The grammar of the english verb phrase part 104 ppsx

14.6.13 If the head clause is t0-factual, the addition of a measure phrase tothe before-clause enforces a t0-factual interpretation of this clause, irrespective of whether it uses the pa

Because of this, the Anchor time is felt to be the time when the state immedi-ately resulting from the before-clause situation is holding Thus, John left be-fore Bill had gone inside is normally interpreted as ‘John left bebe-fore Bill was

inside’ However, apart from this ‘immediate result reading’, the sentence may also allow a ‘perfect of experience’ interpretation: ‘John left before Bill had ever been inside’ This is, however, not the unmarked interpretation It comes

to the fore only if a word likeever is added to the before-clause: John went in before Bill had ever gone inside.

14.6.11 Summarizing sections 14.6.5⫺10, we can say that (out of context) the intended reading of the before-clause determines the choice of tense (past

tense or past perfect) in thebefore-clause in the following ways:

(a) Only the past tense can suggest a t0-factual reading

(b) Only the past perfect can express the combination of a not-yet-factual reading and a perfect of experience reading

(c) The combination of a not-yet-factual reading and an immediate result reading can only be expressed by the past tense if the verb phrase is stative and by the past perfect if the verb phrase is nonstative (dynamic)

It follows that (out of context)8 a past tense in a before-clause automatically

receives a t0-factual reading (under the conditions specified, i e when neither the context nor pragmatic knowledge enforces a particular reading) when the verb is nonstative, but not when it is stative

14.6.12 The use of the past perfect in a nonstative before-clause does not

trigger a not-yet-factual reading ifbefore is immediately preceded by a negator:

[When I repulsed him he attempted to rape me.] I fought him off but not before

he’d stolen my handbag and several articles of clothing (WTBS)

He came to see me at five every day, butnever before he’d called on his Mum first.

These examples show that, if the head clause is t0-factual, the use ofnot before

or never before anyhow triggers a t0-factual reading of the before-clause The

reason is that not before and never before are interpreted as ‘only after’ and

‘always after’, respectively:

I fought him off, but {not before / only after} he’d stolen my handbag

He came to see me at five every day, but {never before / always after} he’d called

on his Mum first

As pointed out in 14.19.1,after-clauses in the past perfect are always t0-factual

if they depend on a t0-factual head clause

8 Thebefore-clause can never be interpreted as t0 -factual if it forms part of an intensional context ⫺ see 14.4.2.

14.6.13 If the head clause is t0-factual, the addition of a measure phrase to

the before-clause enforces a t0-factual interpretation of this clause, irrespective

of whether it uses the past tense or the past perfect:

I read the letterlong before Bill destroyed it.

I read the letterlong before Bill had destroyed it.

In the latter example the measure phrase indicates the temporal distance

be-tween the situation time of the head clause and the implicit Anchor time to

which the situation time of the before-clause is T-anterior In both examples,

the measure phraselong triggers a t0-factual interpretation of thebefore-clause

(without cancelling the not-yet-factual reading, i e the idea that the

before-clause situation was not yet factual at the time of the head before-clause situation)

The t0-factual interpretation follows from the fact that it is difficult to measure

the distance between a t0-factual situation and a situation which is not t0

-factual but virtual (See, however, the next section.)

14.6.14 The only case in which a measure phrase indicates the distance

be-tween a t0-factual situation and a virtual one is when the before-clause is t0

-counterfactual This meaning can only be expressed by the conditional perfect:

Max removed the fuse from the bomb thirty-seven seconds before itwould have

ex-ploded.

We drove off the public car park a short time before an attendantwould have given

us a ticket

With one year before he would have graduated, he left Transylvania, accepting an

appointment at the Military Academy at West Point (www)

Note that the conditional perfect is used here as a modal form (rather than as

a tense form expressing temporal relations only) Its use is made possible by

the fact that the before-clause implies a counterfactual condition:

Max removed the fuse from the bomb thirty-seven seconds before it would have

exploded (if the fuse had not been removed)

We drove off the public car park a short time before an attendant checking the cars

would have given us a ticket (if we had had left our car parked there)

Team members testified that from the initial indications of the fires being set, the

Davidians had an estimated 20 to 25 minutes to safely exit the building before they

would have been overcome by the smoke and heat (www) (implicit condition: ‘if

they had not left the building’)

Like conditional if-clauses, temporal clauses can use the tense forms that are

normally used in the head clause of a counterfactual conditional sentence if

they are interpreted in terms of an overt or covert counterfactual condition.9

9 The following sentence illustrates this in connection withif-clauses: If John would have

succeeded [if he had tried], why should I not succeed?

14.6.15 It should be clear from the preceding sections that if thebefore-clause

(functioning as situation-time adverbial) uses the past perfect (which is a rela-tive tense form) and the head clause uses the absolute past tense,10 there are three possibilities as far as the actualization of the before-clause situation is

concerned

(a) Firstly, the before-clause situation, which is still nonfactual at the time of

the head clause situation, may be interpreted as actualizing later.11In this case the head clause too must be t0-factual

There was an explosion just before the fire started

Because of its t0-factual interpretation, this type of before-clause can be

pre-ceded by a measure phrase (here,just).

