308 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
X. Summary
5.38.1 The semantics of the present perfect Ϫ its core meaning Ϫ is: ‘The
situation time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere’.
This means that the situation time is contained in a period leading up to, but
not including, t
0
, in terms of either inclusion or coincidence. The length of the
period conceptualized as constituting the pre-present depends on contextual
factors, including temporal adverbials, but is always the shortest time required
to make sense of the clause concerned in context.
5.38.2 There are two semantic types of present perfect Ϫ its tense inter-
pretations (T-interpretations) Ϫ which arise because of the two possible ways
in which a situation time can be contained in a period, namely by inclusion or
by coincidence. One T-interpretation arises when the situation time is included
in the pre-present and does not include the terminal point of the pre-present.
That is, the time of the predicated situation is seen as finishing some time
before t
0
. (Thus, although the situation is located in the present time-sphere, it
is seen as temporally cut off from t
0
.) The other T-interpretation arises when
the situation time is co-extensive with the pre-present. That is, the predicated
situation is seen as taking place over an interval that occupies the whole of the
pre-present period and reaches right up to (but does not include) t
0
. These two
semantic types of the present perfect are called, respectively, the ‘before now’
T-interpretation and the ‘co-extensive’ T-interpretation.
5.38.3 Depending firstly on the T-interpretation that a present perfect re-

ceives, and then on many other contextual and pragmatic factors, there are
three different ways in which the relation between the time of the full situation
and the pre-present period can be interpreted. The time of the full situation
may be included in the pre-present and lie wholly before t
0
(ϭ the indefinite
W-reading), it may extend throughout the pre-present and also include t
0
(ϭ
the continuative W-reading) or it may simply coincide with the pre-present,
leading up to, but not including, t
0
(ϭ the up-to-now W-reading). This means
there are three temporal W-interpretations of the present perfect. (In fact, since
W-interpretations only arise by taking into account the full grammatical and
contextual information available about a clause in the present perfect, we
should, strictly speaking, talk of W-interpretations of present perfect clauses.)
5.38.4 If the T-interpretation is a ‘before now’ interpretation, the time of the
full situation usually coincides with the situation time (ϭ the time of the predi-
cated situation). This time is included in the pre-present period and ends some
time before t
0
. Even if the time of the full situation is longer than the situation
time (because the progressive form is used), the full situation is interpreted as
being over before t
0
.The resulting temporal W-interpretation is called the indef-
X. Summary 309
inite reading. This term reflects the fact that the situation time is not anchored
to another time: (a) unlike on the other temporal W-interpretations of the

present perfect, it is not anchored to t
0
by virtue of including t
0
or being adja-
cent to t
0
, and (b) the precise location of the situation time in the pre-present
must not be specified by an adverbial, e. g. I have met her [*last night].
5.38.5 When the T-interpretation of the present perfect is a ‘co-extensive’
interpretation, the time of the predicated situation may either be included in
or coincide with the time of the full situation. In the first of these possibilities,
the time of the full situation does not only fill the pre-present period but also,
necessarily, continues beyond it to include t
0
. (This interpretation has nothing
to say about whether or not the full situation extends into the post-present.)
This temporal W-interpretation is called the continuative reading (e. g. I’ve
been a widow for the last five years). In the second possibility, in which the
situation time coincides with the time of the full situation, the time of the full
situation necessarily also extends throughout the pre-present period and up to
t
0
, thus including the terminal point of the pre-present (but not t
0
). This tempo-
ral W-interpretation is called the up-to-now reading (e. g. What have you been
doing [since we last met]?).
5.38.6 Because these three categories of temporal W-interpretation of the
present perfect are intended to capture the different ways in which the time of

