The grammar of the english verb phrase part 50 ppsx

In section I 7.1⫺7.6 we first deal with the distinction between ‘future tense’ forms and what we call ‘futurish’ forms, the latter of which do not express pure future and combine future

In the preceding four chapters, we dealt with the

meanings and uses of three absolute tenses (⫽

tenses that relate a situation time directly to the

temporal zero-point), viz the present tense, the

past tense (or preterite) and the present perfect,

and with some principles underlying the choice

between the preterite and the present perfect In

this chapter, we examine the fourth absolute

tense, viz the future tense We also consider

other verb forms that have an element of future

time reference as part of their semantics

In section I (7.1⫺7.6) we first deal with the

distinction between ‘future tense’ forms and

what we call ‘futurish’ forms, the latter of which

do not express pure future and combine future

time reference with present time reference

Section II (7.7⫺7.12) provides some com-ments onbe going to, which wavers between a

futurish auxiliary and a future tense auxiliary, depending on whether it expresses the idea that

a future situation is predictable because of pres-ent indications (e g.My little girl is going to be very clever) or whether it is a more neutral

means of referring to the future (e g.It’s going

to rain tomorrow) This section also deals,

among other things, with the use ofbe going to

to express a present intention (e g.Cheryl is go-ing to marry Gordon when she has graduated).

Section III discusses some further futurish forms, including (among others) ‘will ⫹ be

Verb-ing’ (used without progressive meaning),

the auxiliary be about to, and the auxiliary be to.

I ‘Future tense’ forms vs ‘futurish’ forms

7.1 Definition of ‘future tense’

The future tense locates a situation time in the post-present and normally expresses

‘pure future’ ‘Futurish forms’ are not future tense forms and do not express pure fu-ture

7.1.1 Thefuture tenserefers to the post-present in the sense that it locates

a situation time (⫽ the time of a ‘predicated’ situation ⫺ see 2.12⫺13) in the

post-present zone of the present time-sphere In English, future tense forms are

not built by means of a special suffix but by means of the present tense of one

of the auxiliarieswill or shall (the latter in the first person only) or of the

semi-auxiliarybe going to (which, however, can also be used as a ‘futurish form’ ⫺

see 2.9 and 7.8⫺9) For example:

According to the weather forecast it {will / is going to} rain tomorrow

We {shall / will} all die⫺ one day

It is typical of the future tense that the speaker merely makes a prediction, i e

he just expresses what he thinks will happen in the post-present In the

litera-ture this is known as the expression of ‘pure future’

7.1.2 ‘Futurish forms’ (see 2.9 and 7.3) are not future tense forms For one

thing, they do not express pure future For another, they combine reference to

a post-present actualization with a sense of present judgement Moreover, some

of them (viz progressive and nonprogressive present tense forms) basically

refer to the present Their use as a futurish form is a metaphorical extension

of this (i e a ‘shift of temporal perspective’ ⫺ see 2.20): the post-present is

treated as if it were the present For example:

I’m leaving.(The reference is to a situation which is either actualizing at t 0 or

arran-ged to actualize in the post-present The latter interpretation is an example of how

a post-present situation is represented as if it were actualizing at t 0 This

interpreta-tion is marked in that it requires a contextual or pragmatic indicainterpreta-tion that the

refer-ence is not to the present.)

[I’ve bought some paint because] I’m going to redecorate my bedroom.(The

refer-ence is to a post-present actualization based on a present intention.)

7.2 Dual time conceptualization in sentences referring to

the post-present

In 6.1.2 we noticed that the difference between the ‘indefinite present perfect’ and the past tense is that the speaker is concerned with NOW and THEN, respectively This means that there is a dual time conceptualization in the mean-ing of the indefinite present perfect: while referrmean-ing to a bygone situation, the speaker is actually thinking of the present This dual time conceptualization can actually become dual time reference, when both times are specified by different Adv-times, as in Now we have sold forty-three cakes since the fair started There can also be dual time reference when the future tense is used in

combination with a present time adverbial, witness examples like Now we won’t have any wine when Uncle Gre´goire arrives In this example now refers

to a present state of affairs and is equivalent to something like ‘Now that X has happened …’ (This is a different kind of now from the one in Now we have sold forty-three cakes since … This explains why we can also say We have now sold forty-three cakes since …, but hardly ?We won’t now have any wine when … However, the two examples do illustrate a kind of dual

time reference.)

