The grammar of the english verb phrase part 81 pps

III. Factors determining the choice between the two systems 553 (c) Evidential because -clauses function at the cognitive (epistemic) level: they explain the basis on which the speaker comes to the conclusion that the head clause proposition is true. There must be someone in the house, because there is a light on on the second floor. When the reference is to the post-present, the distribution of the Absolute Future System and the Pseudo-t 0 -System is as follows: (a) Actualization-explaining because-clauses normally use the Pseudo-t 0 -Sys- tem: [If I tell you about him] he will perhaps kill you because you {know /#will know} too much. The reason for this is that the because-clause here forms an interpretive unit with the head clause and is syntactically fully integrated into it. (This syntactic integration is confirmed, among other things, by the fact that the because- clause can be the highlighted constituent of a cleft: It will be because you know too much that he kills you.) The following examples further illustrate the use of the Pseudo-t 0 -System in actualization-explaining because-clauses: [Twenty years in the future, the same young person who today happily zips around town by bike, bus, or subway will be at the wheel of a minivan or something similar, hauling kids, dog and groceries.] It won’t happen because he has changed his views on urban planning. It will happen because he is 20 years older. (www) Things will change because he makes a conscious decision to change. (www) (ϭ ‘I predict that his making a decision to change will cause things to change.’) (b) Utterance-explaining because-clauses as a rule use the Absolute Future Sys- tem: [If it starts snowing heavily] you will do well to store some food, because your house {will perhaps be /*is perhaps} cut off from the village. The reason for using the Absolute Future System here is that the head clause and the because-clause represent two independent speech acts. In other words, they do not form a single interpretive unit, and the because-clause is syntacti- cally not fully integrated into the head clause: ‘If it starts snowing heavily, you will do well to store some food. I’m telling you this because your house will perhaps be cut off from the village’. The following example further illustrates the use of the Absolute Future System in utterance-explaining because-clauses: Don’t bring her here, because Mum will be very upset and Dad will be furious. (www) 554 10. Two tense systems with post-present reference (c) Evidential because-clauses as a rule use the Absolute Future System if they depend on a head clause establishing a post-present domain: Things will change, because he will make a conscious decision to change. (ϭ ‘The reason why I’ve come to the conclusion that things will change is that (in my opinion) he will make a conscious decision to change.’) The following examples further illustrate the use of the Absolute Future System in evidential because-clauses: Hopkins will be out of his habitat in this fight, because he will be forced to be the aggressor. (www) [Our deficit this year is $1,200,000.] Next year the results will be somewhat better, because the economical climate will have improved. (www) John will be caught, because he will set off the alarm. 10.6.5 If the Pseudo-t 0 -System is a possible option, it may be selected because the speaker wants to make clear through the choice of his tense form that the subclause must be interpreted opaquely rather than transparently. The follow- ing example (repeated here) is an illustration of this: [The scheme is no good because you cannot rely on John. I am sure he will bungle it. You will see:] you will all be arrested because he does something stupid. The Pseudo-t 0 -System form does represents the situation as it will be experi- enced by a participant in the head clause situation at the future basic orienta- tion time. Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t 0 -System will as a rule use it if they are to be interpre- ted as belonging to the same intensional domain as the head clause. 10.6.6 Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t 0 -System will as a rule use it if they are to be interpreted as belonging to the same intensional domain as the head clause. As we have seen in 10.4.6, this is the case in subclauses that spell out the propositional content of a verb of saying or thinking: [If you do that] John will {allege / think} tomorrow that it is Friday, [although it will only be Thursday]. The Absolute Future System form will be cannot be used in the that-clause because this clause must be interpreted opaquely. (It is, however, used in the although-clause, which is interpreted transparently.) In this connection it should be noted that there are ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ intensional verbs. Strong intensional verbs are verbs like imagine, wonder, etc. whose object clauses virtually have to be interpreted opaquely (i. e. as III. Factors determining the choice between the two systems 555 belonging to the intensional domain (possible world) that they create.) Weak intensional verbs (e. g. see, say) more easily allow a transparent interpreta- tion of their object clauses. When a weak intensional verb is used as the ‘report- ing verb’ in the head clause of ‘past represented speech’ Ϫ see 8.25.1 Ϫ we can, under certain conditions, find absolute present time-sphere tenses instead of the relative tenses typical of a past domain: compare John wondered whether you {were / ?? are} a policeman with John asked me whether you {were / are} a policeman. Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t 0 -System tend to use it if they are syntactically subor- dinated to a subclause whose verb is a Pseudo-t 0 -System form. 10.6.7 Subclauses that allow the Pseudo-t 0 -System will preferably use it if they are syntactically subordinated to a subclause whose verb is a Pseudo-t 0 - System form. Compare the sentences in the following pairs: (a) Their future will depend on how good their training here {has been / ? will have been}. (b) If their future turns out to depend on how good their training here {has been / *will have been}, their attitude towards us will change. (a) The religious group will forswear all proselytizing on the project it {proposes / will propose}. (b) No religious group, he declared in an interview, will receive Peace Corps funds unless it forswears all proselytizing on the project it proposes. (BR) (Will propose cannot be used here.) The reason for this persistent use of Pseudo-t 0 -System forms is probably the com- plex syntactic structure: one subclause is embedded into another. Because of this, the temporal interpretation (i. e. the mental reconstruction of the temporal rela- tions) would be difficult if the temporal relations did not run parallel to the syn- tactic relations. (The use of the Absolute Future System in a subclause means that the subclause is syntactically subordinated but not temporally subordinated.) If both systems are possible, the Pseudo-t 0 -System will be selected if the clause is to have the connotation of an open condition. However, restrictive relative clauses with a conditional connotation use the Absolute Future System if they themselves contain or imply a conditional if-clause. 556 10. Two tense systems with post-present reference 10.6.8 In subclauses that allow the use of the Pseudo-t 0 -System, the speaker will as a rule use this system if he wants the subclause to have the connotation of an open condition. This use of the Pseudo-t 0 -System is especially common in restrictive relative clauses: This Sunday’s sessions Ϫ including the free dinner Ϫ will be open to anyone who makes reservations. (BR) [There is still one glittering prize to be grasped.] The man who captures it will go down in history as one of the greatest of mortals. (LOB) The use of the Absolute Future System in subclauses like these would suggest that the speaker is treating the condition as closed at t 0 , i. e. that he takes the future actualization of the subclause situation for granted. Compare: The people that protest will be arrested. (Pseudo-t 0 -System) The people that are going to protest will be arrested. (Absolute Future System) The first sentence implies that the speaker reckons with the possibility of peo- ple protesting and being arrested because of this. The second implies that the speaker assumes there will be protesters. In other words, the conditional con- notation is that of an open condition in the former example and of a closed one in the latter Ϫ see 10.6.8 above. However, restrictive relative clauses with a conditional connotation use the Absolute Future System if they themselves contain or imply a conditional if- clause: I’m not going to do anything that will possibly upset him. (ϭ ‘I’m not going to do anything if it will possibly upset him if I do it.’) This constraint fits in with the rule that we use the Absolute Future System rather than the Pseudo-t 0 -System in if-clauses functioning as head clause for another if-clause (whether overtly present or implied): We won’t do it if it will upset him (if we do it). As pointed out in 10.8 below, the Absolute Future System has to be used in if it will upset him because (syntactically and semanti- cally) this clause does not have a head clause establishing a post-present do- main: the whole conditional means ‘We won’t do it if [if we do it it will upset him]’. That is, the clause it will upset him is not directly subordinate to we won’t do it. It is a head clause rather than a conditional clause, even though it is preceded by if. Restrictive relative clauses depending on a temporal noun can use either system, except if the noun forms part of a temporal adverbial or conjunction. III. Factors determining the choice between the two systems 557 10.6.9 Restrictive relative clauses depending on a temporal noun (which does not form part of a temporal adverbial or conjunction Ϫ see below) may in principle use either the Absolute Future System or the Pseudo-t 0 -System: We will live to see the day when China {will be / is} an economic superpower. The day will come, in midsummer, when you find your plants becoming “leggy”. (BR) But the day will come when you’ll remember what I tell you now. (LOB) There is little difference between the use of the future tense and the use of the present tense here. However, the choice of the Pseudo-t 0 -System or the Abso- lute Future System can lead to slight differences of emphasis. By using the Pseudo-t 0 -System, the speaker can encourage the hearer to take the point of view of someone located at the future time of the head clause situation from which the temporal location of the situation time of the subclause is calculated, rather than have the hearer view the situation as a future one with which he, located at t 0 , has no affinity. As noted in 10.7.3, restrictive relative clauses with a temporal noun as ante- cedent require the Pseudo-t 0 -System when the antecedent forms part of a phrase functioning like a temporal conjunction: By the time the police {arrive /*will arrive} it will be too late. [And remember, the clutch is not a gradual affair like the one on a car.] The instant you {engage /*will engage} it the machine will rush away, with or without you. (LOB) You must stop the engine the moment (that) it {begins /*will begin} to make a strange noise. The subclauses of such examples have the same function as adverbial time clauses, which require the use of the Pseudo-t 0 -System (see 10.7.2 below). In a that-clause depending on the noun time either the Pseudo-t 0 -System or the Absolute Future System can be used, provided the phrase involving time does not function as an adverbial. 