The grammar of the english verb phrase part 104 ppsx

714 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses Because of this, the Anchor time is felt to be the time when the state immedi- ately resulting from the before-clause situation is holding. Thus, John left be- fore Bill had gone inside is normally interpreted as ‘John left before Bill was inside’. However, apart from this ‘immediate result reading’, the sentence may also allow a ‘perfect of experience’ interpretation: ‘John left before Bill had ever been inside’. This is, however, not the unmarked interpretation. It comes to the fore only if a word like ever is added to the before-clause: John went in before Bill had ever gone inside. 14.6.11 Summarizing sections 14.6.5Ϫ10, we can say that (out of context) the intended reading of the before-clause determines the choice of tense (past tense or past perfect) in the before-clause in the following ways: (a) Only the past tense can suggest a t 0 -factual reading. (b) Only the past perfect can express the combination of a not-yet-factual reading and a perfect of experience reading. (c) The combination of a not-yet-factual reading and an immediate result reading can only be expressed by the past tense if the verb phrase is stative and by the past perfect if the verb phrase is nonstative (dynamic). It follows that (out of context) 8 a past tense in a before-clause automatically receives a t 0 -factual reading (under the conditions specified, i. e. when neither the context nor pragmatic knowledge enforces a particular reading) when the verb is nonstative, but not when it is stative. 14.6.12 The use of the past perfect in a nonstative before-clause does not trigger a not-yet-factual reading if before is immediately preceded by a negator: [When I repulsed him he attempted to rape me.] I fought him off but not before he’d stolen my handbag and several articles of clothing. (WTBS) He came to see me at five every day, but never before he’d called on his Mum first. These examples show that, if the head clause is t 0 -factual, the use of not before or never before anyhow triggers a t 0 -factual reading of the before-clause. The reason is that not before and never before are interpreted as ‘only after’ and ‘always after’, respectively: I fought him off, but {not before / only after} he’d stolen my handbag. He came to see me at five every day, but {never before / always after} he’d called on his Mum first. As pointed out in 14.19.1, after-clauses in the past perfect are always t 0 -factual if they depend on a t 0 -factual head clause. 8. The before-clause can never be interpreted as t 0 -factual if it forms part of an intensional context Ϫ see 14.4.2. I. Adverbial before -clauses 715 14.6.13 If the head clause is t 0 -factual, the addition of a measure phrase to the before-clause enforces a t 0 -factual interpretation of this clause, irrespective of whether it uses the past tense or the past perfect: I read the letter long before Bill destroyed it. I read the letter long before Bill had destroyed it. In the latter example the measure phrase indicates the temporal distance be- tween the situation time of the head clause and the implicit Anchor time to which the situation time of the before-clause is T-anterior. In both examples, the measure phrase long triggers a t 0 -factual interpretation of the before-clause (without cancelling the not-yet-factual reading, i. e. the idea that the before- clause situation was not yet factual at the time of the head clause situation). The t 0 -factual interpretation follows from the fact that it is difficult to measure the distance between a t 0 -factual situation and a situation which is not t 0 - factual but virtual. (See, however, the next section.) 14.6.14 The only case in which a measure phrase indicates the distance be- tween a t 0 -factual situation and a virtual one is when the before-clause is t 0 - counterfactual. This meaning can only be expressed by the conditional perfect: Max removed the fuse from the bomb thirty-seven seconds before it would have ex- ploded. We drove off the public car park a short time before an attendant would have given us a ticket. With one year before he would have graduated, he left Transylvania, accepting an appointment at the Military Academy at West Point. (www) Note that the conditional perfect is used here as a modal form (rather than as a tense form expressing temporal relations only). Its use is made possible by the fact that the before-clause implies a counterfactual condition: Max removed the fuse from the bomb thirty-seven seconds before it would have exploded (if the fuse had not been removed). We drove off the public car park a short time before an attendant checking the cars would have given us a ticket (if we had had left our car parked there). Team members testified that from the initial indications of the fires being set, the Davidians had an estimated 20 to 25 minutes to safely exit the building before they would have been overcome by the smoke and heat. (www) (implicit condition: ‘if they had not left the building’) Like conditional if-clauses, temporal clauses can use the tense forms that are normally used in the head clause of a counterfactual conditional sentence if they are interpreted in terms of an overt or covert counterfactual condition. 9 9. The following sentence illustrates this in connection with if-clauses: If John would have succeeded [if he had tried], why should I not succeed? 716 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses 14.6.15 It should be clear from the preceding sections that if the before-clause (functioning as situation-time adverbial) uses the past perfect (which is a rela- tive tense form) and the head clause uses the absolute past tense, 10 there are three possibilities as far as the actualization of the before-clause situation is concerned. (a) Firstly, the before-clause situation, which is still nonfactual at the time of the head clause situation, may be interpreted as actualizing later. 