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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

TEMA 18

- INGLÉS

La localización en el tiempo: relaciones


temporales. Frecuencia.

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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

TOPIC 18: LOCATION IN TIME: Time Relations. Frequency.

0. INTRODUCTION
1. LOCATION IN TIME
1.1. THE CONCEPT OF TIME
1.2. TIME AND DISCOURSE
3. TIME RELATIONS
3.1. SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF TIME-POSITION EXPRESSIONS
3.2. SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF TIME-POSITION EXPRESSIONS
3.2.1. TIME-WHEN PREPOSITIONS: IN, ON, AT.
3.2.2. TIME-POSITION SUBJUNCTS.
3.3. RELATIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT TIME-POSITIONS
4. FREQUENCY
4.1. SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF TIME-FREQUENCY EXPRESSIONS
4.2. SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF TIME-FREQUENCY EXPRESSIONS
5. CONCLUSION.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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TOPIC 18: LOCATION IN TIME: Time Relations. Frequency.

0. INTRODUCTION
A text, as a semantic unit, needs a context. The course of the narrative
depends in fact as much on place-sequence as on time-sequences. In a narrative
text, written or spoken, time is a relevant element in the structure of the
sentence and in the general meaning. Both syntactic and semantic aspects are
expressed by means of different grammatical devices related with the notion of
time: tense, aspect and auxiliaries in the verb phrase or by adverbials such as
adverbs (‘yesterday’), prepositional phrases (‘on Saturday’), noun phrases (‘last
week’), noun phrase + ago, past, back, etc. (‘three weeks ago’), conjunctions
(‘after, since’), and adverbial clauses (‘whenever they want).
To locate something in time means to establish a time reference for an event
or an action in an utterance. Location in time and temporal relations represent
semantic notions which have a variety of realizations on the syntactic and lexical
levels in the English language. They respond to questions like "When?" and "How
often?". Answers to such questions or information referring to these notions can
be coded in English in different ways, for example by means of simple adverbs
like now or more complex expressions like after he had come. Users of English
understand such expressions not only thanks to their knowledge of linguistic
structures and vocabulary, but also thanks to their understanding of the spacio-
temporal framework in which communication take place. For this reason, the
present analysis of the ways in which English expresses temporal notions starts
by establishing how the concept of time is conceived in this language and how
these notions are present in discourse in general. Next, a variety of ways of
expressing temporal noaens is presented and discussed in detail.
1. LOCATION IN TIME
1.1. THE CONCEPT OF TIME
Time is a universal concept. It is a measured or measurable continuum that
lacks spatial dimensions (Encyclopaedia Britannia). All languages have the notion
of time and ways of distinguishing actions or ideas in the frame of present, past
and future, although not all the cultures understand these concepts in the same
way.
Some linguists see the origins of the time universals like past, present and
future in the developmental sequence of the first language. Children begin their
speech careers by talking solely about the here and now, that is to say, about
objects and events in the present moment. It takes time for them to acquire the
notion of non-present. When they do, they first seem to acquire the notion of
past, that is, of those events that they have already experienced, and the notion
of future, or those events that they have yet not experienced.
When children talk about events, they focus on what is happening, what has
just happened or what is just about to happen. When they start to talk about
events in sequence, therefore, they stick very closely to their order of
occurrence: they describe the first event first, the second event second, and so
on. This parallelism between order of occurrence and order of mention appears
both in production and in comprehension. Children find it easier to construct
linguistic productions which mirror chronological order of occurrence with order
of description, as well as to interpret that the first event mentioned was the first
to occur. E. Clark (1971) found that three-year-olds were able to act out two
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Inglas, Tema 18 (Secundaria) Pag. 3
events in sequence correctly
93 percent of the time after hearing descriptions like the following:
The boy jumped the fence before he patted the dog.
After the boy jumped the fence, he patted the dog.
When given the descriptions that follow, in which the order of events does
not correspond to that of mention, the same children got the sequence of events
right only 18 percent of the time:
Before the boy patted the dog, he jumped the fence.
The boy patted the dog after he (had) jumped the fence.
The above suggests that there is an acquisition order for some grammatical
morphemes related to time in the mother tongue.
1.2. TIME AND DISCOURSE
The extra-linguistic and universal concept of time is reflected in English in
the existence of forms which make reference to the present, past and future, like
now, yesterday, next Monday. Very often, the listener or the reader cannot
correctly understand the correct or exact meaning of forms which locate events
in time without relating them to the temporal framework of the context of the
given utterance. Any use of language whose meaning depends at least in part on
the situational context is called deixis.
Deixls concerns the way in which some expressions can only be interpreted
in terms of their relationship with the speaker, from whom deixis emanates. If a
speaker were to say I'm going to ask you to help me lift this and put it here, a
listener would need to know who was speaking (to identify the referents of I, me),
to whom (to identify the referen of you), of what (to identify the referent of
this) and the place of speaking (to work out where here refers to). Expressions
like I,
we, me, you this, that, to my left, behind, here, yesterday, next year… are all
indexed to the speaker in speaking; that is, they take their current interpretation
from the speaker at the moment of speaking. It is necessary for a listener to
identify the speaker, and the time and place of utterance, in order to interpret
fully what was said and what was meant by what was said.
Deictics are expressions which explicitly refer to time or other contextual
elements (then, here, he), although time reference is also present in the case of
non-explicit references (e.g. the choice of tenses). All such categories used for
location in time are classified below and analysed in the following parts of the
topic.
The most obvious referent for time seems to be that of the moment of
speaking and it marks the present time. Examples of expressions used to refer to
the present can be the adverb now, the noun phrase this week or simply the
choice of present continuous tense in English: I am having a rest. If the deictic
reference is not explicit, like in the last example, the knowledge of contexts helps
us understand what is meant by the present time (whether right at this moment,
this week, this month or at this stage of my life, for instance). The remaining no-
tions (past time and future time) are established in relation to the present time
and forms used to locate events in time are discussed below.
Summing up, deictic categories and other expressions for time
location in English include:

