounge. It is perfectly possible that the guest does not know that his host has a step- daughter, and that the host knows that his guest does not know this (e. g. because the guest is a stranger). In this case the formally definite NP my step- daughter is used to introduce the existence of the referent, in other words, the speaker does not assume that the addressee is familiar with the referent or can infer its existence via an ‘inferential bridge’ (as when you first speak of a book and then of the pages): the existence of the referent is new rather than given information. This use of an NP that is formally definite but semantically indefi- nite is a conventionalized device to introduce a referent to the addressee. (The same device is used when this is used instead of the indefinite article in (infor- mal) examples like the following:) About five minutes went by, and out of nowhere this man comes up to my best friend’s cousin [and says, “Congratulations, Ma’am. You are our 1 millionth cus- tomer at Fiddler’s Green this summer.”] (www) One case in which an NP is thus definite in form but does not express informa- tion that is given prior to the use of the NP is when the NP involves a demon- strative that is used literally (ϭ deictically) rather than anaphorically. Such an NP can sometimes be used as object of a sentence in the present perfect even if the verb is a verb of creation. This is because the demonstrative then intro- duces the referent into the discourse and hence into the hearer’s t 0 -world: My brother has written this poem! (This is grammatical, for example, if the speaker is waving a sheet of paper on which a poem is written. In that case, no prior knowl- edge of the existence of the poem is assumed: its existence is introduced here for the first time.) . use the present perfect, since, in the terminology of our tense model, the meaning (se- mantic structure) of the present perfect is: The situation time is located in the pre-present zone of the. clear from the use of the definite object NP that poem); the speaker is not concerned here with NOW but with an aspect of the actualization of the situation that happened THEN, viz., in these cases,. requires the use of the preterite. The following sentence can be ac- 300 5. The absolute use of the present perfect counted for in a similar way: the focus is not on the current existence of Rome, which