The grammar of the english verb phrase part 102 potx

700 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses important than the logical relation: the head clause expresses a kind of (pre)condition for the actualization of the before-clause situation, and the before-clause is the head clause (expressing q) of what is semantically an ‘if p, then q’ conditional. In this case the use of the future tense in the before-clause is quite normal: You will need to register as a user of the Discussion Groups before you will be able to post any messages to the discussion. (www) (ϭ ‘{Unless you have registered / If you haven’t yet registered} as a user of the Discussion Groups, you will not be able to post any messages to the discussion.’) [I may have to take a long term disability.] So I will have to get well before I will ever be ready for work. (www) (ϭ ‘I won’t be ready for work as long as I haven’t got well.’; ‘Getting well is a precondition for being ready for work.’) Financial aid awards are typically paid to you by checks and your US bank account will have to be established before you will be able to cash a check. (www) Please note that students who fail the OS proficiency exam or the EE-450 place- ment exam twice will be required to take the corresponding undergraduate course (and receive a grade of B or better) before they will be given permission to take CSCI-551. (www) I think those creating tablet PCs need a “killer app” to run on these units before they will be useful. (www) (b) A second case in which a before-clause can use the future tense is il- lustrated by the following: It is just a matter of time before the trainee schools will disappear altogether from the scene. (LOB) There is still an hour left before the others will be here. [In his preliminary report ( ) Sir Hugh Cairns stresses that] several years must elapse before he will know whether the improvements ( ) are permanent. (TCIE) In this type of sentence the head clause is in the present tense. It does not describe a situation whose time is specified by the before-clause referring to the post-present but indicates the distance between t 0 and a post-present orien- tation time identified by the before-clause. The possibility of using the future tense in the before-clause appears to have less to do with the fact that the before-clause is not really a time-specifying adverbial than with the fact that the head clause does not explicitly establish a post-present domain. This ap- pears from the fact that if the head clause is interpreted as implicitly establish- ing a post-present domain, the before-clause can use the present tense (as Pseudo-t 0 -System form): It is just a matter of time before the trainee schools disappear altogether from the scene. There is still an hour left before the others are here. I. Adverbial before -clauses 701 [We, in the trade, feel that many people think that this is a new version of the whole Bible. It is, of course, only the New Testament:] it will be many years before the Old Testament, and the Apocrypha are available. (LOB) [In his preliminary report ( ) sir Hugh Cairns stresses that] several years must elapse before he knows whether the improvements ( ) are permanent. In many such examples, there is no clear difference of meaning between the present tense and the future tense. In some cases, however, the present tense suggests that the speaker feels certain that the before-clause situation will actu- alize. Thus, in the last example, there is an assumption that Sir Hugh will know something about the permanency of the improvements, whereas, if will know is used, Sir Hugh may never know anything about the improvements. Even if the head clause explicitly establishes a post-present domain, the before-clause can still use the Absolute Future System instead of the Pseudo-t 0 - System Ϫ see section (f) below: It will be some time before the others {arrive / will arrive}. [If they return they may try out for the rank again,] but it will take a week before they will be allowed to hold rank. (www) When he calls the towing service, he is told it will be three hours before they will arrive. (www) (c) A third case in which a before-clause can (and this time has to) use the future tense is illustrated by the following: [Safe housing near campus is limited.] The best housing is reserved by local stu- dents weeks before you will arrive. (www) This is interpreted as ‘You will arrive at a date by which the best housing is (every year) already reserved by local students.’ The use of the future tense in the before-clause is again due to the fact that the before-clause has to express post-present time reference because the head clause does not explicitly establish a post-present domain. This time the head clause cannot be interpreted as doing so implicitly Ϫ it refers to a habitual present situation Ϫ so that the present tense (as Pseudo-t 0 -System form) is not available as an alternative. The sentence The best housing is reserved by local students weeks before you arrive. invites a quite different interpretation, in which the you is impersonal and both verbs have habitual present meaning. It might also be acceptable if arrive expresses an ‘arranged future’ meaning (see 3.6) and in doing so establishes a post-present domain. (d) A fourth possibility for will to appear in a before-clause is when the latter is not really a time-specifying adverbial clause but expresses the same meaning as than help her does in I’d rather die than help her: 702 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses I’ll die before I’ll help her! (This is a dramatic way of saying that the speaker is determined not to do what is mentioned in the before-clause.) As a matter of fact, in this type of before-clause the speaker can choose between ‘will ϩ infinitive’ and the present tense (as Pseudo-t 0 -System form): She’ll die before she’ll tell you anything. (www) She’ll die before she tells you anything. (www) I’ll sink before I’ll surrender. (www) [Louisiana has one woman on death row, Antoinette Frank, and the warden says, no, he just couldn’t execute a woman,] that he’ll quit before he does that. (www) [These rubies are worth a Sultan’s treasury.] I’ll die before I’ll put them back. (www) I’ll die before I use ‘they’ as a singular pronoun. (www) I’ll emigrate before I’ll pay more rent. (www) I know his line: he’ll die before he’ll take advice. (www) She’ll die before she gives you any information. (www) [“Tell me your father’s reply.”] Ϫ “He’ll see you burn before he’ll give you any- thing!” (www) However, it should be noted that if will is used, it is quite probably the modal auxiliary will expressing willingness rather than the future tense auxiliary will. Pieces of evidence supporting this are the fact that the before-clauses, though affirmative in form, all express a refusal and the fact that we have not found similar examples with before I shall … . (e) Fifthly, examples can be found of before-clauses using will in code (i. e. will is a pro-form for a verb form mentioned before): As to why I said I was going to be her matron of honor, I will be saying my vows before she will, so I will techinically [sic] be married before she will. (www) All of the eyes will be on Se Ri and whoever is leading, but I will be playing the holes before they will and I think that is a good thing. (www) Tell Steve hello for him! He will be seeing Steve again before I will on June 5th The Crossroads Guitar Festival. (www) In such examples will can be replaced by a Pseudo-t 0 -form, viz. a present tense form of do. I will be playing the holes before they do. (f) The future tense can easily be found (as an alternative to the present tense) in before-clauses depending on a head clause measuring the interval be- tween t 0 and the post-present actualization of the before-clause situation: [Once the cows are able to return home, Zeman said] it will be six months before they will be able to produce their normal milk supply. (www) I. Adverbial before -clauses 703 Generally, it will only take minutes before you will receive this email, [but delivery could be delayed by circumstances beyond our control]. (www) [Researchers are developing a vaccine but] it will take some time before it will be ready for human use. (www) [What this means for me is that] I will have until around September before I will need to find my own place. (www) It will be another week before you will be able to return to full physical activity. (www) In all these examples the Pseudo-t 0 -Sysem can be used in the before-clause as an alternative to the Absolute Future System. (g) The following is similar, except that the period measured does not start from t 0 . He will be 46 years old before he will be eligible for parole. (www) 14.5.3 In 14.5.1 and 14.5.2 we have discussed the cases in which both the head clause and the before-clause use an absolute past tense or an absolute future tense, respectively. Let us now concentrate on the present perfect. At first sight it would seem that there is no possibility of using the present perfect in both the head clause and the before-clause, because the presence of a time-specifying adverbial as a rule prevents the use of the present perfect in the head clause: we cannot normally use the present perfect to refer to a (single) bygone situation if the temporal location of that situation is specified by a time-specifying adverbial (such as an adverbial before-clause). Thus, with refer- ence to a single occasion, we cannot replace Bill left before the match ended by any of the following: *Bill has left before the match ended. *Bill has left before the match has ended. *Bill left before the match has ended. However, there are some cases in which the present perfect is used both in the head clause and in the before-clause. (a) A sentence like Bill has left before John has arrived. is fine if it means ‘It has happened on occasion that Bill has left before John has arrived’. This is similar to the use of I have got up at three! (discussed in 5.11.1), which is fine in contexts like the following: [“I got up at three this morning. You’ve never done that in your life.” Ϫ “You’re mistaken.] I have got up at three. [Several times.”] 