Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tensesdifferent times A clause obviously uses an absolute tense form if it locates its situation time in a different time-sphere from the head clause
Trang 1In theory, the sentenceWhen I’ve seen Bill he’s always been in prison is equally
ambiguous, but in practice it will normally be interpreted in terms of
simulta-neity (For the anteriority reading we would sayWhen I’ve seen Bill he’s always
just been in prison.)
Trang 2680 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses
different times
A clause obviously uses an absolute tense form if it locates its situation time
in a different time-sphere from the head clause
13.18 Head clause referring to the past and when-clause
referring to the present
This kind of ‘mismatch’ of time-spheres is not normally possible in adverbial
when-clauses However, we might note in passing that such a mismatch can
occur in when-clauses functioning as restrictive relative clauses forming part
of a temporal adverbial It may be due to the fact that the relativewhen-clause
has generic meaning (i e expresses a universal truth) or to the fact that the
when-clause refers to a habitual situation which holds not only at the time of
the head clause situation but also at t0:
During the latter part of May and early in June the weather was unusually cold
and wet, and growth was checked at a time when the quality teas of the year are made (LOB)
Ihad reached the age when sexual questions pester the imagination (LOB)
There are also examples in which the relative when-clause refers to a single
(nonhabitual and nongeneric) situation which is located at t0even though the head clause is in the past tense The combination of a when-clause in the
present tense with a head clause in the past tense is rendered possible by the fact that thewhen-clause situation covers a time span which contains not only
the head clause situation but also t0:
[Word of Dag Hammarskjöld’s death ( ) has sent a shockwave around the globe ( ) He was the symbol of world peace, and] his tragic endcame at a moment when
peacehangs precariously (BR)
The following is an example in which the present tense is similarly used in a
when-clause that is an adverbial (rather than relative) when-clause:
[Do we want to go through this? Or can we ask you why] youchanged your forecast
just when it’s about to be right? (WSJ)
Trang 313.19 Head clause referring to a past domain and
when-clause referring to the post-present
In the following examples, the adverbialwhen-clause refers to the post-present,
although the head clause uses a past time-sphere tense (incorporating the
situa-tion time of the head clause into a past domain):
[He added that ( )] child-care provisions would be part of the reconciliation bill
when itis sent to the president (WSJ)
[Last month Sir William Morgan ( ) said that] when existing ordersare completed
the company would stop making rolling stock for railways (LOB)
In these examples, the when-clause situation is W-simultaneous with a head
clause situation that is itself represented as T-posterior to a past orientation
time In this type of sentence we would expect thewhen-clause to use a relative
past tense form, and that is indeed the default choice, but the form that is
actually used in these examples is a present tense form, i e a form from the
Pseudo-t0-System which is used to represent its situation time as
T-simulta-neous with a post-present binding orientation time (and in doing so establishes
a post-present way in an ‘indirect’ way⫺ see 9.22.1) This is made possible by
the fact that the situation time of the when-clause is W-posterior not only to
the situation time of the head clause but also to t0
Although examples like these resemble those in 13.18, they differ from those
in that, unlike the relative when-clauses in 13.18, the adverbial when-clauses
in the above examples cannot use an absolute tense form
13.20 Head clause referring to the pre-present and
when-clause referring to the present
When the head clause does not refer to a habitual-repetitive situation and uses a
so-called ‘indefinite’ present perfect (see 5.4), it cannot support awhen-clause:
I have seen him
*I have seen him when he came in just now
It is typical of an indefinite perfect interpretation that the exact location of the
situation time in the pre-present must remain indefinite Hence the
impossibil-ity of adding a when-clause indicating a specific time However, it was noted
in section 13.17 that awhen-clause can be added if the head clause receives a
habitual-repetitive interpretation In that case the when-clause can use either
the present perfect or the past tense:
John has batted well when hehas played (HORN)
I have often been in Japan when the cherry treeswere in bloom.