the full situation is interpreted as relating to t
0
(i. e. as wholly before t
0
,as
leading up to t
0
or as leading up to and including t
0
), we naturally find that
there are differences between the three temporal W-interpretations as to their
compatibility with certain temporal adverbials. For example, ever only occurs
with the indefinite interpretation. By contrast, ever since or since childhood
only occurs with the continuative interpretation.
5.38.7 The interpretation of a given present perfect (or more precisely, of a
clause with a present perfect verb) as either indefinite, up-to-now or continua-
tive always depends on various grammatical and pragmatic factors. The former
include, notably, the effect of time adverbials (as mentioned above) and of the
progressive (as will be mentioned below). The latter include, for example, the
knowledge that being taller than someone who is already an adult is a more
or less permanent condition, so that He has already been taller than his mother
for a year is necessarily understood to be continuative and not indefinite or
up-to-now. Often several factors are simultaneously at work in arriving at a
given interpretation of the present perfect (see part VII).
5.38.8 Another important factor in determining the W-interpretation of pres-
ent perfect clauses is one that lies on the borderline between grammar and
pragmatics, namely boundedness. The role of boundedness is evident when we
consider the continuative reading. The continuative reading is not possible if
310 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
the full situation is bounded (either explicitly or by interpretation in context).

This is because the predicated situation, being contained in the pre-present,
cannot include t
0
, so that the full situation must be longer than the predicated
situation if it is to include t
0
, and such a relation is only possible if the full
situation is conceived of as homogeneous, and thus nonbounded. The only
exception to this constraint on the continuative reading is when a time adver-
bial specifies the length of the ‘factual full situation’, i. e. the situation as it has
actualized up to and including t
0
, thus bounding it, but does not exclude the
possibility that in fact the situation will continue beyond t
0
, so that the ‘poten-
tial full situation’ is nonbounded. For example: Meg has been talking to the
elephant for an hour now. [I wonder if the elephant is getting bored.] In such
a case, we still have a continuative interpretation despite the fact that the
factual full situation is bounded.
5.38.9 The indefinite perfect has a variety of functional uses which are often
identified in the literature. These uses give rise to particular functional read-
ings. We note the experiential reading, and the recency reading, which includes
a‘hot news’ reading. The experiential use typically refers to a bygone situation
seen as having relevance as part of the (current) experience, knowledge or
history of a person or other entity, for example: Have you ever made lemon
meringue pie? or I’ve read most of Raymond Chandler’s novels. The recency
use of the indefinite present perfect is unsurprising, given that the location of
the bygone situation time in the present time-sphere emphasizes that the
speaker, in talking about the situation, is concerned with NOW, and given that

(perhaps because of this) the default temporal location of a present perfect
situation is the most recent one that makes sense in the context in question. In
Br.E., the recency use of the indefinite perfect is normally signalled by an adver-
bial such as just or recently, or by a context which invokes a ‘hot news’ use
interpretation, such as Run! The river has burst its banks.
5.38.10 As we have mentioned above, when the T-reading of a present perfect
is that the situation time occupies the whole of the pre-present, and when the
temporal W-reading is that the full situation also leads up to t
0
(and is therefore
bounded), we have the ‘up-to-now’ W-reading of the present perfect. In many
cases, this reading occurs when the speaker is concerned with the temporal or
situational constitution of the pre-present. That is, the utterance or question
scans the pre-present, either to quantify the length of time that separates the
situation time from t
0
, or to give the number of times that a situation has
actualized in the pre-present, or to consider how the pre-present has been filled.
We call this ‘pre-present scanning’ function of the up-to-now perfect the consti-
tution use and the corresponding reading the constitution reading. When the
speaker using an up-to-now perfect does not make an assertion about or ask a
question about the constitution of the pre-present, we speak of the unmarked
X. Summary 311
up-to-now use, or reading, of the present perfect clause. An example is Hi! I’ve
been wondering where you were. The unmarked up-to-now use of the present
perfect often has an explanatory-resultative function. That is, it is used to give
or request an explanation for some result that has come about during the
actualization of the situation referred to. E.g. [I won’t shake hands.] I’ve been
cleaning out the drains or Have you been cleaning out the drains? [You smell
a little strange.]

