Aspect

Aspect refers to the nature of the action described by a verb.

There are three aspects:

1. indefinite (or simple)

2. complete (or perfect)

3. continuing (or progressive)

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb defines the temporal flow (or its lack) in the described event or state. For example, in English the difference between I walk and I am walking is a difference of aspect, not tense.

Tense and aspect are formally separated in the English language but when it comes to everyday usage the two tend to merge and we generally talk about perfect tense rather than perfect aspect.

Note that aspect is a formal property of a language. Some languages distinguish different aspects through overt inflections or words that serve as aspect markers, while others, such as English, have no overt marking of aspect.

For a comprehensive examination of tense and grammatical aspect, and to acquire an insight into how languages indicate distinctions of time read Time and the Verb: A Guide to Tense and Aspect. Published for the first time in 1991 it has since been regarded as an invaluable reference tool as well as a major contribution to the history of linguistic sciences.