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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

1. Adverbials: Adverbs, prepositional phrases, nouns or subordinate clauses


whose syntactic function in a clause is that of adverbial. Adverbials form the
basis for the discussion of temporal concepts and it is a term proposed by Quirk
et al. Carter and McCarthy and other authors prefer the term adjunct for the
same syntactic function in a clause, as opposed to subject, object, verb and
complement (note that in Quirk et al. adjunct is just one of the four types of
adverbials). Among the different possibilities mentioned above, time adverbials
are usually expressed by means of adverbs or adverb phrases (often, very often)
or prepositional phrases (from time to time) but also by means of nouns or noun
phrases (last year, the day before yesterday) or whole clauses (after he had
come). Some time expressions used in adverbials are proper nouns with unique
reference, so they do not use an article, unless they are accompanied by
restrictive modification which gives a specific meaning to the name: Easter,
Christmas (Day), Easter (Sunday), Good Friday, Independence Day, and other
calendar items, such as names of festivals, months, and days of the week.
Examples of specific meaning: during the Easter of that year, on the
Independence Day that I spent in Alaska; On Christmas Day my family meets for
dinner, but on the Christmas of 1990 we didn't.
2. Tense and aspect in verbs. The form of the verb specifies the location
in time. She is sleeping informs us that the action is taking place in the
chronological present by means of the categories of tense (present) and aspect
(continuous) marked on the verb of the sentence. One should rememberthat tf '
ass of pre-sent tenses not necessarily refers to the chronological present and,
frequently, the time reference can only be correctly understood ewe know-the
eootext.
3. Adjectives or nouns as part of any other element of the clause rather
than an adverbial (subject, object or complement). The words used in this way
are often the same as or morphologically related to those used as adverbials:
Recent events surprised everybody Last week's meeting was a great
success
(recent/last week is used attributively in the noun phrase, which is the
subject of the clause). Proper nouns like those mentioned in the point on
adverbials can also be used in a similar way.
Further discussion of forms used to express time relations is based on the
examples of adverbials, although examples of other deictic categories for time
are given as well. The terminology used is based on Quirk et al. when references
are made to adverbials or adjuncts.
TYPES OF ADVERBIALS According to QUIRK et al.
Types of adverbial, (those dealt with in this topic are marked in bold)
SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION: semantic roles of adverbials
1. Space: position, direction, distance.
2. Time: position, duration, fequency, relationship
3. Respect
4. Contingency: cause, purpose, reason, result, condition, concession
5. Modality: emphasis, approximation, restriction
6. Degree: amplification, diminution, measure

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7. Process: manner, means, instrument and agent


SYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION: grammatical functions of adverbials
1. Adjuncts: predication or sentence. [semantic roles: space, time, process,
respect, contingency]
2. Subjunds: wile or narrow orientation.
3. Disjuncts: style or content.
4. Conjuncts [semantic roles: listing, summative, appositive resultive,
inferential, contrastive, transitional).
3. TIME RELATIONS
From the semantic point of view, time expressions can be divided into three
main classes: time-when or time position, time frequency and time duration.
Time-when expressions establish the time or moment when the proposition of the
utterance is true or in other words the time of the event. Naturally, the time of
speaking and the time of event do not have to coincide and that is the reason for
the existence of the system of tenses:
I am watching television now.
I was watching television then.
This part of the topic concentrates on time-when expressions, which are the
basis for the expression of time relations and the next two parts focus on the
expression of frequency and duration.
3.1. SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF TIME-POSITION EXPRESSIONS
Most time when (or time position) expressions can serve as a respond to a
"When?" Question. They can be divided into the following categnries according to
their meaning:
1. Those denoting a point of time: adverbials: again (= on another
occasion), immediately, instantly, just (= at this very moment), late (= at a late
time), now (= at this time), nowadays (= at the present time), presently (= at the
present time), simultaneously (= at the same time), then (=at that time), today,
tomorrow, tonight, yesterday; or adjectives present, then, intermediate.
2. Those denoting a boundary of time, that is, a point of time, but also
implying the point from which that boundary is measured; adverbials: afterwards,
before, earlier, eventually (=in the end), finally, formerly, initially, just(= a very
short time ago), lately (= a short time ago), later, momentarily (= in a moment);
next; once (= at some time in the past), previously (= before), presently (=
soon), recently (= a short time ago), shortly (= soon), since (= after cat;, soon,
subsequently, then (= after that,. prepositions: before, after, since; adjectives:
former, previous, subsequent.
3.2. SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF TIME-POSITION EXPRESSIONS
A variety of syntactic functions are used to express time-position. The most
common are adverbials and one can enumerate their realizations in the following
way:
· Adverbs: already, yet, late, recently, presently, initially.They havent finished
yet.

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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

· Prepositional phrases: on Monday, after tomorrow A variety of prepositions


can be used and they are discussed below (3.2.1.). She came to visit us on
Monday.
· Nouns: the last Sunday in July, Monday. You can come Monday.
· Clauses (adverbial clauses of time): when you are ready, before it happens
(finite) or travelling on the Continent, I miss the English pub (non-finite):

On the other hand, time position adverbs can belong to one of the following
groups described by Quirk et al.:
1. Adjuncts: most of the examples above belong to this group.
2. Subjuncts Indude yet, still, already, anymore, any longer, just and ever,
which are dscussed below (3.2.2.).
3. Conjuncts of the transitional type and within it the temporal subtype: in
the meantime, meanwhile, originally, subsequently, eventually.
The position of time-when expressions in a clause varies. The position of
conjuncts is completely free, although most frequently we can find them at the
beginning of a clause: Meanwhile, I was thinking about what to do next.
The position of subjuncts depends on the meaning they have in a given
clause and it is discussed in detail below (3.2.2.). Finally, time-position adjuncts
can be in a hierarchical relationship. Their usual position is at the end of a clause
but more than one adjunct can coincide there. The order of final adjuncts
depends in part on information focus, but the tendency is for the super-ordinate
adjunct, the one denoting the more extended period, to come last, unless the
other adjunct is considerably longer in form:
I'll see you at nine on Monday . I was in New York last year before the first snow
fell
3.2.1. TIME-WHEN PREPOSITIONS: IN, ON, AT.
Apart from adverbs, prepositional phrases are to the most common
expressions used specify time position. The three prepositions which can be
used for this are:
1. In is used before periods of time:
- parts of the day: early in the morning/afternoon
- months: in July
- seasons: in (the) summer
- years: in 1997
- dates that include the year: in June 1998
- decades and centuries: in the 1990()s, in the 21st century
In can mean 'during or within a period of time': He made the flight in two hours.
In can aiso mean 'at the end of a period of time': We expect to land in one hour.
The phrase in time means 'early enough not too late for something': Just in time
to celebrate his birthday
2. On before days/dates:
- days: on Mondays
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- dates that do not include the year: on May 25th