10.6.10 If the head clause refers to the post-present, both the Pseudo-t 0 -Sys- tem and the Absolute Future System can be used in a that-clause depending on the noun time, provided the noun phrase does not function as an adverbial (and does not form part of a prepositional phrase functioning as an adverbial): 558 10. Two tense systems with post-present reference This will be the first time I will have participated in an online INSET [and whilst looking forward to it I am still finding it a little bit scary]. (www) Will this be the first time that you have used media as a springboard to launch a discussion? (www) This expedition will be the first time I will have skied all the way to the North Pole. (www) This will be the first time Hitmen Fans will have the chance to see the new team on home ice. (www) This will be the first time I will not be part of the 4 ϫ 400 m relay for nine years. [I’m gutted.] (www) These Olympics will be the first time pedorthists are members of the paramedical team. (www) [We have had external members on many of our other committees, but] this will be the first time they will participate on policy making. (www) [The first HTS coils designed for the common-coil magnet will be tested using NbTi coils to provide a 6 T background field.] Since this will be the first time HTS coils are operated in this environment, [many basic measurements will have to be made to characterize their performance.] (www) While the present perfect and the future perfect locate the situation time in a period leading up to the relevant future orientation time, the present tense represents the situation time as simultaneous with the future orientation time and the future tense locates the situation time in a period which stretches from the future orientation time onwards into the future. This means that in an example like the following the present perfect and the future perfect emphasize the earlier part of the series of situations referred to, whereas the present tense and the future tense stress the last part: This expedition will be the third time I {have reached / will have reached / reach / will reach} the North Pole. Note, however, that in the pattern illustrated by the examples above the sub- clause cannot use the Pseudo-t 0 -System if the head clause does not refer to the future. This is in keeping with what is said in 10.6.2. [He is coming here next week.] It is only the second time he {will have come /*has come} here since 1980. [I will have to stand in for him a couple of times.] Today is the first time I {will do so /*do so}. 10.6.11 Apart from the principles pointed out in the preceding subsections of 10.6, there are a number of factors which promote the use of the Pseudo-t 0 - System in restrictive relative clauses by seeing to it that there is a high degree of integration of the relative clause into the head clause. For example: III. Factors determining the choice between the two systems 559 (a) The Pseudo-t 0 -System is strongly preferred in nominal (headless) relative clauses: 9 He will always give you what you need. I will always go where you go. The menu’s content will depend on what you have installed. Your final pension will depend on what you have paid in and how it has grown over the period. 10 (b) The Pseudo-t 0 -System is the rule if the antecedent is a cataphoric demon- strative or a cataphoric ‘light’ NP (i. e. an NP with little semantic content) which depends for its reference on the relative clause: The best places will be snapped up by those who come early. I will ask the people I meet for some food. (c) The Pseudo-t 0 -System is the rule if the antecedent is or contains an indefi- nite pronoun / determiner or a superlative: Tomorrow Jane will be here, and she will get you anything you want. Miss Bantin will be there in person ready to give her friendly advice to all who care to take advantage of her visit to the Capitol. (LOB) 10.7 Subclauses which as a rule use the Pseudo-t 0 -System There are a number of types of subclause in which future time reference requires the use of the Pseudo-t 0 -System, e. g. conditional clauses expressing an open condition, adverbial time clauses, concessive clauses with a conditional connotation, subclauses of proportion and subclauses of manner that are fully integrated into the head clause. In the various subsections we have a closer look at these cases and observe that what they have in common is the meaning or connotation of an open condition. 10.7.1 The Pseudo-t 0 -System has to be used in if-clauses expressing an ‘open condition ’ (i. e. a condition that is seen as one that may or may not be fulfilled in the future), because the subclause and the head clause then form a single 9. Those introduced by a wh-word in Ϫ ever even require the Pseudo-t 0 -System if they have a conditional connotation Ϫ see 10.7.6. 10. A Google search for will depend on what you (will) have V-ed yielded several hundred examples with the Pseudo-t 0 -System and three with the Absolute Future System. The following is one of the latter: The searchable data for each recruiter will always depend on what you will have allowed him to see. (www) . the Pseudo-t 0 -System, the speaker can encourage the hearer to take the point of view of someone located at the future time of the head clause situation from which the temporal location of the situation time of the. like the following the present perfect and the future perfect emphasize the earlier part of the series of situations referred to, whereas the present tense and the future tense stress the last part: This. of the future tense and the use of the present tense here. However, the choice of the Pseudo-t 0 -System or the Abso- lute Future System can lead to slight differences of emphasis. By using the Pseudo-t 0 -System,