Aspect Is How a Thing Looks and Which Way It Faces
An aspect is a feature of something. In architecture it means the direction a building faces, and in grammar something else again.
An aspect is a particular feature or way of looking at something. Three trades use it precisely: estate agents mean the direction a room faces, so a south-facing aspect is a selling point; astronomers and astrologers mean the angle between bodies; and grammarians mean whether an action is complete or ongoing, which is why *I ate* and *I was eating* differ.
- A feature or facet. *Every aspect of the plan.*
- Appearance. *A grim aspect.*
- The direction something faces. *A southerly aspect.*
- A grammatical category. *Perfective aspect.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | aspect | A key aspect. |
| Plural | aspects | Several aspects. |
| Compound | aspect ratio | A 16:9 aspect ratio. |
| Related | facet | Another facet. |
| Related | perspective | A new perspective. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Consider every aspect of the case.General sense.
- The garden has a southerly aspect.Property listing.
- The aspect ratio is sixteen to nine.Screens and images.
Aspect in grammar
- Perfective — the action viewed as complete: *I ate*
- Progressive — ongoing at the time: *I was eating*
- Perfect — relevance to a later point: *I have eaten*
- Habitual — a repeated pattern: *I used to eat there*
- Not tense — tense places the action in time, aspect describes its shape
From Latin *aspectus*, a seeing or view, from *ad*, to, and *specere*, to look — the root of *spectacle*, *inspect* and *respect*.
What is aspect in grammar?
How an action is viewed in time: complete, ongoing, habitual. It is distinct from tense, which locates the action in past, present or future.
What does aspect ratio mean?
The proportion of width to height in an image or screen, such as 4:3 or 16:9.