Re: "Anticipatory" Tense

taliesin the storyteller writes:
 > * Tim May said on 2002-03-02 20:37:36 +0100
 > > I can see it being useful to refer to a future event relative
 > > to the time being discussed (which is in the past or future),
 > > but I'm not sure I can see its usefulness in the present. A
 > > present state can't result from a future action one under normal
 > > circumstances, after all.
 >
 > Oh? If you're going from X to Y via Z, and are presently at Z, won't
 > this be due to later (hopefully) being in Y? (planning to be in Y?)
 >
 >
 > t.

But if your car breaks down at A, which is between Z and Y, so
you never get to Y, this won't change the fact that you were at Z.
You're at Z because at X (and Z) you were in a "state of intending to
go to Y" rather than being in a "state of being going to be going to
Y".  Certainly it makes sense to speak of intentions, but it's not
quite the time-reversed version of the perfect.

If the world is deterministic, you might be in a "state of being
destined to go to Y", but it's unlikely you could know this.