11 In this case the head clause too must be t 0 -factual. There was an explosion just before the fire started. Because of its t 0 -factual interpretation, this type of before-clause can be pre- ceded by a measure phrase (here, just). (b) Secondly, there are cases in which the before-clause situation does not actualize at all because its actualization is prevented by the actualization of the head clause situation. In this case the interpretation of the before- clause is t 0 -counterfactual. If the counterfactual reading is imposed by the pragmatics of the context, the before-clause can use either the past tense or the past perfect. If the counterfactual reading is not imposed by the pragmatics of the context, only the use of the conditional perfect can pro- voke the desired t 0 -counterfactual reading: I took the milk off the fire before it boiled over. (t 0 -counterfactual for pragmatic reasons) She burnt the letter before I had read it. (idem) Bill resigned only a couple of days before we would have fired him. Such sentences allow a measure phrase only if the before-clause uses the condi- tional perfect. (Conversely, the conditional perfect can only be used in this kind of sentence if there is a measure phrase.) 12 If the before-clause is in the condi- 10. Remember that in the present section Ϫ 14.6 Ϫ we are concerned with the possibilities of using an absolute tense in the head clause and a relative tense in the before-clause. 11. The fact that the before-clause situation is not yet a fact at the time that the head clause situation actualizes entails that even this kind of before-clause, whose situation is interpreted as actualizing later, allows the use of nonassertive words (negative polarity items): He had to wait a long time before anybody lifted a finger to help him. I had lived in the house for three years before I got acquainted with any of the neighbours. In examples like these, the use of nonassertive words stresses the idea that after the head clause situation actualized (or began to actualize) there was a long period during which the expected before-clause situation did not actualize. 12. We have found two examples in which there is no measure phrase: President Bush thanked congress for shooting down the bill before HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO VETO IT!!! [Who do you really think is for the people?] (www) I telephoned again early next morning before he would have gone to work. (BNC) I. Adverbial before -clauses 717 tional perfect, it functions like the head clause of a conditional sentence with a counterfactual conditional clause: I drove my car out of the car-park five minutes before the attendant would have given me a fine. (implicit condition: ‘if I had left my car there’) (c) Thirdly, it sometimes remains unclear whether or not the before-clause situation, which has not actualized yet at the time of the head clause situa- tion, ever actualizes. In this case all that we know of the before-clause situation is that it is not-yet-factual at the time of the head clause situation. This type of before-clause does not allow the use of a measure phrase (e. g. long) in front of before. I read the letter before Mary had read it. Under this heading we must also mention the cases in which the head clause situation is performed in order to avoid something that is expected to be a consequence of the actualization of the before-clause situation, if that should become reality: 13 Fred left the country before the capital fell into the hands of the guerrillas. This sentence is ambiguous. The before-clause is read as t 0 -factual if the context shows that it is extensional, i. e. to be read from the current speaker’s point of view. On the other hand, if the context shows that the before-clause is part of Fred’s thinking at the time that he left the capital Ϫ i. e. if the before- clause is intensional and to be interpreted from a point of view that is not the current speaker’s Ϫ then the sentence is vague as to whether the capital ever fell into the hands of the guerillas, because it is future from a past point of view. 14.7 Relative tense in head clause and relative tense in before-clause 14.7.1 In 14.5 we have discussed the possibilities of using an absolute tense in both the head clause and the before-clause in sentences where the before- clause functions as a situation-time adverbial (i. e. if the before-clause estab- lishes an Adv-time which contains the situation time of the head clause). In 14.6 we have examined structures with a before-clause (used as a situation- time adverbial) in which the head clause uses an absolute tense while the be- fore-clause uses a relative one. In the present section we discuss sentences with a before-clause (used as a situation-time adverbial) in which both the head clause and the before-clause use a relative tense. 13. This kind of interpretation can be induced by the use of any in the before-clause: I left before anybody came. 718 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses 14.7.2 If a relative tense can be used in a before-clause functioning as situa- tion-time adverbial and depending on a head clause with an absolute tense, as in the following (a) examples, a relative tense will also be possible in the before- clause of the corresponding sentence in which the head clause uses a relative tense, as in the following (b) examples: (6a) [I do not doubt that] I will be at home before it begins to rain. (6b) [I did not doubt that] I would be at home before it began to rain. (7a) [I feel sure] I will be at home before it has started to rain. (7b) [I felt sure] I would be at home before it had started to rain. (8a) [Bill is the first to know about the accident, because] he has read the paper before I have read it. (8b) [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] he had read the paper before I had read it. (9a) [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] he read the paper before I had read it. (9b) [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] he had read the paper before I had read it. As before, the before-clauses function as situation-time adverbials in these ex- amples: the situation time of the head clause is contained in the Adv-time. The situation time of the before-clause is T-related to the implicit Anchor time. In (6b), the before-clause uses the preterite to express T-simultaneity, while in (7b) it uses the past perfect to express T-anteriority. In the latter case the speaker wants to refer to the state resulting from the situation rather than to the situa- tion itself. In (8b) and (9b) the before-clause uses the past perfect to trigger an interpretation that is both not-yet-factual and not t 0 -factual. (If the preterite were used, it would be interpreted as an absolute preterite expressing a t 0 - factual meaning.) (Note that ‘not t 0 -factual’ here means that the situation may or may not actualize later. So it does not mean the same thing as t 0 -counterfactual.) In each of the (b) examples, both clauses use a relative tense. 