Reference to past
= A number of researchers, including Jurgen Meisel (1987), have observed the developing ability to use language to locate events in time. The research has shown that learners from different first language backgrounds and acquiring a variety of second languages, acquire the language for referring to past events in a similar pattern. Like young children, learners with limited language may simply refer to events in the order in which they occurred or mention a time or place to show that the event occurred in the past.