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grammaire anglaise > groupe verbal
prétérit temporel actif ou passif + marqueur de temps passé (yesterday, once, ago, at the time...)
Generations ago, a train like this brought enemies to Ivory Lana...
The Phantom George Olesen and Graham Nolan
Si les verbes réguliers prennent régulièrement -ed au prétérit ( -ed est leur signe / marqueur commun, distinctif) : loved, killed, played, danced, tried
il n'en va pas de même pour la quasi-totalité des irréguliers, qui ont chacun leur propre forme prétérit : fought, saw, sang, went, cut, said, met, taken, wrote, ate, brought
Prétérit passif :
auxiliaire be conjugué au prétérit + participe passé
la mise en passé
L'énonciateur utilise souvent le prétérit temporel pour relater, raconter des événements, réels ou imaginaires, qu'il présente comme révolus, historiques.
Les faits sont ponctualisés (points sur une ligne temporelle), et souvent historicisés, mis à distance, en perspective.
Il s'agit parfois d'exorciser "les démons du passé". Ce qui est mis au passé ne reviendra plus :
Good afternoon. Yesterday, December 13, at around 8:30pm Baghdad time, United States military forces captured [ prétérit actif ] Saddam Hussein alive.
He was found [ prétérit passif ] near a farmhouse outside the city of Tikrit, in a swift raid conducted without casualties. And now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions. [ prétérit actif ]
A dark and painful era
is over:
Ces événements sont souvent inscrits dans une chronologie (concordance des temps grammaticaux = tous les verbes sont au prétérit), avec parfois un marquage temporel précis (adverbes / marqueurs de temps passé).
Ce qui est présenté comme passé n'est pas nécessairement éloigné dans le temps chronologique :
- l'énonciateur rapporte des faits qui, pour lui, ne relèvent plus de l'information "qui tombe", même s'ils sont très récents.
- l'événement vient de se produire, mais l'énonciateur le date précisément (today, this morning, a few minutes ago).
Les circonstances comptent tout autant que l'événement lui-même > voir notamment les dépêches de Reuters, toutes rédigées au prétérit.
Exemple : même s'ils ont été sans doute imprimés le jour même (22.11.1963), les premiers articles sur l'assassinat du 35ème président des Etats-Unis, John F. Kennedy, n'informent probablement qu'un faible nombre de lecteurs (les autres ont déjà appris la nouvelle par la radio et la télévision).
En écrivant le début de l'article ci-dessous, rédigé le jour de l'assassinat et publié le lendemain (et sans doute aussi le jour-même), le journaliste du quotidien new-yorkais Daily News sait qu'une partie de son lectorat est déjà au courant.
Dès les premières lignes, le prétérit temporel rappelle les faits, les inscrit dans l'espace et le temps, leur donner une dimension / valeur historique, dramatique.
L'article publié le lendemain - 23 novembre - prend place dans un numéro spécial, qui a déjà valeur de commémoration :
Dallas, Tex., Nov 22 - President Kennedy was mortally wounded [ prétérit passif ] by a rifle bullet at 12:31 P. M. (1:31 P.M. New York time) today as he rode in an open convertible limousine leading a motorcade [ prétérit actif ] through the streets of Dallas;
He died in Parkland Hospital 29 minutes later. [ prétérit actif ]
Gov. John Connally of Texas was gravely wounded [ prétérit passif ] by the same assassin while seated directly in front of the President.
The President Is Assassinated As Dallas Multitude
Hails Him,
A l'inverse, sur le moment, les témoins de l'assassinat n'avaient d'autre choix que d'utiliser le present perfect :
Kennedy / The President has been shot! [ present perfect passif ]
Equivalent dans un film de Samuel Fuller, Pickup on South Street (1953) : Un policier découvre un cadavre, décroche le téléphone :
A woman has been shot! [ present perfect passif ]
-> voir Present Perfect > Breaking the latest news
Les verbes au prétérit temporel ( ≠ prétérit modal / hypothétique) s'emploient souvent avec des marqueurs de temps passé.
Ces marqueurs peuvent être des :
- adverbes : today, yesterday, later, once,...
- groupes nominaux : the other day,...