14 The implica- tions of the relative tense in these before-clauses are the same as those in the before-clauses of the corresponding (a) examples, which were discussed in 14.6. For example, the before-clause (which is by its very nature not-yet-factual at t) 14. There is no example with a relative past tense in the head clause because a head clause using a relative past tense form cannot normally support a before-clause referring to a not-yet-factual actualization. Compare: I realized that he recognized me. (The unmarked interpretation is for recognized to express simultaneity, i. e. to be a relative preterite.) I realized that he recognized me before he had recognized my friend. (Recognized can hardly be interpreted as expressing T-simultaneity. Its normal interpretation is as an absolute preterite, establishing a past domain which is W-anterior to the domain estab- lished by realized.) I. Adverbial before -clauses 719 is each time interpreted as t 0 -nonfactual (ϭ as not t 0 -factual, as not referring to a situation that is treated as a past fact). In (6b) and (7b) this is due to the fact that the before-clause forms part of an intensional domain, whereas in (8b) and (9b) it is due to the use of the past perfect. (It is the past tense that would invite a t 0 -factual reading.) However, as shown by the examples dis- cussed in 14.6, a t 0 -factual reading can be enforced (if the head clause is not intensional but t 0 -factual) by the presence of a measure phrase preceding the before-clause: [Bill was the first to know about the accident, because] he had read the paper long before I had read it. (t 0 -factual reading of the before-clause) However, a measure phrase does not induce a t 0 -factual reading if the head clause belongs to an intensional domain: [I did not doubt that] I would be at home long before it started to rain. (No t 0 - factual reading of the before-clause because the head clause forms part of an inten- sional world. We cannot conclude from this sentence that the speaker actually got home nor that it actually started to rain long after he got home. A t 0 -factual inter- pretation requires that the situation is viewed from the speaker’s t 0 , which is not the case if the clause describing the situation forms part of an intensional context.) 14.7.3 In some cases, both the head clause and the before-clause (functioning as a situation-time adverbial) use the past perfect. Let us go somewhat more fully into that possibility. Consider: [“John is a doctor. And I think Bill is a doctor too.” Ϫ “Yes.] As a matter of fact Bill was a doctor before John was one.” Mary said that Bill had been a doctor before John had been a doctor. We have already discussed the first example (in section 14.4.6) and come to the conclusion that both preterite forms are absolute tense forms. Because of this Ϫ see 8.25 Ϫ it is predictable that both can be ‘backshifted’ in represented speech and the second example shows that this prediction is borne out. Figures 14.5 and 14.6 represent the temporal structures of the two examples, respec- tively. Figure 14.5. The temporal structure of Bill was a doctor before John was one. The following is another example realizing the structure shown in Figure 14.6 (except that the central orientation time of the domain is now implicit): 720 14. Adverbial before-clauses and after-clauses Figure 14.6. The temporal structure of Mary said that Bill had been a doctor before John had been a doctor. Before he had met Barbara, Adam’s sexual experience had stopped short at holding the sticky hands of convent girls in the cinema. (BM) 14.7.4 When the speaker uses the past perfect in the before-clause to un- derline the not-yet-factual reading, he may use an anteriority form in the head clause as a device to suggest that the head clause situation actualized earlier than might have been expected: Before I had finished speaking, she had already shut the door in my face. Instead of expressing ‘Before the before-clause situation had actualized, the head clause situation did’, the speaker expresses ‘Before the before-clause situa- tion had actualized, the head clause situation had already actualized’. In doing so he stresses that the head clause situation actualized sooner than might have been expected. 14.7.5 If the situation time of its head clause belongs to a past domain, a before-clause using the present tense as Pseudo-t 0 -System form indirectly estab- lishes a post-present domain. This is only possible if the actualization of the before-clause situation is expected to be W-posterior to t 0 . In that case the before-clause can shift the domain to the post-present (more specifically, estab- lish a post-present domain in an ‘indirect’ way Ϫ see 9.16): Tina said that she would leave before Sol returns. (Comrie 1986: 296) [“Aren’t the children too tiring for you? Isn’t it time Carrie took them away?” Ϫ “Don’t worry.] I asked Carrie just now if she would take them away before I am too tired [and said I’ll give her a sign when I am].” 14.7.6 In the following examples, the two relative tenses are Pseudo-t 0 -Sys- tem forms: [For the moment he refuses every kind of treatment. I will be glad if] he is willing to go to hospital before he is half-dead. . the context, the before-clause can use either the past tense or the past perfect. If the counterfactual reading is not imposed by the pragmatics of the context, only the use of the conditional. by the actualization of the head clause situation. In this case the interpretation of the before- clause is t 0 -counterfactual. If the counterfactual reading is imposed by the pragmatics of the. it. As before, the before-clauses function as situation-time adverbials in these ex- amples: the situation time of the head clause is contained in the Adv-time. The situation time of the before-clause