5.38.11 As for the constitution reading of (the up-to-now W-reading) of the
present perfect, it has three main functions:
When it is duration-quantifying, it refers to a duration-specifying situation
which fills, and in doing so describes the length of, the pre-present period. An
example is Three weeks have gone by since your last letter.
When it is number-quantifying, the constitution use of the perfect refers to
the number of actualizations of a situation that there have been in the pre-
present period. (The number may be zero). For example: That’s the third glass
I’ve broken this week or [How often have you taken cocaine?] I’ve never taken
it. (Note that I’ve never taken cocaine, outside the sort of context given, will
probably receive an (experiential) indefinite perfect reading, since there is no
implication that it specifically provides the number of instances of cocaine
taking that have taken place in the pre-present, but rather refers to the non-
actualization of a situation in the pre-present.) These two readings are jointly
quantificational readings of the constitution perfect.
Finally, when the constitution use of the perfect is nonquantificational, the
speaker looks back on the pre-present and describes or asks what sort of situa-
tion(s) has or have filled it. For example, both the perfects in the following
example receive nonquantificational constitution use readings:
“What has kept you so long?” Ϫ “ I’ve been checking that the windows were all
closed.”
5.38.12 Figure 5.1 (repeated here) gives an overview of the various readings
that can be attributed to a clause in the present perfect.
5.38.13 Constitution readings of the up-to-now present perfect involve what
are often referred to as specificational sentences. A specificational sentence
specifies or asks for a value for a presupposed variable. For example, It was
Meg who gave the elephant John’s dinner presupposes ‘someone gave the ele-
phant John’s dinner’ and specifies the value ‘Meg’ for the value ‘the x who gave
the elephant John’s dinner’. (Nonspecificational sentences, which are called
predicational sentences, do not similarly presuppose a ‘gap’ in knowledge that

needs to be filled: Meg gave the elephant John’s dinner does not, on its un-
marked reading, supply a value for a presupposed ‘gap’ or variable.) All wh-
questions are specificational, because a question word always represents a vari-
312 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
Figure 5.1. The various readings of clauses in the present perfect.
able. Thus, Who gave the elephant John’s dinner? makes it clear that there is
a gap in knowledge concerning the variable ‘the x who gave the elephant John’s
dinner’. All replies to a wh-question are similarly specificational:
Bill
gave the
elephant John’s dinner or It was Bill who gave the elephant John’s dinner
specifies the value ‘Bill’ for the variable ‘the x who gave the elephant John’s
dinner’.
A present perfect sentence receiving a constitution reading is always specifi-
cational. Shirley has met Tim four times so far, which yields a ‘number-quanti-
fying constitution reading’ specifies the value ‘four times’ for the variable ‘the
x number of times that Shirley has met Tim’. Three years have elapsed since
then specifies the value ‘three years’ for the variable ‘the time x that has elapsed
since then’. These two readings are ‘quantificational constitution readings’. In
What have you been doing? Ϫ I’ve been feeding the elephant, both sentences
receive a nonquantificational constitution reading. The speaker asks the hearer
for the situational constitution of the pre-present (which is conceptualized as
a very recent period), and the hearer specifies the value ‘I’ve been feeding the
elephant’ for the variable ‘the x that I have been doing’.
X. Summary 313
5.38.14 On an up-to-now reading, the time of the full situation extends right
up to t
0
(without, of course, including t
0

