Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

TEXTUAL SIGNALS: THE VERB PHRASE

144

General

144a

The verb phrase is important in academic discourse as the place where a number

of textual signals of various kinds occur. These include using tense-aspect choices

to mark the status of a quotation or citation vis-à-vis the writer’s/speaker’s

current position (

Û

144b–144d below

), or the use of modal verbs for hedging

propositions (altering their level of assertiveness; 

Û

146 below

) as a way of

forestalling a challenge to or rejection of a claim. 

Academic language has characteristic uses of tense and aspect which relate to

important academic textual functions. These include:

Signposting

Tense-aspect choices refer the reader/listener backwards and forwards in the text.

For example: In this chapter we have looked at the process of compound formation.

Structuring

Particular tense-aspect choices tend to be associated with particular parts of

academic texts. Abstracts, summaries, concluding sections of academic books,

papers and presentations, etc. usually have typical tense-aspect patterns

associated with them (e.g. present simple in abstracts, 

Û

144b

).