The grammar of the english verb phrase part 96 pptx

In configurations 4⫺9, it is used as an orientation-time adverbial.6 13.8.2 In the above examples, a form involving be going to is used in the when-clause whenever the situation time of

658 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses

and because, when the situation time of the head clause is T-anterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, it is often more natural to use

by the time that than to use when Another thing worth noting is that in

configurations 1⫺3, the when-clause is used as a situation-time adverbial In

configurations 4⫺9, it is used as an orientation-time adverbial.6

13.8.2 In the above examples, a form involving be going to is used in the when-clause whenever the situation time of the when-clause is to be

repre-sented as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of thewhen-clause (viz.

in configurations 3, 8 and 9) The reason for this is that we cannot normally usewill or would to represent this T-posteriority relation We must use a form

ofbe going to, or of a similar ‘futurish form’ (see 7.3) like be about to, be on the point of, etc The same restriction applies to the head clause if the situation

time of the head clause is to be represented as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause (viz in configurations 5, 7 and 9) This means that it is a general rule that a tense form expressing T-posteriority in one

of the above nine configurations must involve an auxiliary with ‘prospective’

(Jespersen 1932: 361⫺2) meaning, i e an auxiliary which is not so much used

to make a prediction as to represent a future situation as anticipated, i e as having its roots in the present (see 7.3.2).7 The reason for this restriction is that in the relevant configurations it is not the situation time of the clause expressing T-posteriority (i e the situation time represented as T-posterior) that is the ‘contained orientation time’ contained in the common Adv-time but rather the time to which the situation time is represented as T-posterior, i e the time when the posterior situation is anticipated This means that the poste-riority is always of the prospective type When a form with prospective mean-ing is used, an Adv-time can include the time of anticipation rather than the anticipated situation time The same is not normally possible when will or would is used Compare:

[I told her I would be in Hamburg in the first week of May and] she told me she {would / was going to} be in Prague then

She often felt sick because she {was then going to have / *would then have} a baby.

6 The latter six configurations could be adapted in such a way that the common Adv-time contains not only the contained orientation time of the head clause to which the situation time of the head clause is T-related but also the situation time of the head clause itself.

2.26) This possibility need not be explicitly treated here because the use of tenses in the

that all the necessary conditions for the actualization of the future situation are satisfied (see 7.12.1).

In the first example, then specifies the situation time of the T-posterior

situa-tion; this is possible irrespective of whether the verb form has prospective

meaning or not In the second example, by contrast, then specifies (contains)

the orientation time to which the situation time is T-posterior This

configura-tion requires a prospective verb form Since a when-clause specifies an

Adv-time in the same way as then does, the same is true in configurations with a

when-clause when the contained orientation time of the when-clause is the

orientation time to which the relevant situation time is T-posterior

13.8.3 There is a similar restriction on the tense forms expressing

T-anteri-ority In those configurations in which the situation time of thewhen-clause is

represented as T-anterior to the contained orientation time of thewhen-clause,

thewhen-clause has to use a perfect tense form This requirement is not

imme-diately clear when we consider sentences referring to the past (since the past

perfect is the one tense to be used to express T-anteriority to a past orientation

time), but it becomes evident when the head clause refers to the post-present:

If we do it this way, the police will never find out that it {was done / has been done}.

John will arrive when the others {have left / *left}.

Whereas in the first example both the past tense and the present perfect can

be used to represent the situation time of thethat-clause as T-anterior to the

situation time of the head clause, only the present perfect can be used in the

when-clause of the second sentence The reason is that if the when-clause

ex-presses T-anteriority, the time indicated by at which in the paraphrase at the

time at which is not the time of the when-clause situation itself (i e the

situa-tion time of the clause) but a time when it is the case that the

when-clause situation has already actualized In order to express this idea of ‘time at

which the when-clause situation has actualized’ we obviously need a perfect

tense form

660 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses

13.9 Definitions of direct and indirect binding in

when-clauses

As far as adverbialwhen-clauses are concerned, direct binding (i e the unmarked way

for the situation time of the when-clause to be bound) means that the situation time

of thewhen-clause is bound by the contained orientation time of the when-clause Any

other form of binding is an instance of indirect binding

As noted in 9.28.1, the situation time of a subclause is bound ‘directly’ if it is bound by the situation time of its head clause, and is bound ‘indirectly’ if it is bound by an orientation time represented in a clause higher than the head clause The following sentences illustrate the two possibilities:

He promised hewould sign any papers that were put before him.

