SILGLOBALGlossary of
Linguistic Terms

Glossary term P

Past Tense

Definition

Past tense is an absolute tense that refers to a time before the moment of utterance.

Kinds

More specific concepts within past tense.

Hesternal Past Tense Hodiernal Past Tense Immediate Past Tense Nonrecent Past Tense Nonremote Past Tense Prehesternal Past Tense Prehodiernal Past Tense Preterit Recent Past Tense Remote Past Tense

See also

Utterance

Sources 3

  1. Hartmann and Stork 1972, 166
  2. Pei and Gaynor 1954, 162
  3. Mish 1991, 861
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