historical present
- noun
- /hɪˈstɔrɪkəl ˈprɛzənt/
- Specialized
:
presente histórico
- The author uses the historical present in her story to make the past events feel more immediate.
- use of the historical present
- function of the historical present
Babysitter was one of the more recent novels that's in the historical present.
- Babysitter was one of the more recent novels that's in the historical present.
Examples
-
Often, the reader instantly or retrospectively identifies the present tense as the historical present, yet even in these unambiguous cases, where it seems a natural feature of oral speech, the use of the present tense narrows the distance between the narrator and his narrated self.
Academic text (2009) -
Traditional explanations, in addition to observing the heightening of vividness, also note an increase in pacing produced by the historical present.
Academic text (1992) -
She explains the use of the historical present in this capacity in two ways.
Academic text (1992) -
The historical present can be seen as the literary analogue of this use.
Academic text (1992) -
The historical present is thought to create a fictional or imaginary present (Frey 52; Hamburger 102; Leech 17).
Academic text (1992) -
In many novels, the historical present creates a sense of excitement and closeness to the characters' experiences.
-
By employing the historical present, the speaker makes the audience feel as though they are witnessing the events unfold.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositional: 'historical' (relating to past events) modifies 'present' (the present tense), so a learner can infer it refers to using the present tense for historical narration. This logic is cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish 'presente histórico'), making the meaning accessible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Historical present comes from a simple storytelling trick: a speaker switches to the present tense when telling something that happened before, so the scene feels like it is 'happening now'. That's why the term means using the present to make past events feel immediate.
