Special Non Present Uses of the Present Tense in English and Arabic (Contrastive Study)

Abstract

This paper deals mainly with the special non present uses of the present tense and its functions in English and Arabic that is of vital importance in both languages. This study tries to answer the following research questions: 1-What are the references of present uses in English and Arabic? 2- What are the functions of present uses in English and Arabic? 3- What are the similarities and differences between English and Arabic uses of non present uses?. This study aims at investigating the present simple uses that refer to different times as well as it tries to illustrate the similarities and differences in English and Arabic. To achieve the aims of this study, it is hypothesized that:(1) Present uses refer to present, future and past in English and Arabic. (2) Present uses have various functions such as: habituality and continuity in English and Arabic. (3) There are certain similarities and difference between English and Arabic in using non present uses.

    The data of this research are English and Arabic contexts that have present uses and their functions. Besides, this study makes a comparison between the two languages to explore the similarities and differences in non-present uses of the present tense.