What tense to use for verbs describing abstract actions?


Here are 3 examples of 重きを置く.

  1. 昔は徳育に重きを **置いた** 。People **used to attach** weight to moral culture. [斉藤和英大辞典]
  2. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置いた** 言語獲得の体系 system of language acquisition **focusing** intensively on listening and speaking [日本語 WordNet]
  3. うちの学校では特に語学に重きを **置いている** 。Our school **puts** special emphasis on language studies. [Wisdom English-Japanese Dictionary]

There is not a simple matching between the tenses in Japanese and English for
置く. (I have mixed up the concepts of tense and aspect but let's not get
there.) If I had written the Japanese sentences myself, I would have got the
form of 置く right in #1 but not in #2 and #3. Because 置く is an abstract action,
it is difficult to think about whether the action happened, is ongoing, or is
a habitual state. If you had been asked to write the Japanese sentences by
yourself and if you could get the forms of 置く right, what would be your
reasoning for the forms of 置く in #2 and #3?




Let’s first look at examples in which the verb 置く is used in a literal sense.

The following sentences all mean different things as indicated in brackets.

>   1. 台にテレビを **置く** 。[habitual or future action]
>   2. 台にテレビを **置いている** 。[current state]
>   3. 台にテレビを **置いた** 。[past action]
>   4. 台にテレビを **置いていた** 。[past state]
>

They can be converted into the following noun phrases.

>   1. テレビを **置く** 台 [habitual or future action, or static property (in this
> case, purpose)]
>   2. テレビを **置いている** 台 [current state]
>   3. テレビを **置いた** 台 [past action or current state]
>   4. テレビを **置いていた** 台 [past state]
>

Of these, the one with the た-form (#3) is somewhat special in that it can also
be understood as describing a current state just like the one with the ている-
form (#2). However, it doesn’t quite sound so natural as, say,
[太った猫](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3361/43676), possibly because
having a TV set placed on it is not so much a permanent property of the table
as being fat is of the cat. It seems more natural to explicitly describe it as
a state with the ている-form (#2) if that's what you mean.

When 置く is used in a figurative sense as in 重きを置く, it loses part of its
quality as an action verb and this seems to blur the distinction between the
two sentences below.

>   1. うちの学校では特に語学に重きを **置く** 。
>   2. うちの学校では特に語学に重きを **置いている** 。
>

Outside of limited contexts in which it is understood as describing a future
action, the first sentence is no longer about an action but a current, or
permanent, state of mind of the people running the school. Personally, the
second still sounds more natural, though. This could be precisely because the
possibility of 置く referring to a future action cannot be ruled out completely.

The following pair in the past tense also means practically the same thing as
one another.

>   1. 昔は徳育に重きを **置いた** 。
>   2. 昔は徳育に重きを **置いていた** 。
>

Although I would still choose the second if I have to choose one, the
naturalness of the first sentence seems to somewhat increase compared to the
first sentence in the present tense above. Even if 置いた is understood as a past
action, the state that resulted from it is already a thing of the past. Then,
it is not much different from what the second sentence says.

As for the noun phrases, the following three are all correct.

>   1. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置く** 言語獲得の体系
>   2. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置いている** 言語獲得の体系
>   3. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置いた** 言語獲得の体系
>

The version with the た-form (#3) sounds more natural than テレビを置いた台 probably
because the described property of the system is more permanent. The version
with the ている-form (#2) sounds slightly less natural than the other two to me
because it makes the described property seem like a transient state.




Let’s first look at examples in which the verb 置く is used in a literal sense.

The following sentences all mean different things as indicated in brackets.

>   1. 台にテレビを **置く** 。[habitual or future action]
>   2. 台にテレビを **置いている** 。[current state]
>   3. 台にテレビを **置いた** 。[past action]
>   4. 台にテレビを **置いていた** 。[past state]
>

They can be converted into the following noun phrases.

>   1. テレビを **置く** 台 [habitual or future action, or static property (in this
> case, purpose)]
>   2. テレビを **置いている** 台 [current state]
>   3. テレビを **置いた** 台 [past action or current state]
>   4. テレビを **置いていた** 台 [past state]
>

Of these, the one with the た-form (#3) is somewhat special in that it can also
be understood as describing a current state just like the one with the ている-
form (#2). However, it doesn’t quite sound so natural as, say,
[太った猫](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3361/43676), possibly because
having a TV set placed on it is not so much a permanent property of the table
as being fat is of the cat. It seems more natural to explicitly describe it as
a state with the ている-form (#2) if that's what you mean.

When 置く is used in a figurative sense as in 重きを置く, it loses part of its
quality as an action verb and this seems to blur the distinction between the
two sentences below.

>   1. うちの学校では特に語学に重きを **置く** 。
>   2. うちの学校では特に語学に重きを **置いている** 。
>

Outside of limited contexts in which it is understood as describing a future
action, the first sentence is no longer about an action but a current, or
permanent, state of mind of the people running the school. Personally, the
second still sounds more natural, though. This could be precisely because the
possibility of 置く referring to a future action cannot be ruled out completely.

The following pair in the past tense also means practically the same thing as
one another.

>   1. 昔は徳育に重きを **置いた** 。
>   2. 昔は徳育に重きを **置いていた** 。
>

Although I would still choose the second if I have to choose one, the
naturalness of the first sentence seems to somewhat increase compared to the
first sentence in the present tense above. Even if 置いた is understood as a past
action, the state that resulted from it is already a thing of the past. Then,
it is not much different from what the second sentence says.

As for the noun phrases, the following three are all correct.

>   1. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置く** 言語獲得の体系
>   2. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置いている** 言語獲得の体系
>   3. 聞くことと話すことに重きを **置いた** 言語獲得の体系
>

The version with the た-form (#3) sounds more natural than テレビを置いた台 probably
because the described property of the system is more permanent. The version
with the ている-form (#2) sounds slightly less natural than the other two to me
because it makes the described property seem like a transient state.

