Re: Immediate future tense
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Saturday, November 7, 1998, 8:29 |
Keenan wrote:
> to whit: the immediate future tense. An action that hasn't happened yet
> but is at the point of being performed right now.
"I'm about to ..." would be that, if I understand you correctly. How
about future-past? Does anyone have that? By future-past I mean "I was
going to ..." or "I was about to ...", that is, at the point of time
being referred to, the action had not yet occured, but it has occured by
now, or would've occured. For example, "I was about to call him when
the phone rang".
> And possibly also: the habitual future. An action That will be performed
> habitually in the future.
>
> Do these tenses occur in any natlangs or conlangs on this list
Future habitual certainly does in W. Aspect and tense are marked
seperately, so that future habitual can definitely occur. It's not very
common, as I can't think of very many cases where one would know that
one will do something habitually in the future. Not all combinations
can occur, tho. Perpeptual and Continous aspects can only occur with
the present tense.
--
"It has occured to me more than once that holy boredom is good and
sufficient reason for the invention of free will." - "Lord Leto II"
(Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert)
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