704 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses As noted in 5.11.1, at three does not indicate an Adv-time which contains the situation time but belongs to the description of the situation itself: ‘The situa- tion of getting up at 3 a.m. has actualized on occasion’. (b) Bill has left before John has arrived is also impeccable if it is the ‘Special Present Time-sphere System’ version of Bill had left before John had ar- rived (discussed in 14.7). As noted in 3.2Ϫ10, this substitution of present time-sphere tenses for past time-sphere tenses is possible in stretches of ‘historic present’, stage directions, summaries, captions, etc. The following are attested examples: [As it passes from Her hands into mine the crystal again becomes water which, along with minerals and jewels, slip through my fingers and flow back into being the ocean. I bring my hand down to the surface and lift my fingers to my lips. I suck in the water and] before I have finished swallowing, it has become part of me, absorbed into my body as if (www) (historic present) [We see a family with a seemingly over-protective mom.] Before we’ve blinked, big sis has rebelled and left, [bequeathing her record collection to little brother who’s only just found out he’s actually a year younger than he believed.] (www) (from the summary of a film) [I remove as much as I can with a net, but] almost before I’ve turned around it has reproduced itself again in even greater quantities. (www) (historic present) [The basic concept is so much more like the punch-line of a bad joke than the premise for a three act drama that I wasn’t at all sure what to expect from this play. In retrospect I suppose this is the point.] Before we’ve even begun, Manfridi has taken us out of the realm of what-we-take-seriously. [We are given no frame- work of normality by which to measure the comic, and grotesque, or the plain abnormal. There is nothing, in fact, to tell us what, and what not, to laugh at.] (www) (c) As noted in 9.15, absolute tenses are used to refer to subsituations that form part of a present repetitive habit. The following sentence uses the present perfect (as indefinite perfect) in both its clauses because each subsi- tuation of the present habitual hypersituation is represented as belonging to a pre-present period: As a rule the janitor has unlocked the front door before the first employees have ar- rived. (d) In 14.6.5 it will be noted that before-clauses can use a perfect tense to underline their ‘not-yet-factual’ meaning, i. e. to focus on the fact that the situation of the before-clause has not yet actualized when the situation of the head clause actualizes. We have already discussed some examples in 14.4.2, but these were examples with the past perfect in the before-clause. However, the same phenomenon can be observed in the present time- I. Adverbial before -clauses 705 sphere. In that case the message may be ‘X has already actualized, though Y is not actualizing yet’. This is expressed as ‘X has Verb-ed before Y {Verb-s / is Verb-ing}’: (from a text about ‘England’s little rainforest’) But before anyone has a chance to protect it, one of deputy prime minister John Prescott’s new development quangoes has bought it and received outline planning permission to destroy the most impor- tant bit as part of the Thames Gateway expansion of London. (www) In most cases, however, the message is ‘X has already actualized, though Y has not actualized yet’. This is expressed as ‘X has Verb-ed before Y has Verb- ed’. The reference may be to an individual occasion as well as to a habit. For example: The Bush campaign also has begun defining Kerry before he has defined himself. (www) [It really bothers me when people act as if] someone has been proven guilty before they’ve even gone to trial. (www) However, even before it has been released,ithas already become (as I write) a finalist for the Microsoft TechEd Europe 2004 (Amsterdam) Best of Show awards. (www) [ oh and it’s proven that the Bible is true.] The Bible has predicted things way before they’ve ever happened. [Oh ya, it’s been proven Ϫ scientifically.] (www) [She goes out of her way to anticipate what might be needed and] in almost every circumstance, before you’ve asked, Charles Etta