- groupes prépositionnels (préposition + N / GN) : in recent years, on that hot July afternoon, over the last two weeks, over the past year, Over the course of the weekend,
- propositions (SVO) : Ever since Americans learned that American soldiers and intelligence agents were torturing prisoners, ...
Ces marqueurs chronologiques cadrent, encadrent, pointent un passé plus ou moins proche, plus ou moins précis :
now [ valeur > passé > à ce point / stade, alors / désormais ], today, the other day, this morning, recently, in recent months, in recent years, over the years, yesterday, in the early hours of yesterday, the next day, at the weekend, just over two weeks ago, one hour ago, years ago, just over a year ago, just a few months ago, almost two centuries ago, less than two weeks ago, a year a half ago, EXACTLY four years ago this month, Not long ago, A couple of years ago, EARLY in the morning, a year ago today, earlier this month, earlier Friday, earlier, three years earlier later, three days later, ON the morning of May 6, 1783, in the late summer of 1985, in the winter of 1860,
last year (l'année dernière) + prétérit in the last year (= depuis janvier) + present perfect
late last year, last Monday, last night, last winter, a while back, once, once upon a time, at the time, one day, on that hot July afternoon, on this day in 1980, on January 23 1968, as early as January 2006, last September, on Friday, on the night of July 10, 2005, In January, At 3:50 a.m Tuesday, At 7:28 a.m. on April 25, 2007, afterward, Throughout their contentious debate on Wednesday, Ever since Americans learned that American soldiers and intelligence agents were torturing prisoners,...
in the past, in the past three days, for most of the past few years, in the last three months of 2003,
Over the past year (+ present perfect ) ne doit pas être confondu avec last year (+ prétérit).
Over the past year annonce un bilan qui court jusqu'au moment / présent de l'énonciation.
Over the past year s'emploie donc avec le present perfect.
Over the past year se traduit par : ces douze derniers mois (et non pas : l'an dernier).
Over the past year, consumer confidence has deteriorated [ present perfect actif ] significantly.
Worsening problems in housing, harder-to-get credit, financial turmoil on Wall Street and lofty energy prices have put [ present perfect actif ] people in a much more gloomy mind-set.
Last April, confidence stood [ prétérit actif ] at 85.4.
The index is based on results from the international polling firm Ipsos.
Confidence Falls to
New Low,
De même, ne pas confondre :
last week [ la semaine dernière, période close, révolue ] + prétérit et this last week [ cette semaine ] + present perfect
"I haven't felt [ present perfect ] too good this last week [ cette semaine / ces derniers jours ] ." Michael Barrymore interview, O, 29 [ Sunday ].12.2002.
Dans cet entretien, réalisé en fin de semaine et publié le dimanche, le comique britannique déchu fait le bilan de la semaine, période non révolue à l'instant où il parle.
Le bilan est l'une des deux valeurs du present perfect, la seconde étant l'information "qui tombe" (breaking news), soit dans la conversation, soit aux informations.
Autres exemples : in the last two years [ depuis deux ans / ces vingt-quatre derniers mois ] the past week [ cette semaine / la semaine qui vient de s'écouler ] + present perfect
By his words and demeanor, Mr. Steel could be mistaken for a midlevel policy wonk — someone hoping to let a little sunlight disinfect the dark corners of the financial world. In fact, he is a former vice chairman at Goldman Sachs, the big investment bank. And in the last two years [ depuis deux ans / vingt-quatre mois ], Mr. Steel has been [ present perfect > traduction > est ] co-chairman of one commission that claimed heavy-handed regulation was stanching financial innovation and another that argued that hedge funds could police themselves.
Wall Streeter Converts to a Fan of
Regulation,
Punctured Bubblenomics
September 21 [ Sunday ], 2008 The New York Times By DAVID LEONHARDT
The past week [ cette semaine / la semaine qui vient de s'écouler ], by any standard, has been an extraordinary one [ present perfect actif ] for America’s economy and its financial system. Merrill Lynch, which was founded during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, agreed to be bought for a bargain-basement price, while Lehman Brothers, which dates back to John Tyler’s presidency, simply collapsed.
By the end of the week, the federal government was preparing to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in securities that no bank wanted. It appears to be the government’s biggest fiscal intervention since the Great Depression, designed to get the financial markets working again and keep a credit freeze from sending the economy into a deep recession.
