时态的使用问题

灰色书包 · 发表于 2019-5-4 21:40:59

韦氏online有这样一个例句

She had always dreamed of writing a novel, but she never actually put pen to paper.

请问这句话前半句用了完成时，而后半句用了过去式，是为什么啊？

神之一手 · 发表于 2019-5-5 00:17:33

可能我的表述体与时分开说，有些朋友并不理解。
时态是体态与时态的结合。简单来说时态(Tense)=体(Aspect)+时(Time)，体表示动作发生的状态或者方式，时表示运动发生的时间。所以过去完成时是要分开对待，是指have done这一完成体，强调其完成状态，而这动作如果发生在过去，则为过去完成时had done. 因此过去完成时是过去时间与完成体的合并称谓。同理，一般体do与过去时间发生，合起来称谓一般过去时，也就是did.
关于体与时是分开的，有时可以这样表达：时间在变，方式不变。
比如：
I am reading right now.
I was reading when you called me last night.
I will be reading at this time tomorrow night.
因此，体与时是分开说的，但表达客观世界真实动作时，我们合并起来表达。

sakylawa · 发表于 2019-5-5 08:19:31

经过各位细致的讲解，本来对时态就很渣的我更加搞不懂了

神之一手 · 发表于 2019-5-4 23:50:25

本帖最后由神之一手于 2019-5-4 23:57 编辑

时态的理解要从其本质上出发。

完成体的功能是要强调有过这么一个完成状态。句中时间为过去，所以强调过去曾经有过这么一个完成状态，也就是梦想过。用完成体之所以强调这个完成状态，是为了引出下半句。
而后半句用的是一般体，一般体的功能只是客观表述事实，不带感情，没有掺加进人的成分，只表达事件发生而已。
举个例子你就理解了：
1. He had finished his homework before he played PC games.
2. He finished his homework before he played PC games.
两句的区别仅仅在于前半句是否多了个had，也就是用了完成体，强调了完成作业这一完成状态。而句2中用的是一般体，就只是客观描述而已。这就导致两句话的语义发生了变化。

翻译：
1. 他是完成了作业后才开始玩游戏的。
2. 他做完了作业，然后去玩游戏。

可以感受到完成体与一般体的区别了吧？句1强调了对先完成作业的重视，句2只是表达了做作业与游戏先后两个动作的发生顺序，只做陈述，没有重要性的暗示。完成体有人的感情加入，一般体只是客观描述。拿这个理解重新再感受楼主的句子，体会下楼主原句作者的感情色彩，就明白原句时态选择背后的原因了。

klwo2 · 发表于 2019-5-4 23:10:49

给楼主找几个真实句子：

In her address, the author said that she had always dreamed of writing a novel that would be accessible to everybody in the society.

Diane Meier finished her first novel, No Kill Station: Murder at Rehoboth Beach in June 2017. She had always dreamed of writing a novel but all her efforts ended in frustration until she started thinking of a plot and characters based on her experiences with animal rescue.

Thirty years ago Tom Clancy was a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. But he had always dreamed of writing a novel, and his first effort, The Hunt for Red October, catapulted on to the New York Times bestseller list.

Katayev confesses that he had always dreamed of writing a novel about the girl. "But each time I realized that I lacked the strength. . . .