- with pars of days/date: on Friday afternoon , on the morning of Monday , July
24th
- the phrase ‘on time’ means 'at exactly the right time': He left exactly on time.
3. At before exact times:
- with clock times: at 16.20, at six o 'clock
- with single words meaning a time of day: at dawn, at midday, at lunch-time
- with beginning, star, end at the beginning of the flight
- with the words time, moment: At that time he was great, whereas at the
moment he is not so much so.
- with public holidays and festivals:
At Christmas, but on Christmas day.
At Easter, but on Easter Sunday.
At the weekend
The above mentioned prepositions are not used before the words every, last,
next, this, tomorrow, yesterday.
Helen is making her flight next Monday (* on next Monday).
He hopes to arrive this morning (* on this morning).
John is leaving for London tomorrow afternoon (* on tomorrow after-noon).
Finally, there are differences in the use of prepositions in time expressions
between, for example, British English and American English:
British at the weekend - American on the weekend
British on Monday - American Monday (optional, more frequent in the USA)
3.2.2. TIME-POSITION SUBJUNCTS.
Adverbs yet, still, alreadv, anymore, any longer just and ever represent time
subjuncts:
In contrast with adjuncts, subjuncts lack the grammatical parity with other
sentence elements and in the case of time subjuncts, they are related to a part of
the predication rather than the whole sentence. The uses of still, yet and already
depend on the type of sentence in which they appear (M - mid-position, E - end position).
DECLARATIVES INTERROGATIVES

Positive Negative Positive Negative


Still M Still M Still M Still M
Already M Yet E Yet M,E Yet M,E
Already M Already M
I’ve just finished my supper . They never seem to read books
The relevant point to mention here is the difference in meaning of "yet",
depending on the type of sentence it appears in:

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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

a) In negative clauses, meaning "up to now, so far": I haven’t received a


letter from him yet. Don't go yet.
b) in interrogative sentences, meaning "at this or that time, so soon as now":
Have you seen them yet?
We also change the shade of meaning of “already” by placing it at the end
rather than in the mid-position: He has found a job already! Is it there already?
That was quick. The final position in these cases indicates speaker's surprise at
what the sentence expresses.
3.3. RELATIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT TIME-POSITIONS
There are three mayor divisions of time relations which can be established
between different time positions:
1. Position previous to another position, given as the time-reference. Examples
of adjectives: earlier, former, preceding, previous:
He handed in a good essay. His previous ones had been al/ poor.
Examples of adverbials: already, as yet, before, earlier, first, forme,
previously, so far, yet, phrases with pro-forms: before that, before then, until
now, time clauses with after (the past perfect tense is used in the subordinate
after-clause to reinforce the meaning of sequence):
I shall explain to you what happened, but first I must give you a cup of tea.
We checked in after we had bought some presents
2. Position simultaneous with another position, given as the time reference.
Examples of adjectives: contemporary, simultaneous.
The death of the president was reported this afternoon on Cairo radio. A
simultaneous announcement was broadcast from Baghdad.
Examples of adverbials: at present, at this point, meantime, meanwhile, in
the meantime, now, presently, simultaneously, then, relative when, time clauses
with while (the past continuous tense carries the meaning of simultaneous time-
position, too): Several of the conspirators have been arrested, but their leader is
as yet unkown. Meanwhile the police are continuing their investigations into the
political sympathies of the group. // She entered while I was watching the film.
3. Position consequent to another position, given as the time-reference.
Example adjectives: following, later, next.
I saw him on Friday and he seemed to be well. The following day he died.
Examples of adverbials: afterwards, again (= after that), immediately, later,
next, since, then, time clauses with before (the past perfect tense in the main
clause carries the meaning of a previous time-position, too): The manager went
to a board meeting this morning. He was then due to catch the train to London.
We had bought some presents before we checked in.
4. FREQUENCY
Time frequency is another time concept which can be distinguished in the
more ample and universal time relations. It refers to the number of times some
event or actions are repeated. As frequency refers to a semantic notion, one can
start by analysing its more specific meanings and later the different forms with
which frequency can be described are explained.
4.1. SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF TIME-FREQUENCY EXPRESSIONS
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Time frequency expressions are usually adverbials and more specifically


