48 Eric R. Naizer In summary, the author’s use of the aorist throughout the parable can be understood as conforming to Porter’s theory of verbal aspect and discourse prominence. The use of the perfective aspect by the author throughout the pericope forms the backbone of the narrative by sum- marizing key events, placing background information, and indicating supporting material while moving the narrative forward. The author’s use of the aorist tense establishes a foundation upon which the remaining aspects (imperfective and stative) are utilized in a way to portray events in the parable beyond the traditional understanding of the Greek verbal system. The remaining analysis of the imperfective and stative aspects will take place against the given background provided by the use of the perfective aspect. 3.2. The Imperfective Aspect The imperfective aspect is used throughout the narrative against the background aorist tense in order to accentuate particular features by functioning to indicate more vividness and detail. Further, its use por- trays the author as dwelling on the action by viewing the given process as in progress or unfolding23. In contrast to the background aorist tense, the present and imperfect tenses are used to provide more of an emphasis on the event or feature by highlighting it or placing it in the foreground of the narrative24. The present tense is used to draw attention to the command given by the landowner to those he hires to work in his vineyard. The present imperative ὑπάγετε is utilized in vv. 4.7 to highlight the landowner's command to go to the same vineyard that is mentioned in vv. 1-2. The author is emphasizing that each group is working in the vineyard, pre- sumably doing the same kind of work. Nolland explains that in v. 4 the author's use of ὑπάγετε provides variation within the text25. He notes that the author’s use of “direct speech” anticipates the importance of the dialogue in vv. 6-7 and thus the importance of the final group of laborers hired. Nolland does not provide support for this claim linguistically. However, aspectually the shift from the use of the perfective aspect to 23 Porter, Verbal Aspect, 200. 24 There are five instances of εἰμί occurring in an imperfective form (including the compound verb ἔξεστίν in v. 15), three of them in the present (v. 1 – ἐστιν; v. 4 - ᾖ; v. 15 -ἔξεστίν, ἐστιν, and εἰμι). These forms have not been included in this discussion of verbal aspect and discourse prominence in Matt 20,1-16 because according to Porter εἰμί is “aspectually vague” due to the lack of official options between aorist tense and present tense (Porter, Verbal Aspect, 442-7). 25 Nolland, Matthew, 808.