这些句子里面的过去时、完成体，都有过去时、一般体做对照，是很符合老师谆谆教导的规律的呀

楼主这句话，是编辑节选、修订过的，并不是完整的全段，对照的部分没有展示出来，很正常呀，不能凭空说后一句是过去时呀

好比老师教你「哪怕……也……」这个句式，告诉你「哪怕」常常跟「也」呼应

结果你找了一句「我们一定尽全力抢救病人，哪怕只有一线希望」，然后说「我们一定尽全力抢救病人」里面非有一个「也」字不可

其实「也」字是藏在没说出来的话里面呀！「我们一定尽全力抢救病人，哪怕只有一线希望，也不放弃」

eeshu · 发表于 2019-5-4 22:58:23

整个句子都是对过去的陈述，所以基本时态为过去时，但是“有些小说的想法”发生在“（未）付诸行动”之前，所以用过去完成体。

灰色书包 · 发表于 2019-5-4 21:54:05

klwo2 发表于 2019-5-4 21:52
后面那句不是过去时，亲

肯定是过去式啊，要不主句的过去完成时也不会脱离过去式的时间参照而独立存在啊。

klwo2 · 发表于 2019-5-4 21:52:27

后面那句不是过去时，亲

alextone · 发表于 2019-5-4 22:08:49

平行省略，后半句省略了had，加上以后你再看看

yuqinghuaz1 · 发表于 2019-5-4 22:29:25

本帖最后由 yuqinghuaz1 于 2019-5-5 07:56 编辑

过去完成时所描述的东西，已经完成。而一般过去时，则是过去的一般现在时。不在于后半句用了一般过去式，还是用过去完成时，而在于他所表示的含义是不一样的。

灰色书包 · 发表于 2019-5-4 22:59:23

yuqinghuaz1 发表于 2019-5-4 22:29
过去完成时所描述的东西，有一个时间的限定，到某时为止，以后不知道。而一般过去时，则是过去的一般现在 ...

那后半句我分别使用过去式，和过去完成时，句子分别是什么意思？

yuqinghuaz1 · 发表于 2019-5-4 23:09:48

本帖最后由 yuqinghuaz1 于 2019-5-5 07:54 编辑

过去完成时表示已经完成，从来没有。一般过去时表示，过去这一段时间从不。

灰色书包 · 发表于 2019-5-4 23:22:36

再追加一个问题，查韦氏高阶的holding pattern 词条，有这个例句

The company has put production in a holding pattern [=has temporarily stopped production] while better testing methods are developed.这家公司暂停了生产，以待开发出更好的测试方法。

while从句的 are developed 我不理解是什么意思，难道不应该是while better methods ARE BEING developed，这样的进行时么？

~荆棘 · 发表于 2019-5-5 04:34:33

本帖最后由 ~荆棘于 2019-5-5 17:42 编辑

（1）She had always dreamed of writing a novel, but she never actually put pen to paper.
When we talk about finished events with words that mean 'at some/any time up to now' (like ever, before, never, yet, recently, lately, already), we normally use the present perfect.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

I'm sure we've met before.

We haven't seen Beth recently.

Could you clean the car? ~ I've already done it.

She's never said 'sorry' in her life.

Has the postman come yet?

In an informal style, simple past tenses are sometimes possible with always, ever and never when they refer to 'time up to now'.

I always knew I could trust you. (OR I've always known ... )

Did you ever see anything like that before? (OR Have you ever seen ... ?)

以上摘自Practical English Usage，供参考。

（2）The company has put production in a holding pattern [=has temporarily stopped production] while better testing methods are developed.
Some verbs refer to actions that produce a finished result. Examples are cut, build, pack, close. Other verbs do not: for example push, live, speak, hit, carry. The past participles of finished-result verbs, and some of their passive tenses, can have two meanings. They can refer to the action, or they can describe the result (rather like adjectives). Compare:

The theatre was closed by the police on the orders of the mayor. (refers to the action of closing)

When I got there I found that the theatre was closed. (refers to the state of being shut - the result of the action)

来源同上。则 be developed 不一定表示结果，也可以表示一个延续性的action，含义上和 being developed 差不多了。参考COCA例句一条：In Taiwan, the counseling profession has been developed for six decades and has evolved from its infant stage to become a certified and licensed profession. 这里的 be developed 显然也是过程而非结果。

神之一手 · 发表于 2019-5-5 10:13:42

sakylawa 发表于 2019-5-5 08:19
经过各位细致的讲解，本来对时态就很渣的我更加搞不懂了

时态本来就难，也深邃，真正理解需要很深的认识，不好着急。

[语言求助] 时态的使用问题

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