Directed Pronunciation - A New English Grammar

Time Frames Time can be divided into three broad areas:Past, Present and Future Past Time _________________________________________________ Past time is divided into straight past that fixes an event to a moment in time and previous past events which can occur either prior to another past fixed point in time or float more loosely in the past as an imperfect past - which describes something that used to happen during a period of previous time - perhaps something we did when we were young or simply something that we don't do anymore: I went to the bank yesterday. (straight past) Before that I had stopped at the office to see Jack.   (previous past in relation to the straight past) In the past, I banked at The First National Bank. ( I used to bank at...) Imperfect past - during a period (seen in the abstract) I smoked a cigarette. (straight past - one off event) I smoked Cuban cigars. ( I don't smoke them anymore - either too expensive or stopped the habit) Previo

The Imperfect Past The idea that English has an imperfect past might seem strange at first but, in truth, all senses can and are reflected in any language. What this means is that if the idea exists in one language, Portuguese for example – our champion of verb tenses –  then the same expression must also be possible in other languages, even if the sense is not reflected in the spelling of the written transcription (visible tense marking). Unfortunately, for those who had become used to the absence of the imperfect, I must inform all that the imperfect has always been present in the language. Although there is no new written form to learn – no  different endings – there is, however, quite a different intention or inflection involved. Instead of reflecting back to a moment fixed in time past, the imperfect carries a sense of period, a closed but, nevertheless, extended time and, as such, moves from a previous time position to a later one. Thus our imperfect must move forward. Imp