(b) Secondly, there are cases in which the before-clause situation does not

actualize at all because its actualization is prevented by the actualization

of the head clause situation In this case the interpretation of the

before-clause is t0-counterfactual If the counterfactual reading is imposed by the pragmatics of the context, the before-clause can use either the past tense

or the past perfect If the counterfactual reading is not imposed by the pragmatics of the context, only the use of the conditional perfect can pro-voke the desired t0-counterfactual reading:

I took the milk off the fire before itboiled over (t 0 -counterfactual for pragmatic reasons)

She burnt the letter before Ihad read it (idem)

Bill resigned only a couple of days before wewould have fired him.

Such sentences allow a measure phrase only if thebefore-clause uses the

condi-tional perfect (Conversely, the condicondi-tional perfect can only be used in this kind

of sentence if there is a measure phrase.)12If thebefore-clause is in the

condi-10 Remember that in the present section ⫺ 14.6 ⫺ we are concerned with the possibilities

of using an absolute tense in the head clause and a relative tense in thebefore-clause.

11 The fact that thebefore-clause situation is not yet a fact at the time that the head clause

situation actualizes entails that even this kind ofbefore-clause, whose situation is interpreted

as actualizing later, allows the use of nonassertive words (negative polarity items):

He had to wait a long time beforeanybody lifted a finger to help him.

I had lived in the house for three years before I got acquainted withany of the neighbours.

In examples like these, the use of nonassertive words stresses the idea that after the head clause situation actualized (or began to actualize) there was a long period during which the expectedbefore-clause situation did not actualize.

12 We have found two examples in which there is no measure phrase:

President Bush thanked congress for shooting down the bill before HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO VETO IT!!! [Who do you really think is for the people?] (www)

I telephoned again early next morning before hewould have gone to work (BNC)

tional perfect, it functions like the head clause of a conditional sentence with

a counterfactual conditional clause:

I drove my car out of the car-park five minutes before the attendantwould have

given me a fine (implicit condition: ‘if I had left my car there’)

(c) Thirdly, it sometimes remains unclear whether or not the before-clause

situation, which has not actualized yet at the time of the head clause

situa-tion, ever actualizes In this case all that we know of the before-clause

situation is that it is not-yet-factual at the time of the head clause situation

This type ofbefore-clause does not allow the use of a measure phrase (e g.

long) in front of before.

I read the letter before Mary had read it

Under this heading we must also mention the cases in which the head clause

situation is performed in order to avoid something that is expected to be a

consequence of the actualization of the before-clause situation, if that should

become reality:13

Fred left the country before the capital fell into the hands of the guerrillas

This sentence is ambiguous The before-clause is read as t0-factual if the

context shows that it is extensional, i e to be read from the current speaker’s

point of view On the other hand, if the context shows that the before-clause

is part of Fred’s thinking at the time that he left the capital⫺ i e if the

before-clause is intensional and to be interpreted from a point of view that is not the

current speaker’s ⫺ then the sentence is vague as to whether the capital ever

fell into the hands of the guerillas, because it is future from a past point of view

before-clause

14.7.1 In 14.5 we have discussed the possibilities of using an absolute tense

in both the head clause and the clause in sentences where the

before-clause functions as a situation-time adverbial (i e if the before-clause

estab-lishes an Adv-time which contains the situation time of the head clause) In

14.6 we have examined structures with a before-clause (used as a

situation-time adverbial) in which the head clause uses an absolute tense while the

be-fore-clause uses a relative one In the present section we discuss sentences with

a before-clause (used as a situation-time adverbial) in which both the head

clause and the before-clause use a relative tense.

13 This kind of interpretation can be induced by the use ofany in the before-clause:

I left before anybody came.

14.7.2 If a relative tense can be used in abefore-clause functioning as

situa-tion-time adverbial and depending on a head clause with an absolute tense, as

in the following (a) examples, a relative tense will also be possible in the

before-clause of the corresponding sentence in which the head before-clause uses a relative tense, as in the following (b) examples:

(6a) [I do not doubt that] Iwill be at home before it begins to rain.

(6b) [I did not doubt that] Iwould be at home before it began to rain.

(7a) [I feel sure] Iwill be at home before it has started to rain.

(7b) [I felt sure] Iwould be at home before it had started to rain.

(8a) [Bill is the first to know about the accident, because] he has read the paper

before Ihave read it.

(8b) [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] hehad read the paper

before Ihad read it.

(9a) [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] heread the paper before

Ihad read it.

(9b) [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] hehad read the paper

before Ihad read it.

