Ensayos de expresión

In the compositions on which this study was based, writers tended to shift from narration to dialogue, a feature that is likely to cause tense shift from the simple past into the simple present.The often diverging time frame of such stretches of dialogue makes it necessary to define what I actually regarded as motivated tense shift in stretches of conversation in the compositions (see 5.3.2 for a discussion on conversation in narratives). In order to simplify the matter, I classified as direct speech those stretches of text that were highlighted by e.g. quotation marks or a reporting clause like s/he said. Accordingly, although quotation marks are missing, No I’m not in No I’m not said Sara and laughed (NPA 60 (1)) was classified as direct speech. In cases like that, tense shift into the simple present (here: I’m) was classified as motivated. In cases where what someone says or thinks was reported without overt markers, it was treated as indirect speech, which is normally in the same time frame as the surrounding text. In indirect speech, a tense shift from the simple past into the simple present would be classified as random.

My classification of indirect speech also included all instances of free direct speech, which caused all such shifts into the simple present to be classified as random. My reason for doing so was that in a study like this, where the compositions were written by learners and not by professional writers who might be taking artistic liberties, it seems justifiable to regard overt speech

markers as a prerequisite for categorising a tense shift into the simple present of direct speech or inner monologue as motivated.

Within stretches of direct speech or inner monologue, from the point where there had been a shift into the simple present, the simple present was considered the default tense. This means that in dialogue, tense shifts into the simple past were indeed counted, even if that was the original default tense of the main story. Since the present tense is the default tense of dialogue, in direct speech reversion to the present tense was not counted.

Reporting clauses, like s/he said, were regarded as reversion to the default simple past and, consequently, were not classified as tense shift. If the direct speech continued after a break by a statement like s/he said, the occurrence of any tense but the original default tense was considered a new tense shift. This is illustrated in the following example (from IBB 7 (1)): - This is incredible! [...] the doctor said. It is a sensation! (IBB 7 (1)), where the second is was classified as a tense shift due to the reversion to the original default tense in the preceding said.

As we have seen, the use of direct speech is likely to trigger tense shift from the narration’s past-time framework into the present-time framework. A high ratio of motivated tense shift might therefore be the result of the use of direct speech. In an attempt to find out whether this was the case, the stretches of direct speech in the compositions were thought of as if they had been in indirect speech. The way they would have been constructed then was compared to the actual version containing direct speech, and the tense shifts that only occurred in the stretches of direct speech were classified as a separate group, in which tense shift was only attributable to the use of direct speech. In the sample compositions in section 8.3, these are marked by [DS]. Sentence (11) exemplifies a stretch of direct speech within a narration in the past tense framework that contains an instance of tense shift brought about by direct speech.

(11) He said: “You are [DS] the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. [NPC 19 (1)]

In (11), there are two motivated tense shifts, the first one into the simple present and the second one into the present perfect. If the information in (11) had been presented as indirect speech, it would probably have been expressed like in sentence (11’).

Sentence (11’) contains only one motivated tense shift, which is into the past perfect. When (11) and (11’) are compared, we find that in have/had known a tense shift is necessary in both direct and indirect speech. As regards the copula be, however, the two sentences differ. In the indirect speech of (11’), it occurs in the simple past of the narration (was) and is not subject to tense shift. In the direct speech of (11), the copula occurs in the simple present (are), and is tense shifted. Consequently, there is a tense shift only because the writer chose to report speech by way of direct speech. Such instances were therefore classified as motivated tense shift that is brought about by the use of direct speech [DS].

6.5.2.5 Generic statements and meta-comments

At times, narrators comment on situations outside the text. As mentioned in 5.1.2.3, this can be done through generic statements and meta-comments. At times it can be difficult to classify a comment as being either a generic statement or a meta-comment. Therefore, I chose to treat the two as one group, both marked [GM] in the sample compositions in section 8.3.

In their capacity of extra-textual references that reflect on something that can be considered a general truth (Quirk et al., 1985:175ff), generic statements are usually made in the present tense. Example (12) contains a typical example of a generic statement, classified as a motivated tense shift:

(12) As doing all the ordinary things you do [GM] in the morning I felt like I watched the person I at the same time was but still had no real control over. [IBA 23 (1)]

As mentioned above, meta-comments are extra-textual references where a narrator comments on the story, or communicates directly with the reader (see e.g. Teufel, 1998:45). Characteristically, meta-comments are made at the time of writing, which means that irrespective of default tense, meta-comments are based in the present time frame. In example (13), I think is identified as a meta- comment:

(13) Some years ago, I think [GM] it was some time in the sixties or in the seventies, I was drifting around in Asia. [IBA 22 (2)]

In a piece of L2 writing it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a shift into the present tense is indeed meant as such, or if it is simply

an error in the form of the verb. My approach to dealing with such cases was to look at each text from a global perspective, attempting to determine whether it contained some kind of present-time framework that justified the use of the simple present. If there was a complete lack of present-time framework, the tense shift was categorised as random. The problem is illustrated in example (14), where a narrator shifts to the present perfect when describing her attitude towards the occult.

(14) Since I have always belived [GM] a little in the ocult, I once decided that I was going to be hypnotized. [IBA 32 (1)]

When the composition was studied as a whole, it became apparent that the reported attitude was indeed valid at the time of writing, even after the hypnosis had taken place. Consequently, the present perfect is appropriate and the tense shift was classified as motivated. However, had the context showed that the experience had made the narrator change her mind, the past perfect (had believed) would have been called for which would have caused the tense shift in (14) to be classified as random.

At times, the classification of tense shifts into either meta-comment or random tense shift appears to be not so much a question of right or wrong, but rather a scale of appropriate use, involving a certain amount of subjective judgement. Inevitably, there were a few cases where I considered it impossible to classify a tense shift as either motivated or random. Such tense shifts were classified as doubtful cases and they were only included in the overall count of finite verbs and otherwise ignored. The number of such cases was very low.