adjuncts. They are usually adverb phrases or noun phrases. Frequency adjuncts
can be divided semantically into two mayor subclasses, which can, in turn, be
subdivided as follows:
1. Definite frequency adjuncts: those naming explicitly the times by
which the frequency is measured, they can be subdivided into two more
concept:
1.1. Period frequency: weekly, per week, annually, per year, etc.
1.2. Number frequency: once (only), again, twice, on three occasions, etc.
2. Indefinite frequency adjuncts: those who do not explicitly name the
times measuring the frequency, they can be subdivided in to:
2.1. Usual occurrence: as usual, commonly, generally, invariably,
normally,usually.
2.2. Continuous/continual frequency: always, constantly, continually,
continuously.
2.3. High frequency: frequently many times, often, regularly, repeatedly. The
following intensifiers much, a lot, a good/great deal are all equivalent to often
2.4. Low or zero frequency: infrequently, occasionally, rarely, seldom,
sometimes, never, (not) … ever, and the following items, used as intensifiers: a
littte, a bit (= occasionally) , little (= hardly at any time), less (=less frequently),
least (= least frequent), barely, hardly, scarcely. As frequency adjuncts, hardly
and scarcely tend to co-occur with non-assertive ever: I scarcely/hardly ever go
there.
One can similarly classify the related adjectives or nouns which also describe
frequency. For example, adjedives like annual, monthly are of the definite
frequency type, and adjectives like frequent or rare refer to indefinite frequency.
Frequency phrases sometimes lose much of their time meaning, and get a
more abstract meaning, referring to 'instances' rather than 'times'. Always and
sometimes (for example) can be interpreted as in every case, in some rases,
rather than on every occasion, on some occasions.
Children often dislike spinach. (= 'many children dislike spinach').
Students rarely used to fail the course. (='few students used to fail the course')
4.2. SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS OF TIME-FREQUENCY EXPRESSIONS
Adverbials and within this group adjuncts are the main syntactic function
which serves to express frequency. One can classify different forms of frequency
adjuncts in the following way according to their syntactic function:
A) Multipliers or noun phrases which include them: twice, twice a day,
once, five times a month. The article 'a' substitutes a preposition but 'per'
(=during each) can aso be used in more formal contexts: They check
attendance five times per day. He played the song twice .
B) Noun phrases with quantifiers: every day, some days, any time. We
watch television every day .
C) Adverbs: daily, hourly, sometimes, often, repeatedly. They often forget
about their obligations.

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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

D) Prepositional phrases: on several ocassions; from time to time. She


comes to visit us from time to time,
E) Nouns referring to days of the week: Mondays (on can be dropped in
conversation). They do not open (on) Mondays.
F) Clauses: as many times as you want (an element of comparison being
present, but the clause is elicited with the question "How many times?" so it is
a time clause and functions as an adjunct). You can ask me as many times as
you want.
Adjuncts of indefinite frequency usually appear in mid-position, and
those of definite frequency can be expected to be found in the final position:
He sometimes drinks coffee .. He goes jogging daily.
If placed in initial position, adjuntcs with non-assertive meaning oblige us to
invert the subject and operator: Never have I experienced such rudeness
When time adjuncts (of time position and frequency) co-occur in the same
sentence at the end, time-frequency goes before time-position: I was there
everyday or so (freq.) last year (position)
Apart from adverbials, one can find reference to frequency expressed in
the subject, object or complements as well as in some verbs:
- Adjectives can modify nouns and in this way express frequency of some
event: The annual meeting was a success again. We expected frequent
breaks but instead we had to work non-stop. Now his fits of anger are
practically incessant.
- Some verbs imply some frequency, too, although it requires further
specification by means of an adverbial: We repeated the exercise.
The sense of repetitiveness of actions can be magnified by the conjoint use
of the progressive and the perfective apect in verbs:
We have been visiting them since we came here, (Present Perfect
Continuous)
5. CONCLUSION.
Any ESL teacher should be aware of as maiy circumstance as possible
related to the structures and uses of time position, duration, and rrequerx„ so
AV be able to foresee any problem of comprehension or any difficulty et
proceeion on the part of the students, and, especially, any kind of interference
from the rrnther tongue, such as.
1. The overextension of the preposition in, due to the fact that Spanish
'en"verbalizes concepts lexicalized by in, on , at.
2. The use of article instead of prepositions, influenced by, for example,
los lunes."
3. The abuse of during due to its phonological similarity to Spanish
durante,"etc.
This kind of notions are relatively easy to be built into a syllabus as they
are related to themes which are duce to students' interests and experiences like
routines, plans etc.

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Tema 18. La localización en el tiempo: relaciones temporales. Frecuencia.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
o Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. 1975. A Communicative Grammar of English. Longman.
o Quirk, R. & Greenbaum, S. 1973. A University Grammar of English. Longman.
430-449.
o Thompson, A. & Martinet, A. 1986. A Practical English Grammar. Oxford
University Press.
o Legal References. – see Topic 1 and Dossier Legal Framework
o LOE: O.L. 2/2006 (BOE)
o LOMCE: O.L. 8/2013 (BOE)
o LEA: L. 17/2007 (BOJA)
o RD 1105/2014 (BOE)
o D. 110/2016 & D.111/2016 (BOJA)
o O. 14/07/2016 (BOJA)

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