What is a perfect?

Definition
	A perfect is a grammaticalization of the current relevance, at the moment of utterance, of an event or state that occurred prior to the moment of utterance.

Example (English)
	The word have in I have already given at the office indicates a perfect.

Kinds
	Here are some kinds of perfects:
	What is experiential perfect aspect? What is a perfect of persistent situation? What is a perfect of recent past? What is a perfect of result?

Sources
	Pei and Gaynor 1954 163
	Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985 211
	Elson and Pickett 1988 28
	Comrie 1976a 12, 52–53
	Crystal 1980 224
	Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985 190
	Mish 1991 873

Context for this page:

Concept module: perfect
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): P
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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