Sequence of tenses

Sequence of tenses

In grammar, the sequence of tenses (known in Latin as consecutio temporum, and also known as agreement of tenses, succession of tenses, tense harmony, and backshifting) is a rule of a particular language governing the relationship between the grammatical tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences to show the temporal relationship of the events to which they refer.

Contents

Latin

In Latin a primary tense (simple present tense, present perfect, simple future tense, or future perfect) in the superordinate clause is followed by primary tense in the subordinate clauses, and a historic "tense" in the superordinate clause (imperfect, perfect, or pluperfect) is followed by a historic tense in the subordinate clause. In Latin the "Consecutio temporum",(sequence of the tenses) is a gathering of rules that are followed in the subordination of Latin clauses. The Consecutio Temporum is used with the Indicative, Subjunctive and Infinitive Moods. The Infinitive Mood is used in Dependent Noun Clauses, in which the subject is expressed in accusative and the verb at the infinitive mood. The tense is Present Infinitive if the action in the Clause is contemporary to the action of the independent main clause; it is Perfect Infinitive if the dependent verb is anterior to the verb of the independent; it is Future Infinitive if it happens after the action of the independent is over. Some types of dependent clauses have the verb in the Indicative Mood. If the independent's action is contemporary to the dependent's, here the tense will be the same as in the independent. If the relation of tenses is of posterioriy you will use the future participle plus the present simple of sum (active periphrastic) in the dependent. If the relation is of anteriority it changes: if the verb in the independent is a Present Indicative tense, the verb in the dependent clause will be in a Perfect tense. If the independent's verb is an Imperfect tense, the dependent's will be a Pluperfect, if the dependent's is Future simple, the dependent's wil be Future perfect. The Consecutio Temporum of the Subjunctive Mood is much more difficult, and also the most used in the dependent Clauses, but we can remember the whole following of Latin tenses in these tables:

Contemporaniety Present amare
Anteriority Perfect amavisse
Posteriority Future amaturum,-a,-um esse/amaturos,-as,-a esse
SUPERORD. CL. SUBORD. CL.
Present (amo) Perfect (amavi)
Imperfect (amabam) Pluperfect (amaveram)
Future simple (amabo) Future Perfect (amavero)
SUPERORD. CL. SUBORD. CLAUSE
Type of Tense Contemporaniety Anteriority Posteriority
Primary Present Subj. (amem) Perfect Subj. (amaverim) Future Participle+ Present Subj. of "sum" (amaturus sim)
Historical Imperfect Subj. (amarem) Pluperfect Subj. (amavissem) Future Participle+ Imperfect Subj. of "sum"(amaturus essem)

[1]

Oratio obliqua

Greek

In Classical Greek, the tenses in subordinate clauses must correspond to those in the superordinate clauses governing them.[2]

A principal tense (present tense, future tense, or future perfect) in the superordinate clause is followed by a principal tense in the indicative mood or subjunctive mood. Such a principal tense is followed by:[2]

  • the present tense when the action of the subordinate verb refers to the same time as the superordinate verb
  • the perfect when the action of the subordinate verb has been completed before the time of the superordinate verb
  • the future tense when the action of the subordinate verb is in the future of the time of the superordinate verb

A historical tense (imperfect, pluperfect, or aorist) in the superordinate clause is followed by a historical tense in the indicative mood or optative mood. Such a historic tense is followed by:[2]

  • the imperfect when the action of the subordinate verb refers to the same time as the superordinate verb
  • the pluperfect when the action of the subordinate verb has been completed before the time of the superordinate verb
  • the aorist
  • the future tense in the optative mood when the action of the subordinate verb is in the future of the time of the superordinate verb

In fact, since Greek tenses express the aspect of the verb, not the time, we don't have the "Consecutio Temporum", but the "Consecutio Modorum", the sequence of the Moods.

English

In English there are several views as to the exact rules governing the sequence of tenses, particularly with respect to verbs in superordinate and subordinate clauses, and debate over this point amongst grammarians that goes back as far as the 18th century.[3]

Natural sequence

One view is the natural sequence of tenses. According to this view, the tense of a verb in a subordinate clause is not determined by the tense of the verb in the superordinate clause, but is determined simply according to the sense of the clause taken apart from the rest of the sentence.[3]

In this view, both of the following sentences are proper. The tense of the main verb "say" does not affect the tense of the subordinate verb "need", which remains in the present tense because it describes a continuing state of affairs.

