27 Is Verbal Aspect a Prominence Indicator? in the aorist in the New Testament, whereas μέλλω (7,2; 9,44; 19,11), as Porter himself admits97, is never conjugated in the aorist tense in the New Testament98. We might add δεῖ and προσδοκάω to this list, which always occur in the imperfective aspect or θέλω, which “virtually always grammaticalizes imperfective aspect”99, or δύναμαι, which “usually grammaticalizes imperfective aspect”100. The list could be multiplied, of course, but suffice it to say that a pattern of usage or the lexical meaning of a verb might be more determinative of aspect than an alleged desire to background, foreground or frontground. McKay, for example has observed that “stative verbs (§3.1.4) tend to be in the imperfective, and action verbs tend to be in the aorist unless there is a need or desire for another aspect”101. By “stative verbs” he means verbs that convey a state of being such as be, have, feel, remain etc. whereas “ac- tion verbs” describe definite activities such as do, run, say, touch, make, see, hear, suffer, etc102. There are, of course, reasons why a stative verb is grammaticalized in the aorist or an action verb in the imperfective103, but McKay’s observation warns against placing too much significance on an imperfective stative verb or an aorist action verb. In other words, certain verbs are “shut up to a particular tense”104, their meaning demands, or at least suggests, a particular aspect. In a personal communication Chrys Caragounis suggested that Porter et al. “over-subjectivize aspect”, since, if the author is the genuine determi- ner of verbal aspect, then there ought to be other possible choices, but, as we have seen, this is not always the case. Fanning is more sensitive to this issue105 and states that “fully subjective choices between aspects are not common, since the nature of the action or the procedural character of the verb or verb phrase can restrict the way an action is viewed by a speaker”106. 4.3 Grammar Porter has been criticised for not adequately accounting for the fact that “aspectual choices may be greatly restricted by a variety of factors, Porter, Aspect, 489. 97 An Accordance search uncovered 86 presents, 18 imperfects and 2 future tenses. 98 Porter, Aspect, 488. 99 Porter, Aspect, 487. 100 McKay, Syntax, 77. 101 McKay, Syntax, 28. 102 McKay, Syntax, 28-34, 77-78. 103 Wallace, Grammar, 503. 104 McKay suggests that he is too sensitive to this issue (Syntax, 36-37). 105 Fanning, Aspect, 85, see 42ff. 106