In English
| Past reference time | Present reference time | Future reference time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event before reference time (anterior) | I had written | I have written | I will have written |
| Event at reference time (simultaneous) | I wrote | I write/am writing | I write/will write |
| Event after reference time (posterior) | I would write | I will write | I will write |
English can refer both to a reference time (past, present, or future) in which a situation takes place, and the time of a particular event relative to the reference time (before, at, or after).
Consider, for example, the following sentences:
- When I got home yesterday, John arrived and met me (past reference, simultaneous event).
- When I got home yesterday, John had already arrived (past reference, anterior event).
- When I got home yesterday, John called and said he would arrive soon (past reference, posterior event).
In a present frame of reference, the same sentences appear as follows:
- Whenever I get home, John arrives and meets me (present reference, simultaneous event).
- Whenever I get home, usually John has already arrived (present reference, anterior event).
- Whenever I get home, John usually calls and says he will arrive soon (present reference, posterior event).
The equivalent in a future frame of reference is as follows:
- When I get home tomorrow, John will arrive and meet me (future reference, simultaneous event).
- When I get home tomorrow, John will have already arrived (future reference, anterior event).
- When I get home tomorrow, John will probably call and say he will arrive soon (future reference, posterior event).
Read more about this topic: Relative And Absolute Tense
Famous quotes containing the word english:
“So in Jamaica it is the aim of everybody to talk English, act English and look English. And that last specification is where the greatest difficulties arise. It is not so difficult to put a coat of European culture over African culture, but it is next to impossible to lay a European face over an African face in the same generation.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The traveler to the United States will do well ... to prepare himself for the class-consciousness of the natives. This differs from the already familiar English version in being more extreme and based more firmly on the conviction that the class to which the speaker belongs is inherently superior to all others.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)