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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Tense, Aspect and Verb Forms

Aspect

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈæspekt/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, aspect means: A grammatical category that shows how an action unfolds in time, for example whether it is ongoing, completed or repeated, rather than when it happens.

In Turkish: görünüş

How it is used

English has two aspects marked with auxiliaries: progressive (be + -ing) and perfect (have + past participle). They combine with tense: the past perfect progressive is past tense with both aspects.

Example sentences

  1. 'I read the report' and 'I was reading the report' have the same tense but a different aspect.

  2. Turkish marks aspect with suffixes like -yor, while English uses auxiliaries.

Common collocations

  • progressive aspect
  • perfect aspect
  • tense and aspect
  • grammatical aspect
  • lexical aspect
  • tenseA grammatical category, shown by the form of the verb, that places an event in time relative to the moment of speaking, such as present or past.
  • progressive aspectThe verb form made with be plus the -ing form, used to show that an action is in progress, temporary or unfinished at a certain time, as in 'She is working'.
  • present perfectA verb form made with have or has plus a past participle, used to link a past action or state to the present, as in 'I have lost my keys'.
  • auxiliary verbA verb used with a main verb to form tenses, questions, negatives and the passive, mainly be, have and do, plus modal verbs such as can and will.

More terms: Tense, Aspect and Verb Forms

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