Grammatical Aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof) in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker. A basic distinction is with regard to whether the speaker looks at a situation as bounded and unitary, without reference to any flow of time during the situation ("I ate"), or with no reference to temporal bounds but with reference to the nature of the flow of time during the situation ("I was eating", "I used to eat"). The unitary view without internal temporal flow is known as the perfective aspect (not to be confused with the perfect), while the non-bounded view with reference to temporal flow is known as the imperfective aspect. Within the imperfective aspect, further common aspectual distinctions include whether the situation is repetitive or habitual ("I used to eat"), is continuous in a particular time frame ("I was eating"), or has continuing relevance in a later time frame ("I have eaten"). Any one language has only a subset of the aspectual distinctions attested in the world's languages, and some languages (such as Standard German; see below) do not have aspects.

Read more about Grammatical Aspect:  Common Aspectual Distinctions, Aspect Vs. Tense, Lexical Vs. Grammatical Aspect, Indicating Aspect, Terms For Various Aspects

Famous quotes containing the words grammatical and/or aspect:

    As a particularly dramatic gesture, he throws wide his arms and whacks the side of the barn with the heavy cane he uses to stab at contesting bidders. With more vehemence than grammatical elegance, he calls upon the great god Caveat Emptor to witness with what niggardly stinginess these flinty sons of Scotland make cautious offers for what is beyond any question the finest animal ever beheld.
    —Administration in the State of Arka, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.
    John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)