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A Corpus Stylistics Approach to Contemporary Present-tense Narrative
Reiko Ikeo, Eri Shigematsu and Masayuki Nakao
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 43] 2024
► pp. 71–96

Chapter 5
Comparisons of lexis and grammatical structures in PREST and PAST

This chapter compares present-tense and past-tense fiction in terms of lexis and grammatical structures, using the PREST and PAST corpora. Present-tense narrative has more lexical and syntactic characteristics which are more similar to spoken discourse than past-tense fiction. They feel more like colloquial spoken language because they have: (1) more finite verbs and verb phrases, (2) a greater reliance on pronouns, (3) fewer proper nouns and adjectives, and (4) more present progressives as we show in detail below. This chapter also discusses how the use of the present tense affects the management of viewpoint in narrative by relating its lexical and structural features to the presentation of character speech and thought.
Article outline
  • 5.1Colloquialisation in written English
  • 5.2The use of pronouns and underuse of proper nouns in PREST
  • 5.3The underuse of adjectives in PREST
  • 5.4The use of finite verbs and phrasal verbs in PREST and PAST
  • 5.5The progressive aspect in present- and past-tense narratives
    • 5.5.1Progressives in narration
    • 5.5.2Progressives in thought presentation in PREST
    • 5.5.3Present progressives in direct speech
  • 5.6Conclusion
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