Грамматика английского языка Морфология. Синтаксис (стр. 8 из 71)

a) Did

I he (she, it) we you they

Not speak? (play?)

b) Didn’t

I he (she, it) we you they

speak? (play?)

The auxiliary did also occurs in affirmative forms in cases when the speaker wishes to emphasize his statement, as in:

But I assure you, he did tell me of it himself.

Actually, I did see him once last week.

There are a few verbs which form their past indefinite differently from the way described above. These are:

The verb to be, which has synthetic forms not only in the affirmative, but also in the interrogative, negative and negative-interrogative. It also distinguishes the category of number. The interrogative is formed by placing the verb before the subject.

The verb to have, which also has synthetic forms for all structures.

When having meanings other than ‘possess’ or when used as part of a phrasal verb (to have a look), to have forms its interrogative and negative in the ordinary way with the auxiliary to do.

§ 31. The past indefinite refers actions to past time quite cut off from the present, that is, these actions are in no way connected with the present).* The past indefinite can therefore be used only in contexts relating to the past. The past reference of the context can be shown:

* This is very important for distinguishing the situations in which either only the past indefinite or only the present perfect are to be used.

a) by various adverbials of time pointing to the past, for example, yesterday, the day before yesterday, last (that) Saturday (Sunday), etc., last (that) week (month, year), an hour ago (and other adverbials with ago), in 1970, on the 1st of September, and many others denoting certain moments and periods of time already past.

He left yesterday.

They married in 1975.

She returned two hours ago.

I saw them last Monday.

That night nobody slept.

b) by some other past actions (denoted by the verb in the past indefinite or past continuous).

He came when I was already at home.

They started when the sun was rising.

Thus the very fact that the past indefinite is used in a narrative or in a single sentence is generally an indication that some past time not connected with the present is referred to.

§ 32. The past indefinite is the verb form most frequently used; its range of application is immense, especially in all kinds of narratives.

The past indefinite is used:

1. To state simple facts in the past.

The house stood on the hill.

She was beautiful.

I did not know who the man was.

I did not hear your question.

I did not see you at the theatre.

What did you say?

The past indefinite, never the present perfect, is used in questions beginning with when, even though no indication of past time is made, because when implies a certain moment in the past. The answer can be either in the past indefinite or in the present perfect, depending on the situation: When did you see him? - I saw him two days ago. - I have just seen him.

Likewise, the past indefinite, not the present perfect, is used in questions beginning with where because in such questions the reference to some past moment is implied: Where did you buy that hat? The implication is: when you were at the place where the action was performed.

2. To denote habitual actions in the past.

All summer I got up at 7.

On Sunday evening he took her to the pictures.

He usually took the first morning train.

Note:

Besides the past indefinite there are other ways of expressing habitual actions in the past:

a) by means of the form used to + infinitive:

Some years ago he used to call on me, now he never does.

The negative construction of used to is formed in one of two ways: didn’t used to and didn’t use to.

She didn’t use to knit in the evenings.

The interrogative construction is: did (he) used to? or did (he) use to...?

Did she used to write her articles at night?

Did he use to do it?

b) The other way to express habitual actions is by means of the verb would + infinitive stem. But unlike used

to, would always conveys an additional modal colouring of will, insistance, perseverance.

This used to be my mother’s room, and I would sit there for hours.

3. To denote a succession of past actions.

He got up, put on his hat, and left.

The car stopped, the door opened, and a very pretty girl got out of it.

4. To denote actions in progress at a certain moment in the past, with verbs that cannot be used in

continuous forms.

He was not listening but still heard what they were speaking about.

At that time he was on the watch.

5. To denote future actions in subordinate adverbial clauses of time and condition depending on

principal clauses with the predicate verb in a past tense.

She said she would come when the film was over.

She said she would do it if nothing unexpected happened.

§ 33. The ways of rendering the past indefinite in Russian are varied, owing to its aspective vagueness. Depending on the lexical meaning of the verb and on the context, it can be translated by Russian verbs in the past tense of both perfective and imperfective aspects with all possible shades of their meanings.

