Abstract:Tense is the grammatical form to establish the time in a sentence together with other temporal expressions. It expresses a relation between Speech Time and Reference Time. Tense interpretation in the passage relies on syntactic and discourse context. Each model of tense in different passages has its distinctive linguistic characteristics. This research shows that Tense is anaphoric in Description, while in Narrative tense expresses continuity and tense is deictic in Report and other modes. The features of tenses associated with adverbs, syntactic configuration, and discourse context are relevant to the information of temporal interpretation. 

Keywords: Discourse mode; Discourse Representation Theory; Time; Tense

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Background..1

2.1  Time and Tense

2.2  Temporal Interpretation

2.3 Tense Coherence and Time Transition in English Discourse

3. Tense in Context.5

3.1  Narrative Mode

3.2  Report Mode

3.3  Description Mode 

  3.4  Summary

4. Conclusion9

Bibliography.11

Acknowledgments12