On the logical form of imperfective aspect

This contribution proposes that imperfectively marked predicates are uniformly mapped into subject-predicate logical formats. The basic insight is that the imperfective does not map telic predicates into durative predicates; rather, it adds a modal dimension to the semantics of the past tense. The author argues (i) that a predicational analysis of imperfective aspect permits an elegant unification of the logical form assigned to progressives and habituals; (ii) that, at least in the Romance and Germanic languages, grammatical aspect is the locus where the distinction between categorical sentences, consisting in the ascription of a property to a subject, and thetic sentences, consisting in the presentation of an eventuality, is grammaticality encoded; and (iii) that the predicational analysis of imperfective tenses provides an elegant solution to what the author dubs the "present tense paradox"