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Definition of Imperfect tense
1. Noun. A tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going.
Generic synonyms: Tense
Specialized synonyms: Present Progressive, Present Progressive Tense, Past Progressive, Past Progressive Tense, Future Progressive, Future Progressive Tense
Definition of Imperfect tense
1. Noun. (grammar) A tense used to describe a past action that is ongoing, incomplete or continuous, or coincident with another action. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Imperfect Tense
Literary usage of Imperfect tense
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges: Founded on by Joseph Henry Allen, James Bradstreet Greenough (1916)
"... imperfect tense 470. The Imperfect denotes an action or a state as continued
or repeated in past time: —• hunc audiebant antea (Manil. ..."
2. The Massachusetts Teacher by Massachusetts Teachers Federation, Massachusetts Teachers' Association (1853)
"What is an imperfect tense ?" "An imperfect tense expresses what is past and
finished. ... But why have so many grammarians called it the imperfect tense ? ..."
3. Classical Philology by University of Chicago press, JSTOR (Organization) (1906)
"in the imperfect tense, the expression of custom becomes especially clear. ...
This does not mean that a Roman more often used the imperfect tense of such ..."
4. Syntax of Early Latin by Charles Edwin Bennett (1910)
"179 Subjunctive of Duty or Fitness 179 Affirmative Questions of Duty or Fitness
181 Present Tense 181 imperfect tense 181 Perfect Tense 182 Negative ..."
5. The Grammar of English Grammars: With an Introduction, Historical and by Goold Brown (1858)
"imperfect tense; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL IMPERFECT. Sing. ... If must is ever
used in the sense of tho imperfect tense, or Preterit, tho form is the some ..."
6. A Discourse on the Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America: Delivered by Samuel Farmar Jarvis (1820)
"... imperfect tense. PERFECT TENSE. FIRST FUTURE TENSE. SECOND FUTURE TENSE. "
The potential mode is generally formed from the indicative, by prefixing yd ..."
7. Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar: With an Appendix, Containing by Lindley Murray (1828)
"In animated historical narrations, this tense is sometimes substituted for the
imperfect tense ; as, " He enters the territory of the peaceable inhabitants ..."
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