He promised hewould speak to Tom, who would no doubt be able to help me.

In the first example, bothwould sign and were put effect direct binding: in both cases the relevant situation time is bound by the situation time of its own head clause In the second example, would speak is also bound directly, but would be able is an instance ofindirect binding: the binding orientation time

is not the situation time of the head clause (he would speak to Tom) but rather

the situation time of the matrix clause (he promised).

In the case of adverbial when-clauses, direct binding has to be defined

slightly differently, since in the nine configurations referred to in 13.7 the situa-tion time of thewhen-clause is never directly T-related to the situation time of

the head clause but is always bound by the contained orientation time of the

when-clause As far as adverbial when-clauses are concerned, direct binding

(i e the unmarked way for the situation time of thewhen-clause to be bound)

means that the situation time of the when-clause is bound by the contained

orientation time of the when-clause Any other form of binding is an instance

of indirect binding

13.10 The use of indirect binding in when-clauses

Onlywhen-clauses in the past perfect can effect indirect binding They can do so under

strict conditions only

13.10.1 Because indirect binding represents the marked option, it is subject

to severe restrictions In fact, there is only one form of indirect binding that is

quite common inwhen-clauses, viz that illustrated by examples like the

follow-ing:

The house had been like this when he and Jeanhad first come here (NMDT 68)

[He said] he had bought it when hehad been going to get that salary increase [which

in fact he never got]

When hehad turned 18 he had already outsmarted almost every commander in the

war games [and was still undefeated on the Balance Log in the training division]

(www)

When I had turned 13, I had already absorbed much of a foreign, American

cul-ture (www)

In each of these examples, thewhen-clause situation is interpreted as

W-simul-taneous with the head clause situation The unmarked way of expressing this

reading would be by the use of a relative past tense form in thewhen-clause,

i e by the realization of configuration 1 (in which the situation time of the

when-clause is bound directly, more specifically, represented as T-simultaneous

with the contained orientation time of the when-clause) The use of the past

perfect in thewhen-clause means that the situation time of the when-clause is

not bound by the contained orientation time of the when-clause but by the

same past orientation time as also binds the situation time of the head clause

This form of indirect binding is represented by Figure 13.10 (Remember that

the wavy line does not represent a T-relation but indicates the relation of

W-simultaneity which is inferred in W-interpretation.)

t 0

x

had been

x x

x

had come

Figure 13.10 The temporal structure of The house had been like this when he and

Jean had first come here.

662 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses

Awhen-clause can only be bound indirectly (by the use of the past perfect) if it used

as a situation-time adverbial, i e if the when-clause specifies the time of the head

clause situation itself, not another time to which the time of the head clause situation

is T-anterior

13.10.2 It is typical of examples like the ones given in the previous subsection that both the head clause and the when-clause use a past perfect (either a

regular past perfect or a form involvinghad been going to) It might therefore

seem as if thewhen-clause ‘copies’ the tense form of its head clause However,

the use of the past perfect in the head clause is not a sufficient condition for the use of the same tense in the when-clause An additional condition is that

the when-clause must be used as a situation-time adverbial If the when-clause

is used as an orientation-time adverbial, it cannot be bound indirectly Compare: The house had been dilapidated when he and Jeanhad first seen it.

He had already retired when he {was / *had been} sixty.

When I {saw / *had seen} you that day, we hadn’t met yet.