Bubblenomics,
NYT, 21.9.2008,
forpendant / pour (valeur temporelle)
+
prétérit
≠
fordepuis
+
present perfect
for + durée quantifiée + prétérit
for (pourvaleur temporelle / pendant / durant)
Avec for, l'énonciateur compte, dénombre, quantifie, recense.
A l'inverse de during, qui est suivi d'un nom de période (during the war, the week...), for est suivi d'un quantificateur :
for many..., for most of..., for five...,
for + Ø (quantificateur indéfini et sous-entendu) > for [ Ø ] years,
for [ pendant ] many years, for [ pendant ] three years,
for [ pendant ] most of the last five years, for much of the 1990s,
for [ pour ] the first time in three years this month,
for [ pour ] the second time in less than 12 hours,
for [ pour ] the first time in nearly a decade,
for [ pour ] the first time since 1971,
for (pour valeur temporelle / pendant / durant) + prétérit ≠ for (depuis) + present perfect
during + période + prétérit during (durant / pendant / au cours) est un marqueur souvent "historicisant".
L'énonciateur nomme / cadre / recadre / souligne / se focalise sur une période bien définie, jugée ou supposée connue, importante, décisive :
In 1993 [ cadrage temporel ], during the last big wave of foreclosures in New York City [ recadrage > gros plan ], nearly 6,200 buildings (residential, commercial and mixed-use) began the foreclosure process. [ prétérit actif ]
In 2007, the Furman Center estimated that at least 38,000 people facing a foreclosure in New York City were renters.
Even Renters
Aren’t Safe, NYT, 13.4.2008,
During the presidency of Bill Clinton,
During the three weeks prior to his assassination on February 21,
during the war, during World War II, during the press conference,
during October, during the 1990s,
during the same period,
during midday Mass last week, during a midnight raid
about the outrage prompted by the pope’s remark
DURING Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate
During a six-day visit to Washington and New York,
during the eighth round
during + quantificateur ( during 12 days at the station ) est considéré comme incorrect.
Pour en savoir plus :
Si certains marqueurs de temps délimitent un segment plus ou moins précis dans le passé ...
yesterday
fifty years ago
About two years ago,
At 3:58 a.m. on Christmas Day,
on Saturday, February 28, 1953
at five minutes before 10 on Saturday night
at the weekend
In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
in the last week (USA)
in 1959,
May 30, 2007 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 12:02 a.m. ET The New York Times
Today is Wednesday, May 30, the 150th day of 2007. There are 215 days left in the year.
was burned [ prétérit passif ] at the stake in Rouen, France.
In 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established. [ prétérit passif ]
when a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in imminent danger of collapsing triggered [ prétérit ] a stampede.
Ray Harroun was [ prétérit ] the winner.
by President Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft
and Robert Todd Lincoln.
when police fired [ prétérit] on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in Chicago.
from the Japanese during World War II.
and the Korean conflict were buried [ prétérit passif ] at Arlington National Cemetery.
from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a journey to Mars.
Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated [ prétérit passif ] in a failed military coup.
21 elderly passengers were killed when a tour bus went [ prétérit ] out of control on a mountain road and plunged [ prétérit ] into the Walker River near the California-Nevada border.
Today's Birthdays: Country musician Johnny Gimble is 81. Actor Clint Walker is 80. Actor Keir Dullea is 71. Actress Ruta Lee is 71. Actor Michael J. Pollard is 68. Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 56. Actor Colm Meaney is 54. Actor Ted McGinley is 49. Actor Ralph Carter is 46. Actress Tonya Pinkins is 45. Country singer Wynonna Judd is 43. Rock musician Tom Morello (Audioslave; Rage Against The Machine) is 43. Movie director Antoine Fuqua is 42. Rock musician Patrick Dahlheimer (Live) is 36. Actress Idina Menzel is 36. Actor Trey Parker is 35. Rapper Cee-Lo is 33. Actor Blake Bashoff is 26.
Thought for Today: ''To write or to speak is almost inevitably to lie a little. It is an attempt to clothe an intangible in a tangible form; to compress an immeasurable into a mold. And in the act of compression, how Truth is mangled and torn!'' -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American writer (1906-2001).