As before, thebefore-clauses function as situation-time adverbials in these

ex-amples: the situation time of the head clause is contained in the Adv-time The situation time of the before-clause is T-related to the implicit Anchor time In

(6b), thebefore-clause uses the preterite to express T-simultaneity, while in (7b)

it uses the past perfect to express T-anteriority In the latter case the speaker wants to refer to the state resulting from the situation rather than to the situa-tion itself In (8b) and (9b) thebefore-clause uses the past perfect to trigger an

interpretation that is both not-yet-factual and not t0-factual (If the preterite were used, it would be interpreted as an absolute preterite expressing a t0 -factual meaning.) (Note that ‘not t0-factual’ here means that the situation may

or may not actualize later So it does not mean the same thing as t0-counterfactual.)

In each of the (b) examples, both clauses use a relative tense.14The implica-tions of the relative tense in these before-clauses are the same as those in the before-clauses of the corresponding (a) examples, which were discussed in 14.6.

For example, thebefore-clause (which is by its very nature not-yet-factual at t)

14 There is no example with a relative past tense in the head clause because a head clause using a relative past tense form cannot normally support abefore-clause referring to a

not-yet-factual actualization Compare:

I realized that he recognized me (The unmarked interpretation is for recognized to express simultaneity, i e to be a relative preterite.)

I realized that herecognized me before he had recognized my friend (Recognized can hardly be interpreted as expressing T-simultaneity Its normal interpretation is as an absolute preterite, establishing a past domain which is W-anterior to the domain estab-lished by realized.)

is each time interpreted as t0-nonfactual (⫽ as not t0-factual, as not referring

to a situation that is treated as a past fact) In (6b) and (7b) this is due to the

fact that the before-clause forms part of an intensional domain, whereas in

(8b) and (9b) it is due to the use of the past perfect (It is the past tense that

would invite a t0-factual reading.) However, as shown by the examples

dis-cussed in 14.6, a t0-factual reading can be enforced (if the head clause is not

intensional but t0-factual) by the presence of a measure phrase preceding the

before-clause:

[Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] he had read the paperlong

before I had read it.(t 0 -factual reading of the before-clause)

However, a measure phrase does not induce a t0-factual reading if the head

clause belongs to an intensional domain:

[I did not doubt that] I would be at home long before it started to rain (No t 0

-factual reading of the before-clause because the head clause forms part of an

inten-sional world We cannot conclude from this sentence that the speaker actually got

home nor that it actually started to rain long after he got home A t 0 -factual

inter-pretation requires that the situation is viewed from the speaker’s t 0 , which is not the

case if the clause describing the situation forms part of an intensional context.)

14.7.3 In some cases, both the head clause and thebefore-clause (functioning

as a situation-time adverbial) use the past perfect Let us go somewhat more

fully into that possibility Consider:

[“John is a doctor And I think Bill is a doctor too.” ⫺ “Yes.] As a matter of fact

Billwas a doctor before John was one.”

Mary said that Billhad been a doctor before John had been a doctor.

We have already discussed the first example (in section 14.4.6) and come to

the conclusion that both preterite forms are absolute tense forms Because of

this⫺ see 8.25 ⫺ it is predictable that both can be ‘backshifted’ in represented

speech and the second example shows that this prediction is borne out Figures

14.5 and 14.6 represent the temporal structures of the two examples,

respec-tively

Figure 14.5 The temporal structure of Bill was a doctor before John was one.

The following is another example realizing the structure shown in Figure 14.6

(except that the central orientation time of the domain is now implicit):

Figure 14.6 The temporal structure of Mary said that Bill had been a doctor before

John had been a doctor.

Before hehad met Barbara, Adam’s sexual experience had stopped short at holding

the sticky hands of convent girls in the cinema (BM) 14.7.4 When the speaker uses the past perfect in the before-clause to

un-derline the not-yet-factual reading, he may use an anteriority form in the head clause as a device to suggest that the head clause situation actualized earlier than might have been expected:

Before I had finished speaking, shehad already shut the door in my face.

Instead of expressing ‘Before the before-clause situation had actualized, the

head clause situation did’, the speaker expresses ‘Before thebefore-clause

situa-tion had actualized, the head clause situasitua-tion had already actualized’ In doing

so he stresses that the head clause situation actualized sooner than might have been expected

14.7.5 If the situation time of its head clause belongs to a past domain, a

before-clause using the present tense as Pseudo-t0-System form indirectly estab-lishes a post-present domain This is only possible if the actualization of the

before-clause situation is expected to be W-posterior to t0 In that case the

before-clause can shift the domain to the post-present (more specifically,

estab-lish a post-present domain in an ‘indirect’ way⫺ see 9.16):

Tina said that she would leave before Solreturns (Comrie 1986: 296)

[“Aren’t the children too tiring for you? Isn’t it time Carrie took them away?” ⫺

“Don’t worry.] I asked Carrie just now if she would take them away before I am

too tired [and said I’ll give her a sign when I am].”

14.7.6 In the following examples, the two relative tenses are Pseudo-t0 -Sys-tem forms:

[For the moment he refuses every kind of treatment I will be glad if] heis willing

to go to hospital before heis half-dead.