CC BY
2«C©LL©@yOUM-J©yPM&L» #3(196), 2024 / PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES_87
Huseynova Turkan Etibar Ganja State University Lecturer, department of "Lexics and country study" DOI: 10.24412/2520-6990-2024-3196-87-90 THE TENSE CATEGORY OF THE INDICATIVE MOOD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Abstract.
The English language is constantly evolving, and changes affect all its phonetic, lexical, grammatical layers. While language development trends in phonetics and vocabulary seem obvious to us and are largely influenced by external influences, grammatical changes are often dictated by internal language processes. Grammatical changes in the types of the tense system of the English verb are determined by its own trends in its development and ordering, for example, the emergence and consolidation in the language of new means of expressing the grammatical category of tense of the indicative mood.
Keywords: The English language, verb, mood, tense, indicative, category, future tense
As you know, the tense system ofthe English verb is one of the most difficult to understand. You should clearly understand why language needs such categories as tense, aspect and voice in order to clearly explain the principles of functioning of the corresponding forms. This understanding provides a cognitive approach to language as a system for representing knowledge.
The prototypes of aspectual neutrality are the forms of the so-called synthetic aspect, represented by forms of the main aspectual category, or aspectual-tense forms of the Indefinite or Simple group (in the foreign linguistic tradition).
The grammatical form of the present main can be considered as a set of the following forms of usage: actual, multiple, constant.
Aspectual neutrality in the sphere of the present tense. The present basic - actual serves to designate the singularity of action or states relevant to a given moment of speech, including the latter in the duration of the action. As I.P. Ivanova points out, "the period covered by the present main — actual — can have a very diverse duration —from unlimited to coinciding with the moment of speech, and between these two poles lies a whole series of transitional ones" [1, p. 140].
Despite the uniqueness of the tense forms of the English language, in the scientific literature its grammar and grammatical categories are likened to the grammatical categories of other languages, in particular, a method of representing tense forms similar to other Germanic languages is proposed. It is this approach that leads to difficulties in the interpretation of individual grammatical forms and categories, as well as to the recording of a large number of exceptions, often inexplicable. At the same time, a terminological apparatus is created to describe the grammar of the English language, which often does not contribute to revealing the essence ofthe grammatical forms and categories denoted by the terms. The least studied and most mobile part of the tense system of the indicative mood is the means of expressing the future tense. This is explained as following:
1) means of expressing the future tense appear much later than means of expressing the present and past tenses;
2) the means of expressing the future tense turn out to be more complex in their semantics and grammatical status;
3) the number of means of expressing the future tense is much exceeds the number of means of expressing the present and past tenses.
The formal opposition of grammatical forms, and not their meanings, leads to the fact that in theory, ter-minologically, the tense system ofthe English language in general, and the future tense section in particular, look ordered and symmetrical. However, in practice, such artificial systematization turns out to be unable to explain the processes occurring in English grammar, such as trends in the development of one or another means of expressing the future tense. For example, shall/will+be+Ving , formally intended to denote a long-term action that will occur in the future tense, in practice expresses not the duration of the action of the future tense, but the "neutral" future [2; p. 124]. In other words, the main meaning of the construction is not the expression of the type (continuous), as is the case with the Present Continuous or Past Continuous forms, but the expression of the modality of the described action. Such a discrepancy between the generally accepted name of a device in linguistics, the function assigned to it and the regularly expressed semantics in the language is characteristic of all means of expressing the future tense. The given example of the meaning shall/will+be+Ving shows the need to compare the remaining means of expressing the future tense not with the forms of the present and past tenses, but with each other [2; p. 124]. This, in turn, requires identifying shades of meaning of means of expression and their grammatical status.
The object of study in the work is the categorical features of the future tense in modern English, the status and position of the means of expressing the future tense in relation to the categorical forms of the past and present, as well as the function of the future tense as an indicator of directions in the development of the tense system of the English language as a whole.
The subject of the article is methods of attributing actions to the future tense, means of expressing the future tense, their grammatical and lexical meanings as the basis for differentiation. It is necessary to specify that indicating the time of action using adverbs and phrases of nouns with a preposition, as well as some case forms of nouns as a function of circumstances, is beyond the scope of this study. In this work, means of
88
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES / «<g®lLlL®@U[]UM~J0U®MaiL» 2024
expressing the future tense are understood only as those that use verb forms, including verb phrases.
In our opinion, it is necessary to distinguish between the actual forms of grammatical tense and the actual attribution of an action to any time, since the attribution of an action to the actual moment of its commis -sion often depends on the context and content of the entire sentence, its propositional meaning. When analyzing the context where this or that form is implemented, we see the conventions of the terminology accepted in English grammar. Therefore, in order to determine exactly the meaning of a particular tense device (in our article this is the future tense), it is necessary to take into account the propositional meaning, which may contradict the established grammatical meaning of a particular form. Schematicism in the interpretation of grammatical tense, leading to a discrepancy between the name of the grammatical form and the meaning it expresses, is the main indicator of the asymmetry of the grammatical system. The asymmetry of the system is also evidenced by the attempt to "invent" the form of the Future Perfect Continuous, by analogy with the Present Prefect Continuous and Past Perfect Continuous.
