Transpositions in use of tense forms

The verb and its stylistic properties

Who and Whom as Stylistic Variants

Of these two, IE prefers who when they are interchangeable: " Joe already told him. " - "Told who? " You know who I mean, don't you? Perhaps Corinne knows who it belongs to. - And Mary — that's my sister who you didn't meet.

Transposition of verbs is even more varied than that of nouns. It is ex­plained by a greater number of grammatical categories the meanings of which may be transposed. The verb is one of the oldest parts of speech and has a very developed grammatical paradigm. It possesses more grammatical categories than any other part of speech. All deviant usages of its tense, voice and aspect forms have strong stylistic connotations and play an important role in creating a metaphorical meaning. Most expressive are tense forms, mood forms and voice forms.

One of peculiar features of English tense forms is their polysemantism. The same form may realize various meanings in speech. Deviation from the general (most frequently realized) meaning makes verbs stylistically coloured. One of peculiar verbal transpositions is the change of temporary planes of narration when events of the past or future are described by present tense forms. Such transposition brightens the narration, raises its emotional tension, expresses intrigue, makes the continuity of events visual and graphic: It was yesterday and looked this way. The perpetrator comes to his victim, takes a long dagger out of his inner pocket and stabs the poor man right into his belly without saying a word. The man falls down like a sack, a foun­tain of blood spurting from the wound.

It is a vivid example of the use of 'historical' present that makes the description very pictorial, almost visible.

The letter was received by a person of the royal family. While reading it she was interrupted, had no time to hide it and was obliged to put it open on the table. At this enters the Minister D... He sees the letter and guesses her secret. He first talks to her on business, then takes out a letter from his pocket, reads it, puts it down on the table near the other letter, talks for some more minutes, then, when taking leave, takes the royal lady's letter from the table instead of his own. The owner of the letter saw it, was afraid to say anything for there were other people in the room. (Poe)

The use of 'historical present' pursues the aim of joining different time systems—that of the characters, of the author and of the reader all of whom may belong to different epochs. This can be done by making a reader into an on-looker or a witness whose timeframe is synchronous with the narration. The outcome is an effect of empathy ensured by the correlation of different tune and tense systems.

Though historical present may be also used by writers for creating a humorous effects. Compare the following example:

Just after Morpheus had got both my shoulders to the mattress I hears a houseful of unbecoming noises like a youngster screeching with green-apple colics. I opens my door and calls out in the hall for the widow lady, and when she sticks her head out, I says: “Mrs. Peevy, ma’am, would you mind choking off that kid of yours so that honest people can get their rest?” (O.Henry)

The story is told by a half-educated tramp, who uses high-flown words and expressions intermingled with the illiteracy of a ruffian. In what follows we also observe narration, only the narrator uses present tense forms of verbs not for visualizing what he tells, but rather because he is ignorant of the difference between present and past tense forms. The stylistic purpose of the writer is to portray the story-teller (by showing peculiarities of his idiolect); the stylistic class to which the quotation belongs can be roughly characterized thus: the lines quoted pertain to the low colloquial sublanguage with a tinge of buffoonery about it.

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