Trang 4682 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses
However, apart from examples like these, we can also find examples in which the when-clause uses the present tense:
I’ve only ever met Mrs Cunliffe when she comes round collecting signatures for
protest petitions (MAR)
I tried to explain what has happened, unfailingly, whenever a significant body of Negroesmove North (BR)
In examples like these, the use of an absolute present tense in a when-clause
depending on a head clause in the present perfect is made possible by the fact that thewhen-clause refers to a habitual-repetitive situation, instances of which
are to be found not only in the pre-present but also in the present What happens is that the speaker changes track between head clause and
when-clause He first wants to talk about his (lack of) experience, which means referring to the time-up-to-now and then he wants to talk about the presentness
of the habit which produces that experience
Trang 5IX Summary
In this chapter on adverbialwhen-clauses we have presented an analysis of the
temporal structure expressed by when and examined the possibilities of tense
choice in adverbialwhen-clauses and in the head clauses supporting them The
following are the main conclusions we have arrived at:
(a) The temporal structure expressed bywhen is that of a common Adv-time
containing both an orientation time from the tense structure of the head
clause (⫽ the contained orientation time of the head clause) and an
orien-tation time from the tense structure of thewhen-clause (⫽ the contained
orientation time of the when -clause) This temporal structure, which is
the semantics of when, can therefore be paraphrased as ‘at a/the time
at which’
(b) Thewhen-clause can specify either the situation time of the head clause or
an orientation time which binds the situation time of the head clause in
terms of T-anteriority or T-posteriority In other words, the when-clause
can be used either as a situation-time adverbial or as an orientation-time
adverbial.
(c) In both cases the when-clause uses a relative tense, which represents the
situation time of thewhen-clause as T-anterior, T-simultaneous or
T-poste-rior to the contained orientation time of thewhen-clause.
(d) It follows from (b)⫺(c) that there are nine unmarked configurations of
temporal relations, realizing nine different temporal structures involving
the common Adv-time expressed by when These nine configurations,
which have in common that the situation time of thewhen-clause is bound
by the contained orientation time of the when-clause, can be considered
as forming the set of unmarked options as far as tense choice is concerned
As the examples have shown, all nine of them are compatible with
refer-ence to the past as well as with referrefer-ence to the post-present.12
(e) Apart from the unmarked options, there are some marked uses of tenses
in adverbial when-clauses Under certain conditions the when-clause can
use the past perfect (but not the conditional tense or the conditional
per-fect!) to effect indirect binding, i e to T-relate the situation time of the
when-clause to an orientation time which is not the contained orientation
time of the when-clause (and which is not t0 either) There are also cases
in which thewhen-clause uses the conditional tense or conditional perfect
in order to express irrealis, i e in order to represent the actualization of
12 Like time-specifying adverbials such asat five o’clock, Adv-time-when-clauses are
nor-mally incompatible with reference to the present, except in special cases (summaries,
habitual-repetitive sentences, etc.).
Trang 6684 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses
the when-clause situation as counterfactual or tentative Finally, it is
pos-sible for thewhen-clause to shift the domain to the post-present, in which
case a form from the Pseudo-t 0 -System has to be used Since all these cases
represent a marked tense choice, they are relatively uncommon and subject
to severe restrictions
Trang 714.3 Temporal structures involving a head clause and abefore-clause 688 14.4 The nature of past tense forms inbefore-clauses 692
B The tense system if thebefore-clause is a situation-time adverbial 698 14.5 Absolute tense forms in bothbefore-clause and head clause 699 14.6 Absolute tense in the head clause and relative tense in thebefore-clause 707 14.7 Relative tense in head clause and relative tense inbefore-clause 717 14.8 Relative tense in head clause and absolute tense inbefore-clause 721
C The tense system if thebefore-clause is an orientation-time adverbial 727 14.10 Using abefore-clause as orientation-time adverbial 727
D Factual, not-yet-factual and counterfactualbefore-clauses 729 14.11 Factual interpretations ofbefore-clauses 729
14.15 The tenses used in head clause anduntil-clause 739
14.18 Temporal structures involving a head clause and anafter-clause 745 14.19 The tense system if theafter-clause functions as situation-time adverbial 747 14.20 The tense system if theafter-clause functions as orientation-time adverbial 750
14.21 Summary of the discussion ofbefore-clauses 754 14.22 Summary of the discussion ofafter-clauses 756