The grammar of the english verb phrase part 81 pps

The Pseudo-t0-System form does represents the situation as it will be experi-enced by a participant in the head clause situation at the future basic orienta-tion time.. When a weak inte

(c) Evidential because-clauses function at the cognitive (epistemic) level:

they explain the basis on which the speaker comes to the conclusion that

the head clause proposition is true

There must be someone in the house, because there is a light on on the second

floor

When the reference is to the post-present, the distribution of the Absolute

Future System and the Pseudo-t0-System is as follows:

(a) Actualization-explaining because-clauses normally use the Pseudo-t0

-Sys-tem:

[If I tell you about him] he will perhaps kill you because you {know / #will know}

too much

The reason for this is that the because-clause here forms an interpretive unit

with the head clause and is syntactically fully integrated into it (This syntactic

integration is confirmed, among other things, by the fact that the

because-clause can be the highlighted constituent of a cleft:It will be because you know

too much that he kills you.)

The following examples further illustrate the use of the Pseudo-t0-System in

actualization-explaining because-clauses:

[Twenty years in the future, the same young person who today happily zips around

town by bike, bus, or subway will be at the wheel of a minivan or something

similar, hauling kids, dog and groceries.] It won’t happen because hehas changed

his views on urban planning It will happen because heis 20 years older (www)

Things will change because hemakes a conscious decision to change (www) (⫽ ‘I

predict that his making a decision to change will cause things to change.’)

(b) Utterance-explainingbecause-clauses as a rule use the Absolute Future

Sys-tem:

[If it starts snowing heavily] you will do well to store some food, because your

house {will perhaps be / *is perhaps} cut off from the village.

The reason for using the Absolute Future System here is that the head clause

and thebecause-clause represent two independent speech acts In other words,

they do not form a single interpretive unit, and thebecause-clause is

syntacti-cally not fully integrated into the head clause: ‘If it starts snowing heavily, you

will do well to store some food I’m telling you this because your house will

perhaps be cut off from the village’

The following example further illustrates the use of the Absolute Future

System in utterance-explainingbecause-clauses:

Don’t bring her here, because Mum will be very upset and Dad will be furious.

(www)

(c) Evidentialbecause-clauses as a rule use the Absolute Future System if they

depend on a head clause establishing a post-present domain:

Things will change, because hewill make a conscious decision to change (⫽ ‘The reason why I’ve come to the conclusion that things will change is that (in my opinion) he will make a conscious decision to change.’)

The following examples further illustrate the use of the Absolute Future System

in evidentialbecause-clauses:

Hopkins will be out of his habitat in this fight, because hewill be forced to be the

aggressor (www) [Our deficit this year is $1,200,000.] Next year the results will be somewhat better, because the economical climatewill have improved (www)

John will be caught, because hewill set off the alarm.

10.6.5 If the Pseudo-t0-System is a possible option, it may be selected because the speaker wants to make clear through the choice of his tense form that the subclause must be interpreted opaquely rather than transparently The follow-ing example (repeated here) is an illustration of this:

[The scheme is no good because you cannot rely on John I am sure he will bungle

it You will see:] you will all be arrested because hedoes something stupid.

The Pseudo-t0-System form does represents the situation as it will be

experi-enced by a participant in the head clause situation at the future basic orienta-tion time

Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t0-System will as a rule use it if they are to be interpre-ted as belonging to the same intensional domain as the head clause

10.6.6 Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t0-System will as a rule use it if they are to be interpreted as belonging to the same intensional domain as the head clause As we have seen in 10.4.6, this is the case in subclauses that spell out the propositional content of a verb of saying or thinking:

[If you do that] John will {allege / think} tomorrow that itis Friday, [although it

will only be Thursday]

The Absolute Future System form will be cannot be used in the that-clause

because this clause must be interpreted opaquely (It is, however, used in the

although-clause, which is interpreted transparently.)

In this connection it should be noted that there are ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ intensional verbs Strong intensional verbsare verbs likeimagine, wonder,

etc whose object clauses virtually have to be interpreted opaquely (i e as

belonging to the intensional domain (possible world) that they create.) Weak

intensional verbs (e g.see, say) more easily allow a transparent

interpreta-tion of their object clauses When a weak intensional verb is used as the

‘report-ing verb’ in the head clause of ‘past represented speech’ ⫺ see 8.25.1 ⫺ we

can, under certain conditions, find absolute present time-sphere tenses instead

of the relative tenses typical of a past domain: compare John wondered

whether you {were / ?? are} a policeman with John asked me whether you

{were / are} a policeman.

Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t0-System tend to use it if they are syntactically subor-dinated to a subclause whose verb is a Pseudo-t0-System form

10.6.7 Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t0-System will preferably use it if

they are syntactically subordinated to a subclause whose verb is a Pseudo-t0

-System form Compare the sentences in the following pairs:

(a) Their future will depend on how good their training here {has been / ?will

have been}.

(b) If their futureturns out to depend on how good their training here {has been /

*will have been}, their attitude towards us will change.

(a) The religious group will forswear all proselytizing on the project it {proposes /

will propose}.

(b) No religious group, he declared in an interview, will receive Peace Corps funds

unless itforswears all proselytizing on the project it proposes (BR) (Will propose

cannot be used here.)

The reason for this persistent use of Pseudo-t0-System forms is probably the

com-plex syntactic structure: one subclause is embedded into another Because of this,

the temporal interpretation (i e the mental reconstruction of the temporal

rela-tions) would be difficult if the temporal relations did not run parallel to the

syn-tactic relations (The use of the Absolute Future System in a subclause means that

the subclause is syntactically subordinated but not temporally subordinated.)

If both systems are possible, the Pseudo-t0-System will be selected if the clause is to have the connotation of an open condition However, restrictive relative clauses with

a conditional connotation use the Absolute Future System if they themselves contain

or imply a conditionalif-clause.

10.6.8 In subclauses that allow the use of the Pseudo-t0-System, the speaker will as a rule use this system if he wants the subclause to have the connotation

of an open condition This use of the Pseudo-t0-System is especially common

in restrictive relative clauses:

This Sunday’s sessions⫺ including the free dinner ⫺ will be open to anyone who

makes reservations (BR)

[There is still one glittering prize to be grasped.] The man who captures it will go

down in history as one of the greatest of mortals (LOB) The use of the Absolute Future System in subclauses like these would suggest that the speaker is treating the condition as closed at t0, i e that he takes the future actualization of the subclause situation for granted Compare:

The people thatprotest will be arrested (Pseudo-t 0 -System)

The people thatare going to protest will be arrested (Absolute Future System)

The first sentence implies that the speaker reckons with the possibility of peo-ple protesting and being arrested because of this The second implies that the speaker assumes there will be protesters In other words, the conditional con-notation is that of an open condition in the former example and of a closed one in the latter ⫺ see 10.6.8 above

However, restrictive relative clauses with a conditional connotation use the Absolute Future System if they themselves contain or imply a conditional

if-clause:

I’m not going to do anything that will possibly upset him (⫽ ‘I’m not going to do anything if it will possibly upset him if I do it.’)

This constraint fits in with the rule that we use the Absolute Future System rather than the Pseudo-t0-System in if-clauses functioning as head clause for

anotherif-clause (whether overtly present or implied): We won’t do it if it will upset him (if we do it) As pointed out in 10.8 below, the Absolute Future

System has to be used inif it will upset him because (syntactically and

semanti-cally) this clause does not have a head clause establishing a post-present do-main: the whole conditional means ‘We won’t do it if [if we do it it will upset him]’ That is, the clause it will upset him is not directly subordinate to we won’t do it It is a head clause rather than a conditional clause, even though it

is preceded by if.

Restrictive relative clauses depending on a temporal noun can use either system, except

if the noun forms part of a temporal adverbial or conjunction

10.6.9 Restrictive relative clauses depending on a temporal noun (which does

not form part of a temporal adverbial or conjunction ⫺ see below) may in

principle use either the Absolute Future System or the Pseudo-t0-System:

We will live to see the day when China {will be / is} an economic superpower.

The day will come, in midsummer, when you find your plants becoming “leggy”.

(BR)

But the day will come when you’ll remember what I tell you now (LOB)

There is little difference between the use of the future tense and the use of the

present tense here However, the choice of the Pseudo-t0-System or the

Abso-lute Future System can lead to slight differences of emphasis By using the

Pseudo-t0-System, the speaker can encourage the hearer to take the point of

view of someone located at the future time of the head clause situation from

which the temporal location of the situation time of the subclause is calculated,

rather than have the hearer view the situation as a future one with which he,

located at t0, has no affinity

As noted in 10.7.3, restrictive relative clauses with a temporal noun as

ante-cedent require the Pseudo-t0-System when the antecedent forms part of a phrase

functioning like a temporal conjunction:

By the time the police {arrive / *will arrive} it will be too late.

