Zebra zebra - ask the zebra question

Is a zebra a white horse with black stripes or a black horse with white stripes? Although many people view the pattern as black lines on a white animal, the opposite is true. Zebra skin is black under their black-and-white stripes.

Most people probably couldn't care less about that difference, but it matters if you study the true nature of this animal. The same is true for naming the tenses. Should you say?Present Simple?or?Simple Present? It's not a matter of life and death, yet it matters in understanding how verb forms behave.

It's also a matter of consistency and logic. Why name it?Simple Past?unless you'd say?Perfect Past?or?Continuous Past?as well? Saying the Aspect first sounds silly to me, as would a *vase blue?and a *vase yellow?instead of a blue vase and a yellow vase.?

Vases come in different colours, and Aspects come in two distinct flavours: present?and?past. It also makes more sense this way because not all verb forms that show?present?in their name are about the present.?

I’m saying let’s go see if we can find some horses or zebras 
before we start a unicorn hunt.

   ~ James S.A. Corey
     (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck; SF-series The Expanse)

        

So which is the underlying structure, and which is its outward appearance?

If you're ever in doubt about how to call a verb form, ask yourself the zebra question. Which is the animal, and which are its stripes? To me, a Tense is an Aspect with Time striping, not the other way round.

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