Основная часть:
Tense (lat. tempus), is one of the typical functions of the finite verb. It is typical because “the meaning of process, inherently embedded in the verbal lexeme, finds its complete realization only if presented in cer¬tain time conditions” [2, 132]. By tense we understand “the correspondence between the form of the verb and our concept of time” [13, 40].
Tenses are “the different forms which a verb assumes to indicate the time of the action or state” [8, 74].
The category of tense in English expresses the relationship between the time of the action and the time of speaking: “The time of speaking is designated as present time and is the starting point for the whole scale of time measuring. The time that follows the time of speaking is designated as future time; the time that precedes the time of speaking is designated as past time” [9, 18]. Accordingly there are three tenses in English - the present tense, the future tense and the past tense which refer actions to present, future or past time.
Besides these three tenses there is one more tense in English, the so-called future in the past. The peculiarity of this tense lies in the fact that the future is looked upon not from the point of view of the moment of speaking (the present) but from the point of view of some moment in the past.
Each tense is represented by four verb forms. Thus there are four present tense forms: the present indefinite, the present continuous, the present perfect, the present perfect continuous; four past tense forms: the past indefinite, the past continuous, the past perfect and the past perfect continuous; four future tense forms: the future indefinite, the future continuous, the future perfect and the future perfect continuous; and four future in the past tense forms: the future in the past indefinite, the future in the past continuous, the future in the past perfect, the future in the past perfect continuous.
The tense category is realized through the oppositions. The binary principle of oppositions remains the basic one in the correlation of the forms that represent the grammatical category of tense. The present moment is the main temporal plane of verbal actions. Therefore, the temporal dichotomy may be illustrated by the following graphic representation (the arrows show the binary opposition):
Present Past
Future I Future II
Generally speaking, the major tense-distinction in English is undoubtedly that which is traditionally described as an opposition of past : present. But this is best regarded as a contrast of past : non-past. Quite a lot of scholars do not recognize the existence of future tenses, because what is described as the 'future' tense in English is realized by means of auxiliary verbs will and shall.
M.Y. Blokh writes: “The combinations of the verbs shall and will with the infinitive have of late become subject of renewed discussion. The controversial point about them is whether these combinations really constitute, together with the forms of the past and present, the categorial expression of verbal tense, or are just modal phrases, whose expression of the future time does not differ in essence from the general future orientation of other combinations of modal verbs with the infinitive. The view that shall and will retain their modal mean¬ings in all their uses was defended by such a recognized authority on English grammar of the older generation of the twentieth century linguists as O. Jespersen. In our times, quite a few scholars, among them the successors of Descriptive Linguistics, consider these verbs as part of the general set of modal verbs, “modal auxiliaries”, expressing the meanings of capability, probability, permission, obligation, and the like” [2, 138 – 139]. Most of the researchers also consider that although the auxiliary verbs will and shall occur in many sentences that refer to the future, we can’t say about future tense. After all, will or shall do not necessarily occur in sentences with a future time reference. That is why future tenses are often treated as partly modal and English has two true tenses, past and present (sometimes analysed as non-past).
According to this point of view, we shall analyze and compare Indefinite and Continuous Tenses.