Today in History - May 30,
... d'autres marqueurs de temps renvoient à une période imprécise ou à un passé mythique :
once upon a time
one time
two years after her divorce
a while back
for [ pour ] the second time
in the beginning
Le prétérit peut également s'employer sans marqueur de temps.
énoncés au prétérit actif / passif + marqueurs de temps passé
Prince Charles last night became the first member of the royal family to set foot on Iranian soil since the Islamic revolution 25 years ago, as he embarked on a surprise tour of the region which will culminate with a walk around the earthquake-stricken town of Bam.
Prince
Charles seeks to boost troop morale in Basra, G, 9.2.2004,
On this day in 1980 John Lennon was murdered [ Prétérit passif : beauxiliaire conjugué au prétérit + participe passé ]. Past notes, web frontpage, G, 8.12.2003.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. The first book of Moses called GENESIS, Old Testament, Holy Bible, I:1-3.
Lewis and Clark were sent by President Thomas Jefferson 200 years ago to navigate and map the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, the lands west of the Mississippi River that doubled the size of the United States when Napoleon sold them for about 3 cents an acre. Two Centuries
Later, Indians Retell the Past:
An American soldier was killed, and two others were injured, in Baghdad yesterday when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a military ambulance. The soldier was the third member of the US military to die in the Iraqi capital in the past three days. He was the latest in a list of casualties since Saddam Hussein's fall. Another US soldier is killed by Iraq grenade attack, GI, p. 11, 20.6.2003.
Three weeks before the Conservative Party Conference in October 1984, Patrick Magee checked into Room 629 of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, five floors above Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's bedroom. He hid 30lb of gelignite attached to a timer from a video recorder behind the panel of the bathtub. The bomb exploded at 3am, killing five people and severely injuring 30 others. Secret History, Channel 4, 9pm, T/T2, p. 28, 15.5.2003.
Fifty years ago, on Saturday, February 28, 1953, two young scientists walked into the Eagle, a dingy pub in Cambridge, England, and announced to the lunchtime crowd that they had discovered the secret of life. Double Helix Leaps Fom Lab to Real Life, NYT/Le Monde, 9/10.3.2003.
Once upon a time, on the edge of the big wood, there lived a little girl called Little Red Riding Hood. Her real name was Brenda but she was always known [ prétérit passif : BEauxiliaire + participe passé ] as Little Red Riding Hood because this was what her mother called her when she was a baby. Brenda used to wear a red bonnet when she went out for a ride in her pram, and she still wears it now. Little Red Riding Hood, retold by Jonathan Langley, London, PictureLions, HarperCollins, 1993.
Two years after her divorce, Karen (…) decided she was ready to meet someone new.
Once upon a time (only a century ago), a few billion stars and gas clouds smeared along the Milky Way were thought [ prétérit passif : BEauxiliaire + participe passé ] to encompass all of existence, and the notion of understanding it was daunting - and hubristic - enough.
New View of the Universe: Only One Among
Many,
On the night of january 31, 1953, a deep low pressure over the North Sea combined with high tides to devastate much of Eastern England and Holland's coastlands. High anxiety, GE2, p. 12, 9.10.2002.
A while back, I was invited [ Prétérit passif : BEauxiliaire + participe passé ] to a fashion show in Paris. What is it with US girls moaning about British men?, GE2, p. 7., 23.8.2002.
Last month I discovered the truth about being a black woman
in post-apartheid South Africa. A woman’s world, GE, pp. 8-9, 7-3-2002.
Ten years ago today Britain was ejected [ Prétérit passif : BEauxiliaire + participe passé ] from Europe’s exchange-rate mechanism. The silver lining on Black Wednesday, T, p. 5, Business pullout, 16.9.2002.
In 1774, a British journalist wrote a sketch about American tourists in London 200 years in the future. What Britannia taught Bush, GE2, p. 4, 20.9.2002.
Large areas of central and northern England and Wales trembled just before 1am yesterday as an earthquake rumbled more than five miles below the neat lawns and flower beds of a street in Dudley, West Midlands. Tremors shake awake middle England, GE, p. 5, 24.9.2002.
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