Batman says that he needs a special key for the Batmobile.
Batman said that he needs a special key for the Batmobile.

Improper sentences, in this view, do not correctly express the author's intent. In the following two examples (the first from Macaulay) only the latter expresses the author's meaning clearly and correctly:[4]

I had hoped never to have seen [the statues] again when I missed them on the bridge.
I had hoped never to see [the statues] again when I missed them on the bridge.

The rule for writers following the natural sequence of tenses can be expressed as follows: Imagine yourself at the point in time denoted by the main verb, and use the tense for the subordinate verb that you would have used at that time.[5]

Attracted sequence

Another view is the attracted sequence of tenses. According to this view, the tense of a verb in a subordinate clause is determined by the tense of the verb in the superordinate clause. It is this view, and the problems that it causes, that has generated the most discussion amongst grammarians.[3]

The attracted sequence can be summarized as follows: If the main verb of a sentence is in the past tense, then other verbs must also express a past viewpoint, except when a general truth is being expressed.[6]

In the attracted sequence, therefore, the second of the Batman examples would be corrected so that the subordinate verb was in the past tense:

Batman said that he needed a special key for the Batmobile.

The attracted sequence rule causes problems for indirect speech or incorporated quotations. Proponents of the rule specify various circumlocutions to avoid these problems. One such problem is the following sentence, where the subordinate verb in the incorporated quotation is in the present tense, but is required to be in the past tense, per the main verb, in order to obey the attracted sequence rule:[6]

Tony Blair admitted that "such a policy is not without its drawbacks".

Proponents of this rule state that such sentences have to be corrected in one of two ways:[6]

  • Rearrange the sentence such that the incorporated quotations become set off, possibly as direct speech:
    Tony Blair did not claim perfection: "such a policy is not without its drawbacks", he admitted.
  • Cut down the incorporated quotation to exclude the verb:
    Tony Blair admitted that such a policy was "not without its drawbacks".

References

  1. ^ Benjamin Hall Kennedy (1942). "The Complex Sentence". In J.F.Mountford. The Revised Latin Primer. London, New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green, & Co.. pp. 174–175. 
  2. ^ a b c Raphael Kühner (1844). "Succession of Tenses". Grammar of the Greek Language, for the Use of High Schools and Colleges. translated by Samuel Harvey Taylor and Bela Bates Edwards. New York: Mark H. Newman. pp. 505–506. 
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster (1994). "sequence of tenses". Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Merriam-Webster. pp. 838. ISBN 0877791325. 
  4. ^ W.M. Baskervill (1895). An English Grammar. Nashville, Tennessee: Plain Label Books. pp. 544–545. ISBN 1603030581. 
  5. ^ Joseph Devlin (1910). How To Speak And Write Correctly. New York: Plain Label Books. pp. 141–142. ISBN 1603030530. 
  6. ^ a b c Don LePan (2003). The Broadview Book of Common Errors in English: A Guide to Righting Wrongs. Broadview Press. pp. 30–31. ISBN 1551115867. 

Further reading

Latin

Greek

English

  • Walter Kay Smart (1925). "Tenses". English Review Grammar. New York: F.S. Crofts & co.. p. 185ff. 
  • Rodger A. Farley (September 1965). "Sequence of Tenses: A Useful Principle?". Hispania (Hispania, Vol. 48, No. 3) 48 (3): 549–553. doi:10.2307/336482. JSTOR 336482. 
  • Robin Lakoff (December 1970). "Tense and Its Relation to Participants". Language (Language, Vol. 46, No. 4) 46 (4): 838–849. doi:10.2307/412259. JSTOR 412259. 
  • Paul Kiparsky (2002). "Event Structure and the Perfect". In David I. Beaver, Luis D. Casillas Martínez, Brady Z. Clark, and Stefan Kaufmann (PDF). The Construction of Meaning. CSLI Publications. http://stanford.edu./~kiparsky/Papers/semanticsfest.pdf. 
  • David DeCamp (February 1967). "Sequence of Tenses, or Was James Thurber the First Transformational Grammarian?". College Composition and Communication (College Composition and Communication, Vol. 18, No. 1) 18 (1): 7–13. doi:10.2307/354487. JSTOR 354487. 

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