). However, this is not to say that the
extralinguistic situation to which the speaker refers extends right up to t
0
Ϫ
rather, it is conceived as doing so. This means, first, that a situation may
evidently end shortly before t
0
‘in reality’ but still be considered as occupying
the entire pre-present. For example: The American president has been in Beijing
all day today. [Now he is on his way to Shanghai.] In a similar way, when the
full situation is a hypersituation composed of a number of subsituations, the
total of these subsituations is seen as filling the pre-present. The fact that there
may be gaps between the subsituations is discounted Ϫ the subsituations are
conceived of as collectively accounting for the totality of the period up to now.
(In addition, of course, it may be that in the extralinguistic world there is a
gap between the last subsituation and t
0
, but, as we have just seen, this does
not mean that the hypersituation is not considered to extend up to t
0
.) Thus,
when a speaker replies to the question What have you been doing since I last
saw you? by saying: I’ve been raising three adopted children and running a
small company, it is clear that other activities have gone on in the extralinguis-
tic pre-present. However, the reported activities are conceived of as filling the
pre-present for the purposes of the discourse in question.
5.38.15 The different temporal W-readings of the present perfect Ϫ the con-
tinuative reading, the indefinite reading and the up-to-now reading Ϫ variously
affect the possibility of using the progressive, and, conversely, the use of the
progressive affects the possibility of arriving at a given reading of the perfect.

For example, if a speaker wishes to express continuative meaning, then if the
situation is nonstatic (at least in the absence of a continuative-enforcing context
such as the adverbial ever since), he will normally use the progressive. The
progressive means that the full situation is nonbounded and thus, in the case
of a ‘co-extensive T-reading’ (i. e. the situation time coincides with the pre-
present zone), it (i. e. the full situation) is capable of including t
0
. If the speaker
does not use the progressive in a context which permits it, the assumption is
likely to be made that he does not want to represent the full situation as (non-
bounded and) including t
0
. Conversely, the progressive will normally block an
indefinite interpretation of the present perfect because the progressive does not
normally combine with boundedness and the full situation on an indefinite
reading of the perfect is bounded. Thus Meg has been washing the elephant
will be interpreted as continuative or up-to-now rather than as indefinite.
5.38.16 Finally, there are two general issues concerning the present perfect
that need to concern us. These are, first, that certain elements of meaning
exclude the possibility of locating the situation time in a ‘period up to now’,
and second, that the notion of ‘present result’ is closely associated with the
present perfect, but is not completely straightforward.
314 5. The absolute use of the present perfect
5.38.17 The semantics of the present perfect, we have said, is: ‘The situation
time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere’. The fact
that the speaker who uses a present perfect is focusing on NOW rather than
THEN means that it is normally presupposed that entities referred to in a
present perfect clause exist now. Thus Marilyn Monroe has read my book is
not normally acceptable (if uttered after her death) because the topic of this
sentence relates to THEN rather than to NOW: the present perfect is blocked

because the time zone which the speaker has in mind is past rather than pre-
present. However, when a no-longer existing entity is not part of the topic of
the clause, in the sense that it is not ‘what the speaker is talking about’ but
forms part of what the speaker is saying about the topic, then for some speak-
ers the present perfect is not excluded, provided it is possible for the speaker
to conceptualize a pre-present period. For example: This hotel has one claim
to fame: it has been slept in by Marilyn Monroe.
5.38.18 Because the present perfect links a bygone situation to t
0
, as relevant
to ‘now’, there is usually an assumption that some sort of result of the bygone
situation is relevant at t
0
. The result that we can identify may be direct, as in
I’ve locked the door, which entails that the door was locked after the situation
was completed and implicates that the door is locked now or The tomatoes
have ripened, which implicates that the tomatoes are ripe, but it may also be
an indirect result. A direct result is the resultant state that inevitably comes
about when the situation is completed. Any other result is indirect. For exam-
ple, The tomatoes have ripened may implicate the indirect result It’s time to
pick them or it may implicate It’s therefore too late to make green tomato
chutney. Only indefinite perfects can implicate clear direct results. Compare I
have bottled the chutney, which is indefinite, and I have been bottling chutney
since 9 o’clock, which is continuative. The former implicates the direct result
‘The chutney is bottled’. The latter can be used to refer to such indirect results
as ‘The house smells of tomato chutney’ or ‘That’s why I’m tired’, but will not
be used to suggest ‘The chutney is bottled now.’