In practice, the form will+have+been + Ving is hypothetical, is extremely rarely used and is simplified, as a rule, to will+have + V3 [ 3; p.139]. The asymmetry of the tense system of the English language is supported by both the different emergence and development of grammatical tense forms and the different number of ways of expressing a particular tense. As a consequence, the asymmetry of the tense system of the English language is also associated with the existing opposition between non-future and future forms of the verb.
When considering the category of aspect in the New English period, the main attention is focused on the structural and semantic opposition of the perfect to other forms of the English verb. In the New English period, a continuous form was established and developed, similar in form to the old combinations with the predicative participle I, but differing in aspectual and semantic content.
When describing the category of mood in the New England period, it should be noted that the development of the system of moods occurs in the direction of clarifying the means of expressing individual modal shades, and, as a consequence, in the direction of increasing the number of analytical forms. An important characteristic of the category of mood in the New England period is that this category begins to be considered in linguistics not only in terms of the relation of action to reality in terms of reality or unreality, but also in terms of such a functional-semantic category that expresses different types of subjective qualifications of the communicated.
The way to express the future tense is shall/will+infinitive. One of the main problems regarding shall/will+infinitive is determining the grammatical status of the construction. For many years, linguists have debated whether shall/will+infinitive is a verb form or a free combination of words [3; p. 113].
Arguments for recognizing shall/will as a verb form:
1) the verbs shall/will lose their modal meaning, acting as auxiliary verbs (as indicated by the absence of
the shall/will distinction in the texts, the presence of 'I, the ability of shall/will to form questions and negations without "do");
2) shall/will+infinitive differs from other similar modal combinations in terms of diachrony (willan has never been a preterite present verb);
3) the presence in the language of separate modal combinations shall/will+infinitive, the meaning of which is determined by the modal meaning of the verbs shall/will, and the combination itself does not express the future tense;
4) the presence of one member of the predicative series (infinitive) in the composition shall/will+infinitive.
Arguments against recognizing shall/will+infinitive as a verb form:
1) instability of the grammatical meaning shall/will+infinitive;
2) instability of modal meanings shall/will within the combination;
3) formal similarity with other modal combinations, for example, can+infinitive;
4) the word form belongs to different categorical forms in within the same grammatical category ("future in the past").
The categorical form of the future tense, which emerged later, turns out to be both structurally and se-mantically more complex than the categorical forms of the present and past. We accept the way of describing the introduction of the grammatical concept of the future tense as part of temporal oppositions as the opposition of the future and non-future. From our point of view, in the tense system of the English language shall/will+infinitive is not so much the opposite of the forms Present Indefinite and Past Indefinite, but rather it is opposed to other means of expressing the future tense, the main evidence of which is should/would+in-finitive, the "analog" of which in the forms Present Indefinite and Past Indefinite do not exist. When considering the entire variety of means of expressing the future tense, based on the work of linguists, we identify the following semes of meaning:
1) shall/will+infinitive: expression of will, intention, desire, command, order, promise, incentive to action, future as logical conclusion, the future as a result of an action or situation of the present, uncertainty of the moment of committing a future action, the future with subjective modality;
2) present forms in the meaning of the future: Present Indefinite: futural present, planning, forecasting a situation, future action as an undoubted fact, designation of calendar dates, immediate future events, precise plans, description of the transition from one state to another, categorical attitude of the speaker to perform an action future, future action as a continuation of the present action, future with objective modality;
Present Continuous: strictly planned action, program, immediate future action, transition from one state to another (often with verbs of motion), description of future actions in the present, lack of personal assessment by the speaker of future events, objective modality of utterance;
«@©LL®@UlUm-J®UrnaL » 2024 / PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
89
3) shall/will+be+Ving: duration (rare), planned, modality of polite statement, neutral future;
4) shall/will+have+V3 : the duration of the action in the specified period, the completion of the action, the completed action from the perspective of the future;
5) should/would+infinitive: intention or obligation to perform an action, logical necessity of performing an action, conditioned unreality, future action as a consequence of past actions, expression of indirect or improper direct speech, uncertainty of the moment of committing a future action, forecast, subjective modality;
6) be going to+infinitive: intention, expectation, anticipation, future action arising from the intentions of the present, promise, threat, future, the reason for which lies in the present, future with subjective modality [3; p. 119];
For example: "We were going to travel by train, but then we decided to go by car instead"[4; p. 40].
7) be to+infinitive: agreement, expected event in the future, agreement, order, command, future conditional or dependent on circumstances;
8) be about to+infinitive: future action that must be performed immediately, action that will occur in the near future, future tense with an objective modality, expected future.