In all three examples the condition that the head clause must be in the past perfect is satisfied However, it is only in the first example that thewhen-clause

can be bound indirectly, because this is the only example in which the

when-clause is used as a situation-time adverbial (i e the contained orientation time

of the head clause is the situation time of the head clause) In the second and third examples, the when-clause is used as an orientation-time adverbial: as

shown in Figure 13.11, the contained orientation time of the head clause is not the situation time of the head clause but a time to which the situation time of the head clause is T-anterior Because of this, indirect binding is not allowed

in these examples

In sum, as a rule, the use of a past perfect in the head clause is not a sufficient condition for indirect binding (by means of the past perfect) in the

when-clause There is the additional condition that the when-clause must be

used as a situation-time adverbial, i e that thewhen-clause specifies the time

of the head clause situation itself, not another time to which the time of the head clause situation is T-anterior.8 This is clear when we compare Figure 13.10 with Figure 13.11, which represents the temporal structure realized by the when-clause and its head clause in He had already retired when he was sixty.

that I had left when I did.

t 0

x .

x x

had retired

x

was

Figure 13.11 The temporal structure of He says that he had already retired when he

was sixty.

13.10.3 This does not mean, however, that it is never possible for the two

clauses to use the past perfect if thewhen-clause is used as an orientation-time

adverbial Consider the following:

[There was a little confusion as a friend asked me to buy a ticket for him, too, but]

when Ihad done so he had already reserved a ticket for himself (www)

In this example, thewhen-clause is used as an orientation-time adverbial

(speci-fying a time prior to which the head clause situation has actualized) The

situa-tion time of the head clause is itself T-anterior to the central orientasitua-tion time

of the past domain (This is in keeping with the use of already.) Because the

when-clause is not used as a situation-time adverbial, the when-clause situation

is not interpreted as W-simultaneous with the head clause situation This means

that there is no indirect binding The temporal structure of this example is

shown in Figure 13.12

Figure 13.12 The temporal structure of When I had done so he had already reserved

a ticket for himself.

664 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses

This example, then, does not form an exception to the general rule that a

when-clause can only be bound indirectly (by the use of the past perfect) if it

is used as a situation-time adverbial In this example the when-clause is used

as an orientation time adverbial, and there is direct binding The when-clause

situation is interpreted (and represented) as anterior to the contained orienta-tion time of the when-clause This is unlike what happens in indirect binding,

where the situation time of the when-clause is interpreted as W-simultaneous

with the situation time of the head clause although it is not represented as T-simultaneous with it (because it is represented as T-anterior to the central orientation time of the domain)

13.10.4 In examples like the following, there seems to be ambiguity between indirect binding (as represented in Fig 13.10) and direct binding (as represented

in Fig 13.12):

When hehad been born, Mike had already chosen his name, [deciding to name him

after his father, who had inspired him to become a policeman in the first place.] (www)

[“Forgive me! And Adieu to you Master Rin,” said John.] When Johnhad departed,

the sunhad already begun its decline (www)

13.10.5 If awhen-clause uses the past perfect for indirect binding, the context

has to make it clear that the situation time of thewhen-clause should be

inter-preted as W-simultaneous with the contained orientation time of the

when-clause, and hence with the situation time of the head clause The past perfect itself does not express this relation If the form that effects indirect binding is built withhad been going to, as in

He said he had bought it when hehad been going to get that salary increase [which

in fact he never got]

the situation time of the when-clause must be interpreted as posterior to the

contained orientation time of the when-clause (see Fig 13.13) This time the

tense form does express this relation The above sentence is an alternative to the following, which shows direct binding:

He said he had bought it when he was going to get that salary increase [which in

fact he never got]

The difference between indirect binding (had been going to) and direct binding

(was going to) here is that only in the former case does the tense form express

a complex T-relation(see 9.7) which combines posteriority and anteriority The binding time from which that T-relation starts is the situation time ofsaid,

which means that there is indirect binding

13.10.6 An interesting observation is that when the when-clause is bound

indirectly, the speaker sometimes deviates from the structure represented by