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2.2.2.1. Active as the past
This expresses the acts as the past event.

(3)
a. John came to see me yesterday.
b. She moved to the country a long time ago.
c. We went to Hokkaido for a vacation last summer.

The above is the past acts. It is often used with the past time adverbials like "yesterday", "a long time ago" and "last summer" which are definite.
We can say these adverbials mean the speaker's focus. Because the speaker puts the definite past in mind at the utterance. This focus is parallel to M. See the following past tense figure.

(4)


M is put at the past because of the past adverbials. And the speaker's focus is also put at the past.

(5)
a. She left an hour ago.
b. He missed many classes last year.

The above is the same. These past adverbials are also parallel to the speaker's focus. The meaning of the separation from the present is derived from the focus at the past. That is, s/he treats the events as the remote event.


Time feeling


But the definite past adverbials are not always co-occurred. See the following example.

(6)
I walked round the front of the hospital.
(BNC)

The past adverbial is not used in the above, but the speaker implies it. Actually before the above, the next context is in it.

(7)
I was on the beat round Stanley Hospital and I got to this point at four o'clock on the Saturday morning.

The past adverbial is seen in the above, and it is not needed the same adverb in the next, but the same is in the speaker's mind. When the past tense is used, s/he usually puts the past in mind.


Time feeling






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