[And remember, the clutch is not a gradual affair like the one on a car.] The instant

you {engage / *will engage} it the machine will rush away, with or without you.

(LOB)

You must stop the engine the moment (that) it {begins / *will begin} to make a

strange noise

The subclauses of such examples have the same function as adverbial time

clauses, which require the use of the Pseudo-t0-System (see 10.7.2 below)

In athat-clause depending on the noun time either the Pseudo-t0-System or the Absolute Future System can be used, provided the phrase involving time does not function as

an adverbial

10.6.10 If the head clause refers to the post-present, both the Pseudo-t0

-Sys-tem and the Absolute Future Sys-Sys-tem can be used in athat-clause depending on

the noun time, provided the noun phrase does not function as an adverbial

(and does not form part of a prepositional phrase functioning as an adverbial):

This will be the first time Iwill have participated in an online INSET [and whilst

looking forward to it I am still finding it a little bit scary] (www) Will this be the first time that you have used media as a springboard to launch a

discussion? (www) This expedition will be the first time I will have skied all the way to the North

Pole (www) This will be the first time Hitmen Fanswill have the chance to see the new team on

home ice (www) This will be the first time Iwill not be part of the 4 ⫻ 400 m relay for nine years.

[I’m gutted.] (www) These Olympics will be the first time pedorthists are members of the paramedical

team (www) [We have had external members on many of our other committees, but] this will be the first time theywill participate on policy making (www)

[The first HTS coils designed for the common-coil magnet will be tested using NbTi coils to provide a 6 T background field.] Since this will be the first time HTS coils

are operated in this environment, [many basic measurements will have to be made

to characterize their performance.] (www) While the present perfect and the future perfect locate the situation time in a period leading up to the relevant future orientation time, the present tense represents the situation time as simultaneous with the future orientation time and the future tense locates the situation time in a period which stretches from the future orientation time onwards into the future This means that in an example like the following the present perfect and the future perfect emphasize the earlier part of the series of situations referred to, whereas the present tense and the future tense stress the last part:

This expedition will be the third time I {have reached / will have reached / reach / will reach} the North Pole.

Note, however, that in the pattern illustrated by the examples above the sub-clause cannot use the Pseudo-t0-System if the head clause does not refer to the future This is in keeping with what is said in 10.6.2

[He is coming here next week.] It is only the second time he {will have come / *has come} here since 1980.

[I will have to stand in for him a couple of times.] Today is the first time I {will do

so / *do so}.

10.6.11 Apart from the principles pointed out in the preceding subsections of 10.6, there are a number of factors which promote the use of the Pseudo-t0 -System in restrictive relative clauses by seeing to it that there is a high degree

of integration of the relative clause into the head clause For example:

(a) The Pseudo-t0-System is strongly preferred in nominal (headless) relative

clauses:9

He will always give you what youneed.

I will always go where yougo.

The menu’s content will depend on what youhave installed.

Your final pension will depend on what youhave paid in and how it has grown

over the period.10

(b) The Pseudo-t0-System is the rule if the antecedent is a cataphoric

demon-strative or a cataphoric ‘light’ NP (i e an NP with little semantic content)

which depends for its reference on the relative clause:

The best places will be snapped up by those whocome early.

I will ask the people Imeet for some food.

(c) The Pseudo-t0-System is the rule if the antecedent is or contains an

indefi-nite pronoun / determiner or a superlative:

Tomorrow Jane will be here, and she will get you anything youwant.

Miss Bantin will be there in person ready to give her friendly advice to all who

care to take advantage of her visit to the Capitol (LOB)

There are a number of types of subclause in which future time reference requires the use of the Pseudo-t0-System, e g conditional clauses expressing an open condition, adverbial time clauses, concessive clauses with a conditional connotation, subclauses

of proportion and subclauses of manner that are fully integrated into the head clause

In the various subsections we have a closer look at these cases and observe that what they have in common is the meaning or connotation of an open condition

10.7.1 The Pseudo-t0-System has to be used inif-clauses expressing an ‘open

condition’ (i e a condition that is seen as one that may or may not be fulfilled

in the future), because the subclause and the head clause then form a single

9 Those introduced by a wh-word in ⫺ ever even require the Pseudo-t0 -System if they

have a conditional connotation ⫺ see 10.7.6.

10 A Google search forwill depend on what you (will) have V-ed yielded several hundred

examples with the Pseudo-t 0 -System and three with the Absolute Future System The

following is one of the latter:

The searchable data for each recruiter will always depend on what you will have

allowed him to see (www)