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Article published In:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 113/114 (1996) ► pp.335–348

On the likelihood of past tense situations still being the case at the time of speaking

| Lille III

Several linguists have pointed out that the past tense has the implicature that the situation it refers to is no longer the case at the moment of speaking (cf. John lived in London in 1985, but he no longer does). In this article, it is argued that in certain types of sentences the implicature associated with the past tense is more likely to be cancelled than in others. It is shown how (un)-boundedness, (a)telicity and the status of adverbials in terms of given or new influence the likelihood of a past tense situation still/no longer being the case at the moment of speaking.

Published online: 1 January 1996
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https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.113-114.08dep
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