"Anticipatory" Tense
| From: | Ian Maxwell <ian_maxwell@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, March 2, 2002, 5:45 |
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So, I was thinking, since one of my conlangs already has a complex Latin-esque
inflection system, I might as well make it even more complex. I decided to add,
in addition to the perfect and imperfect verb forms, an "anticipatory"
form--for example, the first person past anticipatory of "to go" would be "I
was about to go", and the first person future anticipatory would be "I will be
about to go".
My question is, does a word already exist for this, or can I just use my own invented word?
- Ian Maxwell
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"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is
about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion,
English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and
rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James D. Nicoll
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