Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig and others have found that learners are more likely to mark past tense on some verbs than on others. For example, learners are more likely to mark past tense in sentences such as ‘I broke the vase’ and ‘my sister fixed it with glue’ than in sentences such as ‘She seemed happy last week’ or ‘My father swam in that lake’. These differences appear to be due to the ‘lexical aspect’, that is, the kinds of meanings expressed by the different verbs. Learners seem to find it easier to mark past tense on verbs that refer to something whose end point can easily be determined. These are referred to as ‘accomplishments’ and ‘achievements’ (‘I ran three miles. My brother took an aspirin and went to bed’) For ‘activities’ that may continue for some period (‘I sam all afternoon’) or ‘states’ that may be perceived as constants (‘He seemed happy to sit by the lake’). learners use simple past markers less frequently.
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig and others have found that learners are more likely to mark past tense on some verbs than on others. For example, learners are more likely to mark past tense in sentences such as ‘I broke the vase’ and ‘my sister fixed it with glue’ than in sentences such as ‘She seemed happy last week’ or ‘My father swam in that lake’. These differences appear to be due to the ‘lexical aspect’, that is, the kinds of meanings expressed by the different verbs. Learners seem to find it easier to mark past tense on verbs that refer to something whose end point can easily be determined. These are referred to as ‘accomplishments’ and ‘achievements’ (‘I ran three miles. My brother took an aspirin and went to bed’) For ‘activities’ that may continue for some period (‘I sam all afternoon’) or ‘states’ that may be perceived as constants (‘He seemed happy to sit by the lake’). learners use simple past markers less frequently.