ASPECT AND TEXT STRUCTURE

The central idea behind this article is that text type has an effect o n the functioning of aspectual constructions in discourse. To show thi s, I compare the discourse function of aspectual information in two di fferent text types in English, viz. narrative fictional texts and news paper reports. I outline the general characteristics of each text type and the way these affect the use of events and states at the discours e level. I also consider in more detail the past perfect in the two te xt types: I show how its use is subject to a number of general discour se principles and illustrate how these principles interact with the st ructure of the two text types.