In the morning I wrote two letters.	Утром я написал два письма. (A perfective (completed) action.)
I got up from my chair and bowed.	Я встал и поклонился. (Two perfective (completed) momentary actions.)
He breathed hard and stopped every few minutes.	Он тяжело дышал и останавливался каждые несколько минут. (Imperfective (incompleted) and iterative actions.)
She lay on the sofa reading а detective story.	Она лежала на диване, читая детектив. (Imperfective, durative action.)
On hearing it he laughed.	Услышав это, он засмеялся. (A perfective, inchoative action.)

The past continuous

§ 34. Formation. The past continuous is formed analytically by the auxiliary verb to be in the past indefinite and participle I of the notional verb.

In the interrogative the auxiliary is placed before the subject and participle I follows the subject.

In the negative the corresponding negative forms of to be are employed, and participle I follows them.

The paradigm of the verb in the past continuous

Affirmative	Interrogative
I He (she, it)	was speaking	Was	I he (she, it)	speaking?

We You They

were speaking

Were

we you they

speaking?

Negative
I He (she it)	was not (wasn’t) speaking

We You They

were not (weren't) speaking

Negative-interrogative

a)

Was

I He (she, it)

not speaking?

b)

Wasn’t

I He (she, it)

speaking?

Were

we

you

they

not speaking?

Weren't

we

you

they

speaking?

§ 35. The past continuous is used mostly in narrative although it may occur in conversation as well.

The past continuous is used with all actional verbs and some statal verbs:

1. To denote a continuous action in progress at a certain moment in the past.

At 10 it was still raining.

When I called him up, he was still having breakfast.

The fire began at midnight when everybody was sleeping.

At that time she was already packing up.

In these examples the moment of time is specified directly, by means of adverbials of time or indirectly by some other past action mentioned in the same sentence. The moment of time at which the action is in progress can also be shown by the previous context, or understood from the situation:

He did not answer. His lips were trembling.

I stood motionless, as if glued to the ground. The enormous black bull was galloping towards me at full

speed.

I told him that Ralph was staying at the Three Boars.

2. To denote a continuous action in progress during a certain period of time in the past, marked by adverbials - prepositional phrases (from ... till, from ... to) or adverbs (all day long, the whole night, etc.)

We were quarrelling all day long yesterday.

She says she was washing from six till eight.

When actional durative verbs take the form of the past continuous the actions thus described do not actually differ from those in the form of the past indefinite, as both denote continuous actions in progress at some moment of time in the past:

When I saw him, he was standing by the door.

When I saw him he stood by the door.

Both examples may refer to the same situation. The difference between the two is that the past indefinite lays stress on the fact, while the past continuous emphasizes the process, thus presenting the action more vividly.

However in a complex sentence with a subordinate adverbial clause of time if the predicate verbs both in the principal and in the subordinate clauses express simultaneous continuous actions in progress it is usual (though not obligatory) to use the past indefinite in both the clauses:

While I ate and drank, I looked up the register.

She looked all the while at him as she spoke in her slow, deep voice.

But, the past continuous is rather frequent in adverbial clauses, introduced by the conjunction while, as, when, as long as, etc.:

While they were talking, the boy waited outside.

As he was climbing up, he all the while looked at the birds soaring high above him.

When I was working there, I played in the local jazz band.

She stayed in the car while I was talking to the nurse.

Sometimes the past continuous is found in the principal clause, while the past indefinite is in the subordinate:

They were talking inside while he stood watching the path.

The verbs to stand, to sit, to lie expressing actions in progress at a certain moment, or during a certain period of time in the past are commonly used in the past indefinite, if they are followed by participle I.

They stood by the door, talking loudly.

They sat beside their lorry, drinking soda water and eating sardines from a tin.

He lay in bed trying to forget what had happened.

However, the past continuous is also possible.

She was standing, staring at the open letter in her hand.

3. The past continuous is sometimes used to denote actions characteristic of certain persons in the past. In such sentences the adverbials always and constantly are generally included.

She had rather poor health and was constantly complaining of headaches.

As I remember her she was always fussing over something.