When there is no time-specifying adverbial referring to the present, the sense

of present time reference in sentences in the future tense is restricted to the idea that the speaker makes a prediction at t0: he just expresses what he thinks will happen in the post-present The temporal focus of the future tense is then clearly on the post-present time of actualization rather than on t0 This means that we can no longer speak of dual time reference

7.3 ‘Futurish’ tense forms

InMeg {is leaving / is going to leave / is to leave / leaves} tomorrow, a ‘futurish’ tense

form is used Such forms differ from future tense forms in that they effect dual time reference, viz a combination of future time reference and present time reference Be going to can be used to build such a futurish tense form, but it may also form part of

a future tense form In the latter case it refers exclusively to the post-present, just like the future tense auxiliarywill.

7.3.1 As noted in 7.1.2, apart from the future tense, there are other expres-sions referring to the possible actualization of a situation in the post-present However, they differ from the future tense in that, even in the absence of future time adverbials, they effect dual time reference, viz a combination of future

time reference and present time reference⫺ see 7.2 In fact, the idea of present

time reference is at least as salient as the idea of post-present actualization:

The train leaves at 7.12 tonight.(reference to present scheduling)

I’m seeing her tomorrow (reference to a present arrangement, intention,

pro-gramme…)

I’m going to give up my job.(reference to a present intention)

In examples like the following, the element of present time reference is even

more salient:

The President is to visit Rome next week.(⫽ There exists a present arrangement for

the President to visit Rome next week.)

[Look out!] The milk is about to boil over (The speaker is referring to the present

state of the milk, which forebodes boiling over.)

Bill is on the point of having a nervous breakdown.(The speaker is referring to Bill’s

present state of mind, which forebodes a nervous breakdown.)

However, there is a clear sense of post-present actualization in all of the above

examples, which is sufficient for them to establish a post-present ‘temporal

domain’ (see 2.15.4) The ‘central orientation time’ of this domain is the time

of actualization of the situation referred to by the predicate whose verb form

is leaves, am seeing, give up, visit, boil over and having, respectively For ease

of reference, we will refer to the complete verb forms (e g.am going to give up)

as ‘futurish forms’ As we will see in 10.1, a post-present temporal domain

established by a futurish form is expanded in exactly the same way as a

post-present domain created by a future tense form

7.3.2 The futurish auxiliary be going to is a borderline case as far as dual

time reference is concerned In most cases the speaker’s main concern is with

the present cause or origin of the post-present actualization of a situation

For example:

My little girl is going to be very clever (⫽ ‘There are present indications that my

little girl will turn out to be clever.’)

[This is so important that] I’m going to do it myself.(emphasis on my present

inten-tion)

However, there are also examples in which the post-present time of

actualiza-tion is much more salient than the present (e g It is going to rain tomorrow),

in which case the difference betweenbe going to and will is less pronounced:

whereas the latter expresses a prediction,be going to seems to be a means of

talking about the future in a neutral way Compare:

It will rain tomorrow.(present prediction about the post-present: sort of prophesy)

It’s going to rain tomorrow (either a prediction based on present evidence or a

neutral statement about the post-present)

It is going to rain soon [I just know it Not predictive weather skills, just long, damp experience.] (www)(relatively neutral statement about the post-present)

There is hardly any difference of meaning between the following, because of the question format:

What’ll happen next?

What’s going to happen next? Are those men going to kill us?

Both questions treat the addressee as somehow knowing something about the future that the speaker does not know The prediction element of will is not

salient and so does not have much semantic weight here Be going to does not

have the connotation that characterizes it as a futurish form, viz the idea that the post-present actualization depends on a present intention or otherwise has its roots in the present So both will and be going to refer to the post-present

in a neutral way In this casebe going to is no longer a futurish form with dual

time reference but can be considered as an alternative to will, i e as a future

tense auxiliary

7.3.3 The distribution of the future tense and the various futurish forms (with their typical connotations) will be discussed in 7.7⫺16 below

7.4 Modal implication: not-yet-factual-at-t0

Any sentence referring to the post-present is modalized because it refers to something that is ‘not-yet-factual’ at t0

A situation whose actualization is located in the post-present is ‘

not-yet-fac-tual-at-t0’: the actualization is not yet a fact at t0, and has not even started to become a fact at t0 This means that, synchronically speaking, the future tense

is a ‘modalized’ tense, i e a tense with a modal implication However, it is first and foremost a tense, not (as is often claimed in the literature) a mood: its basic function is to locate a situation in time, and in doing so it automati-cally expresses the modal connotation of not-yet-factuality-at-t0 In other words, the future tense satisfies our definition of tense (see 2.1 and 2.7): it is the correlation between a particular temporal meaning (‘The situation time is located posterior to t0’) and a formal expression of this