has made it happen. (www) But even before Christmas has arrived, Cadbury has begun thinking about the key Easter period, [and it is already preparing the re-launch of its perennial UK favourite, the Cadbury’s Creme Egg.] (www) [Naturally, it becomes difficult for the mystic to live in the world where his language is not understood, while he understands the language of all others.] Before we have spoken to the mystic he has heard us speak. Before we have expressed our thought he has read it. Before we have expressed our feeling he has felt it. [That is why a mystic can be in communication with another person better than one could ever imagine …] (www) Before we’ve had time to turn round he’s given himself carte blanche to come poking about in our cistern whenever he feels like it. (CRES) Blessed is the one who has won the contest before it has even begun! (www) 14.5.4 In 14.5.1, 14.5.2 and 14.5.3 we have discussed the cases in which both the head clause and the before-clause use an absolute past tense, an absolute future tense or an absolute present perfect, respectively. Let us now concentrate on the present tense. A sentence in which both the head clause and the before- clause use the present tense (as absolute tense) can be grammatical in the ‘Spe- cial Present Time-sphere System’ (see 3.2Ϫ10), e. g. as a stage direction, in a summary or as an instance of the historic present: 706 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses Bill waits a couple of seconds before he answers. Such a sentence is also grammatical on a habitual present interpretation: When you ask him a question, Bill waits a couple of seconds before he answers. We have not found any other kinds of sentence in which the head clause and the before-clause both use the present tense as absolute tense. Sentences like the following only ostensibly form another type: I am just checking the oil before we take off. In this case the present tense form in the before-clause is not an absolute tense form but a Pseudo-t 0 -System form. (If it were an absolute tense form, it would have to be an instance of a present tense representing an ‘arranged future’ Ϫ see 3.8Ϫ9 Ϫ but in that case the form are taking off would have to be possible too, which is not the case.) Even though there is a shift of domain here from a present domain to a post-present one, the before-clause cannot use the Absolute Future System (will take off ): it has to use a present tense form (as Pseudo-t 0 - System form). This means that the situation time of the before-clause cannot be the central orientation time of the post-present domain but must be repre- sented as T-simultaneous with the Anchor time, which functions as implicit central orientation time of the domain. (The interpretation of this Anchor time as lying in the post-present is due to the use of before in combination with a head clause in the present tense.) 14.5.5 In sections 14.5.1Ϫ4 we have checked whether it is possible for the head clause and the before-clause to use the same absolute tense. Using dif- ferent absolute tenses as a rule appears to be impossible: Gordon left before the Robinsons {arrived /*will arrive /*arrive /*have arrived}. There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule. One is when the sentence is used to express the not-yet-factual reading ‘[X has already actualized, though] Y is not actualizing yet’, as in But before anyone has a chance to protect it, one of deputy prime minister John Prescott’s new development quangoes has bought it Ϫ see 14.5.3. Another concerns the Special Present Time-sphere Sys- tem: Gordon has left before the Robinsons arrive. (only acceptable in the Special Present Time-sphere System if the before-clause is understood as referring to t 0 , or when the sentence means ‘it has happened on occasion …’.) 14.5.6 In conclusion, apart from instances of the ‘Special Present Time-sphere System’, a couple of exceptional uses of the future tense in before-clauses refer- ring to the post-present (see 14.5.2) and the use of the present perfect in not- yet-factual before-clauses (see 14.5.3), the only case in which both the before- clause and the head clause can use an absolute tense is when both use the . that there is no possibility of using the present perfect in both the head clause and the before-clause, because the presence of a time-specifying adverbial as a rule prevents the use of the present. instances of the ‘Special Present Time-sphere System’, a couple of exceptional uses of the future tense in before-clauses refer- ring to the post-present (see 14.5.2) and the use of the present. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses important than the logical relation: the head clause expresses a kind of (pre)condition for the actualization of the before-clause situation, and the before-clause