Re: Verb tenses question

Muke Tever wrote:

> I have been looking all over for this and couldn't find it--I figured maybe
> someone here would know.
>
> I need a name for the verb tense that denotes an action that is beginning,
> in the same way that the 'perfect' tense denotes an action that has finished
> and the 'progressive' tense denotes one that is continuing.
>
> In English we don't have it and use forms like
>      'I was going to eat',
>      'I am about to eat',
>      'I will be getting ready to eat'
>
> The only example I know offhand is Esperanto's -onta, which I also cannot
> find a name for.
Right -- this is a gap in traditional English grammatical analysis.  I usually
call this the "prospective" aspect, since it always looks forward to the future
no matter what absolute time it is.

Note, though, that there is a distinction between "about to eat" and "going to eat":
the former implies immediacy, while the latter is more general, and may include
the other not necessarily.  This is an example of a near/far distinction in the English
tense system.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
AIM: Deuterotom ICQ: 4315704
<http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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