CRITERIA FOR DETERMINATION OF TENSE FORMS

Abstract

In this study, the concept of absolute time and the process of its understanding by a person are considered in general terms. First, the role and essence of the point of contact with the infinite flow of time
is explained. The criterion that is referred to and taken as a basis for expressing the perceived period of
time in the language is considered in detail. It is proved that the moment of speech is not a criterion for
determining time in language. It is noted that this criterion may be one or another linguistic structural
unit within the language itself. In illustrative examples, it is shown that such criteria can be words considered in traditional linguistics as adverbial modifiers. The research concludes that the forms belonging
to the past or future time background cannot be used in speech without analogous linguistic criteria, that
is, reference points expressed by the language structural unit.