Tense in this work is defined as grammatical a category whose meaning characterizes the relationship of an action or state expressed by a verb to the moment of utterance or to a given moment in the past or future on the basis of simultaneity, precedence or succession. There are absolute and relative forms of grammatical tense. The absolute use of tense forms shows whether the action occurs simultaneously with the moment of speech, precedes it, or is expected after it. With the relative use of tense forms, the starting point is some moment in the past or future, specified by the author. The category of tense reveals a connection with other categories - the category of aspect, the lexical-grammatical category of the nature of the action and the category of mood, which determines the status of the described situation in relation to reality.
The question of the presence of the category of aspect in English and German 8 is debatable. The grammatical category of aspect is usually defined as a formal category that conveys the nature of the action. The specificity of English aspectual forms is that the aspectual meaning is necessarily associated with an indication of the period of time in which the action takes place, and, accordingly, is expressed within the framework of time [5; p.81]. A number of researchers of the problem of aspect in Germanic languages paid attention to the lexical meaning of the verb. The prerequisites for this were, on the one hand, the absence of a system of correlative verbs that are carriers of the category as in Slavic languages, and, on the other hand, the unconditional presence in the English verb of such meanings that, in general, fit the more or less widely accepted definition of the type as a category characterizing the action or state itself from the point of view of its course in time, but regardless of the moment of speech.
Due to the fact that any grammatical form is simultaneously a realization of the categories of tense, aspect and mood, the formation of these categories is considered in their interrelation and interdependence. In English verb units have grammatical categories of tense and aspect. But, if in relation to the temporal category there is almost complete coincidence here: the relation of actions expressed by verbs to the immediate moment of speech is expressed, thereby defining the past (the action was performed before the moment of speech), the present (the action is performed at the moment of speech or simultaneously with it) and future (the action will only be implemented, the moment of speech is not included) grammatical tense, then with respect to the aspect or aspect category there will be certain significant differences [5; p.81].
In addition, the fact of the existence in English of the perfect category (expresses the precedence of an action by another action or a certain moment in the present, past, future), usually attributed to the dominant of the grammatical tense system, is taken into account. At the same time, it is also taken into account that the perfect can simultaneously contain an indication of the effectiveness (aspect characteristic) of the action in relation to the speech moment. Thus, we get a structure that includes four main tense forms of the English verb.
Thus, tenses of the Indefinite group (simple or indefinite forms - Past Indefinite (Simple), Present Indefinite (Simple), Future Indefinite (Simple) are used to simply state the completion of a certain action in the past, future or present, without indicating its completeness or duration and, without expressing a relationship to another action.
For example: "I work in a travel agency now. Before that I worked in a department store" [6; p.10]. "I shall be late this evening" [6; p.44].
The tenses of the Continuous group (continuous or continuous forms - Past Continuous, Present Continuous, Future Continuous) define actions at the moment of their commission, indicating their duration or incompleteness in the past, present or future time period.
For example: "The water is boiling. Be careful" [6; p.6].
"This time last year, I was living in Hong Kong " [6; p.12].
The tenses of the Perfect group (perfect or perfect forms - Past Perfect, Present Perfect, Future Perfect) denote actions that have already been completed at the given moment of speech or completed earlier than another action in the past, present, as well as the future tense.
In conclusion, it should be noted that all of the above is true in relation to the use of the indicative voice (the action is considered as a real fact) within the active (subject - active person) voice. The passive voice, as well as the conditional, subjunctive and imperative moods of the English language are characterized by their own characteristics in relation to the formation of tense forms, which requires separate consideration. Thus, to summarize this section, we can conclude that the formation of the tense system of English verbs was carried out throughout the entire period of changes in language and linguistic forms [5; p.81].
90
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES / «ШИШФУШМ^ШШМаИ» #2(195), 2024
The category of time organizes events in chronological order in relation to the moment of speech as present, past and future. That is, it reflects objective time and serves for temporal (temporal) localization of events in relation to the fact of the message - the speech act. Thus, the localization of events on the time axis contains a deictic component, correlating the time and space of the event with the temporal and spatial localization of the speaker.
Unlike time, aspect is associated not with the temporal localization of the action, but with its generalized temporal structure, with how it is interpreted by the speaker. View, as an indicator of this temporal structure, characterizes the course or distribution of action over time.
Literature:
1. Иванова, И. П. Теоретическая грамматика современного английского языка / И. П. Иванова. -Москва : Высшая школа, 2012. - 365 с.
2. Musayev, O. I. Ingilis dilinin qrammatikasi: Ali msktsb tstabsbri ugun dsrslik /O.Musayev; Elmi red.: E.I.Haciyev.- Baki: Maarif, -1996. - 392 s.
3. Turksever (Musayev), O.I. A practical grammar of contemporary English. Third edition/ O.I. Turksever (Musayev), E.I.Hajiyev, A.R.Huseynov, -Baki: "KM" mstbsssi. 2020. - 540 s.
4. Murphy, R. English Grammar in use / R. Murphy, Fourth Edition/ -Cambridge University press. -2012. - 380 p.
5. Грамматика английского языка / В.Л. Кау-шанская, Ковнер Р.Л., Кожевникова О.Н. [и др.]. -1998. - c. 320
6. Murphy, R. English Grammar in Use /R. Murphy 5th-edition Cambridge University Press. -2019. -394 p.
