a comparative study on the verb tenses in books 1, 2 and 3 of masnavi: a corpus- computational approach

in the present article the frequency and percentage distribution of different verb tenses have been analyzed in books of 1, 2 and 3 of masnavi. the hypothesis is that it is possible to identify the degree of realism, narrative stylistic and some aspects of grammatical voice by using the feature of tense. the theoretical framework is based on systematic functional grammar and traditional grammar. the corpus contains 16122 verbs which have been selected by systematic sampling in which 16 tenses have been analyzed. the statistical analysis shows that the present tense makes up 63%, the past tense 36%, and the future tense 5% of all. the findings indicate that rumi enjoys a humanistic philosophy and that he thinks of living here and now on the time line. he uses the past stories and events to explain the dispositions of the people and then gives some pieces of advice that confirm his narrative style including narrating, concluding and advising.