Prospective aspect
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, the prospective aspect is a grammatical aspect
describing an event that occurs subsequent to a given reference time. One way to view tenses in English and many other languages is as a combination of 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). As an example, consider the following sentence:
The verb would arrive expresses a combination of past reference time (the situation of my getting home, established as being in the past by the introductory clause) and an event (John's arrival) whose time of occurrence is subsequent to the reference time. Technically, this verb is said to be past tense, prospective aspect, with the tense
expressing the time of the overall situation and the aspect
expressing how the event itself is viewed, relative to the vantage point of the overall situation.
In English, the prospective aspect is most clearly distinguished in the past. The English future tense
expressed by the auxiliary verb
will refers to an event in the absolute future, regardless of the reference time or relative time of the event:
Note in particular the last sentence, with the same combination of tense and aspect as would arrive in the first sentence above, but with an emphasis on a time occurring in the absolute future (i.e. after the present time, rather than simply after the time of the situation being described).
However, in English it is possible to express the prospective aspect in tenses other than the past using the so-called going-to future
: "He says he's going to finish soon. But yesterday he was also going to finish soon, and I'm sure in five weeks he'll still be going to finish soon."
The opposite of the prospective aspect is the retrospective aspect, more commonly known as the "perfect":
It is actually possible to combine prospective and retrospective (perfect) aspects to produce a "prospective perfect", especially in the past:
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, the prospective aspect is a grammatical aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
describing an event that occurs subsequent to a given reference time. One way to view tenses in English and many other languages is as a combination of 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). As an example, consider the following sentence:
- When I got home yesterday, John called and said he would arrive soon.
The verb would arrive expresses a combination of past reference time (the situation of my getting home, established as being in the past by the introductory clause) and an event (John's arrival) whose time of occurrence is subsequent to the reference time. Technically, this verb is said to be past tense, prospective aspect, with the tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
expressing the time of the overall situation and the aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
expressing how the event itself is viewed, relative to the vantage point of the overall situation.
In English, the prospective aspect is most clearly distinguished in the past. The English future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
expressed by the auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
will refers to an event in the absolute future, regardless of the reference time or relative time of the event:
- Whenever I get home, John usually calls and says he will arrive soon (present reference, prospective event).
- When I get home tomorrow, John will arrive and meet me (future reference, simultaneous event).
- When I get home tomorrow, John will probably call and say he will arrive soon (future reference, prospective event).
- When I got home yesterday, John called and said he will arrive in three weeks (past reference, prospective event in the absolute future).
Note in particular the last sentence, with the same combination of tense and aspect as would arrive in the first sentence above, but with an emphasis on a time occurring in the absolute future (i.e. after the present time, rather than simply after the time of the situation being described).
However, in English it is possible to express the prospective aspect in tenses other than the past using the so-called going-to future
Going-to future
Going-to future is a term used to describe an English sentence structure referring to the future, making use of the verb phrase to be going to...
: "He says he's going to finish soon. But yesterday he was also going to finish soon, and I'm sure in five weeks he'll still be going to finish soon."
The opposite of the prospective aspect is the retrospective aspect, more commonly known as the "perfect":
- When I got home yesterday, John had already arrived (past reference, retrospective event, also known as past perfect or pluperfect).
It is actually possible to combine prospective and retrospective (perfect) aspects to produce a "prospective perfect", especially in the past:
- Don't wait a week; John will have already left (future reference, perfect aspect or present reference, prospective perfect aspect?).
- I told him not to wait a week; John would have already left (unambiguously past reference, prospective perfect aspect).
- I was going to have left by then, but got distracted (past reference, prospective perfect aspect).