Actionless and Action-Based Tenses

We have already noted that the English language uses in all 18 tenses because there are 18 sets of “Auxiliary + Verbs” combinations. Every tense has its own A+V formula, which cannot be repeated in any other. That’s how we identify a tense.

Of the 18, two are “action less” varieties and the balance 16 are “action based” types. What exactly do these phrases mean? You would see some kind of activity or movement in the action based variety. You cannot see any kind of performance in the action less type; the sentence will be static in nature giving information about the subject, that’s all. Study the following sentences:

1. Peter is my friend. We are students of this Institute. I am your teacher.

In the sentences at (a), do you find anything moving? No. The sentences merely describe Peter, We and I, which constitute the Subject of the sentence. The words “am”, ”is” and .”are” are doing two jobs simultaneously, that of an auxiliary and verb. So, we may name them as, “Auxiliary cum verbs” or in short A.V and pronounced as A dot V. . All the sentences at (a) are in Present tense, which is the first action less tense.

The second action less tense uses the A.Vs, “was:” and “were” and is named Past tense. Here are some sample sentences:

(b) John was my class mate last year. My parents were in London last month. You cannot see any movements in these and are merely informative above the subjects but in the past time period.

Every English sentence will have a grammar part and a meaning part. The grammar part will have only 3 elements, viz, Subject + Auxiliary + Verb (S + A + V). In all the action based tenses/sentences, you will find A +V as two distinct words as shown in the . following sentences:

(c) John and his sister are playing a game of chess. I am writing a letter now.

Jane is running to catch her school bus.

Every verb, printed in bold, shows an action such as “playing”, “writing” and “running”. Next, each of these verbs has a supporting auxiliary. The words AM, IS, ARE which were playing a dual role in Present tense, do only the supporting job in these sentences. This tense is to be known as “Simple present” and is quite distinct from “Present tense”.

Whereas, in action less tense/sentence, the auxiliary and verb appear as a combined word. There are only 5 such A.Vs which are, AM,IS,ARE, WAS and WERE.

There are some interesting features about the action based type of sentences. Consider the following sentence:

Paul does not remember all the multiplication tables.

The meaning is very simple. Can you identify the S,A,V elements? Here they are:

Paul does not remember / all the multiplication tables.

S Neg. A V Meaning part (Object/Complement)

‘Remember or remembering’ is the activity here. It’s an action based verb Who is performing this activity? Paul certainly, isn’t he and Paul is the Subject? So, what is Paul or Subject? Subject is a Noun (of a person or thing only) and is the “Doer” of the action of remembering. We can now say that the meaning part or the

‘Object/Complement’ will contain the details of the activity of “remembering.”.

In this sentence, there is only one activity. Paul could do more than one activity, one after another, couldn’t he? How do we show the subsequent activity or activities? By using “infinitive verb” in the O/C part like this,

Paul doesn’t remember / all the multiplication tables to solve all arithmetic

problems and to get pass marks.

The second activity is “solving”. The third activity is “getting”. So, the Subject can perform any number of activities one after the other.

Now, we come to the question, what exactly is the meaning of Subject in an action less sentence. Consider the next sentence:

Paul is / a weak student.

S A.V O/C

Since there is no activity in this sentence, what is Paul? He is the main character and nothing more. Do you also see that “Paul” and “a weak student” are one and the same person? “A weak student ” is additional information about Paul. Therefore, we need to name these words as “Adjunct”

Paul is a weak student

S A.V Adjunct