Download or read book Aspectual Grammar and Past Time Reference written by Laura A. Michaelis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-04 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study presents a semantic framework for analysing all aspectual constructions in terms of the event state distinction, and describes the grammatical expression of aspectual meaning in terms of a theory of grammatical constructions. In this theory, grammatical constructions, like words, are conventionalized form-meaning pairs, which are best described not only with respect to their intrinsic semantic values, but also with respect to the functional oppositions in which they participate.