Most people are familiar with the notion of tense in grammar. We know that the difference, for example, between “I go” and “I went” is one of tense: “I go” is an example of the present tense and “I went” is an example of the past tense. But what is the difference between “I go” and “I’m going”? Or between “I went” and “I had gone”? The difference between these is not one of tense but of aspect. In English, there are three aspects: simple, progressive, and perfect. (“Progressive” is sometimes called “continuous.”)
Forms for the “simple” aspect are, in fact, the most simple. They consist of a single word, whereas forms for the progressive and perfect aspects consist of an auxiliary verb (“be” or “have”) plus either the “-ing” form of the verb (for the progressive) or the past participle form (for the perfect).
Simple Aspect : Composed of a verb as a single word
They walk to school most days.
He worked late last night.
The people next door bought a new car.
I will ask her.
Progressive Aspect : Composed of the auxiliary verb “be” + “-ing” form of the verb
She is sleeping.
I was working.
They will be arriving at noon.
Perfect Aspect: Composed of the auxiliary verb “have” + past participle of the verb
I have been there twice.
He had forgotten about the appointment.
Next month, they will have been married for twenty years.
It should be noted here that future time in English is most often expressed by placement of the modal auxiliary “will” or the phrase “be going to” before the verb. However, use of one of these or any other expression of futurity with the verb does not have an effect on the aspect of the verb. Constructions such as “will go” or “am going to go” are considered to be using the simple aspect of the verb, for example. The verbs seen in such sentences as “We will be expecting you” and “We’re going to be meeting at two o’clock on Friday” are considered examples of the progressive aspect. And the verbs in “They will have arrived back in Chicago by Tuesday” and “They’re going to have learned a lot by the end of the semester” are considered to be using the perfect aspect.
Difference between the aspects
Simple aspect
The simple aspect often shows that the action of the verb takes place repeatedly (“I get up around 6:00”; “He works as a plumber”; “We always took the bus to school back then”; “They usually played tennis on Sundays”). When we say something like “They sell good coffee” or “They sold good coffee,” we refer to repeated acts of selling over time. However, the simple aspect can also be used to describe a single completed action that is considered to occur at a single point in time (“I left around noon”; “They moved in last week”; “I will call you when I get there”). The simple aspect is also typically used when the verb doesn’t describe any action at all but rather a condition, state of being, or opinion.
She likes her art class.
He wants to leave now.
They seem tired.
I know she works there.
They have a swimming pool.
Progressive aspect
The progressive aspect is used to talk about an action that is ongoing at a certain point in time. The action might have just begun or might be ending soon, but most importantly, it is viewed from some point between the beginning and the ending. We often associate the progressive form with actions that are happening right now in the present, but it is the ongoing nature of the action that is really most important, because the action could be ongoing in the past or in the future: “At six o’clock last night, we were having dinner,” “When they get here, I’ll probably still be cleaning.”
Perfect aspect
The perfect aspect is a little more complicated to explain in brief terms. The perfect form is used to show that a single action or state occurred at some point before some other action or point in time. (“She had already left when I tried to call her at home.” “The party will already have started by the time we get there.”) It is also used when we view an action or condition as extending over a period of time and continuing up to and into a different phase or point in time. For example, when you use the present perfect form and say “I have lived here for five years,” you are speaking about an action that began in the past but extends up to and into the present. However, if you just moved out of your apartment, you’d probably feel forced to switch to the simple past form, i.e., “I lived in that apartment for five years.” This would communicate for certain that you don’t live there anymore. You feel that it is finished. But if you still live in this apartment (or feel like you do still) and you want to talk about those five years before this point, your only grammatical choice is the present perfect. In some languages, you might use something like the present progressive form: ”I’m living here for five years,” but this usage is not generally acceptable in English. Neither is “I live here for five years,” which seems even more unacceptable. The present perfect allows you to talk about something that has been happening mostly in the past but isn’t or doesn’t feel finished in the present.
It has to be noted that tense is always combined with aspect in a verb phrase, and these combined notions are commonly referred to as “tenses,” e.g., “simple present tense,” “present perfect tense,” “past progressive tense,” ”simple past tense,” “past perfect tense.” Furthermore, the progressive aspect sometimes combines with the perfect aspect so that we have constructions like “I had been sleeping” and “they have been waiting.” Some grammarians consider these constructions examples of a fourth aspect, which they call the “perfect progressive.” On the other hand, some grammarians consider English to have only two aspects: progressive and perfect. These linguists don’t use the word “aspect” to refer to verbs in their simple forms. Whether “simple” is actually a formal aspect or not, it is nonetheless important to contrast that notion with the notions of “progressive” and “perfect.” Obviously, aspect is a rather complicated grammatical concept, which is only given a brief introduction here.
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Grammar Glossary: Further discussion of ASPECT, with special focus on the Present Perfect