7.5 The distribution of shall and will in the future tense

7.5.1 The future tense is normally built withwill Shall is possible only in the

first person, where it is a formal alternative towill It is rare in spoken Br E.

and very rare in colloquial Am E It is not normally used when the subject is

both of us, all of us, none of us, some of us, etc., even though these are

expres-sions of the first person, nor after subjects that are coordinated NPs with a first

person pronoun as one of its constituents (e g You and I, We or they, etc.).1

Both of us {will / *shall} be in trouble if she does not keep her mouth shut

You and I {will / *shall} probably go our own ways after college

My wife and myself {will / *shall} join the rest of the company later

7.5.2 The above mentioned distribution also holds for shall and will in the

future perfect and for the (nonmodal) conditional tense auxiliaries should

andwould.

By that time I {will / shall} have left the building

By that time she {will / #shall} have left the building.(Shall could only be used as

a modal auxiliary expressing a command.)

I told him what I {would / (should)} do about it.(Should can be interpreted either

as a tense auxiliary or as a modal expression of advice, duty, moral obligation, etc.)

She told him what she {would / #should} do about it.(Should could only be

inter-preted as a modal expression of advice, duty, moral obligation, etc.)

[I realized that] I {would / should} probably have left the building before 5 p.m

(Should can be interpreted as a tense auxuliary or as a modal auxiliary.)

[I realized that] she {would / #should} probably have left the building before 5 p.m

(Should can only be interpreted as a modal auxiliary.)

[We knew that] both of us {would / *should} be shot because of what we had done

(Should is not normally used as tense auxiliary after a first person subject like both of us.)

Of course, the distinction is obscured when the contracted form’ll or ’d is used.

7.6 The various meanings of shall and will

As tense auxiliaries, shall and will express pure future, i e they convey a sense of

neutral prediction

1 Occasional exceptions can be found, but these may be instances of hypercorrection.

(Shall was, and perhaps is still, considered by some to be the ‘correct’ first person form.)

My wife and Ishall be only too pleased to take advantage of your offers to prospective

customers (www)

[The idea of just solo rep in a recital is also relatively new, it used to be that you

would go to a concert, hear a symphony, a sonata and a trio all in the same concert.]

Now the two of usshall be crucified for our elitist theories (www)

7.6.1 Shall and will can both be used not only as future tense auxiliaries but

also as modal auxiliaries As tense auxiliaries they locate a situation time in the post-present and in doing so express one of the related ideas ‘pure future’,

‘prediction’ or ‘predictability’ ⫺ see 2.8.2 This means that the speaker merely predicts something or assumes that something is likely to happen: he does not represent the post-present actualization of the situation as determined

by present circumstances, such as the present volition or intention of the subject

of the sentence or a present possibility, necessity, arrangement, etc (As noted

in 7.3.1, this emphasis on the present is typical of ‘futurish forms’.) This sense

of pure future or neutral prediction without attitudinal implications is clearest when the post-present actualization depends upon external factors This is the case, for example, in the head clause of sentences containing or implying a conditional or temporal clause referring to a situation that has not yet actualized at t0

We’ll go camping next week if the weather is fine

You’ll change your mind after you’ve read this letter (implies an as yet unfulfilled condition: if you read this letter, then you’ll change your mind)

I’ll tell her everything about it when she comes tomorrow

[Don’t go near the puma.] It’ll bite you.(implicit condition: if you go near it)

[Why don’t you invite a couple of friends?] It’ll cheer you up.(implicit condition: if you invite them)

Tomorrow it will be rainy but warm (In weather forecasts the predicted situation

by definition does not depend on anybody’s volition or intention.)

Shall and will can be used as modal auxiliaries expressing some kind of volition There

are a few constructions in which this interpretation comes to the fore and in which futurity is therefore better expressed by other means

7.6.2 When used as modal auxiliaries (rather than future tense auxiliaries), shall and will can express various meanings that have to do with volition.

According to context, they can express willingness, a promise, a desire, a wish,

a threat, a warning, an intention, insistence, determination, etc In contexts inviting one of these modal interpretations,shall or will will be avoided if the

speaker just wishes to express pure future The following are some typical examples of this

(a) In questions, ‘shall I/we ⫹ the present infinitive of an intentional (agentive)

verb’ is used to inquire about a person’s will The unmarked interpretation

of this construction is therefore that of a suggestion or offer of service It