Candidates for a future tense

Only "He is going to eat."

AnonymousIf we were to recognise "she will eat" as a future tense, then we might just as well recognise "he may eat", "she is eating", "he is going to eat" and other combinations as future tenses. Do you agree?

He is going to eat - this is future tense.
The others are not future.
He may eat - means he is permitted to eat (present)

Really, on the "may"?

Are you hungry?

Not now, no, but I may eat when I get home in another hour or so.

Grammar Geek Not now, no, but I may eat when I get home in another hour or so.

Don't shoot me, GG, but whaddya call this??

- A. BTW, I'm using your quote suggestion. Thanks.

Some linguists insist that English has no future tense since there is no separate form of the verb for it. Ignoring that and assuming that verb forms with shall/will are a future tense, the problem is that (a) other ways are used to refer to the future: she eats out tonight; and (b) the shall/will form does not always refer to the future: she will eat apples even though th

Certainly modal combinations such as "he may eat", "he can eat", "he should eat", etc. may have future implications; that is in the nature of possibility, permission, obligation, etc.

Some would contrast compound forms such as "she will eat" with forms in other languages (e.g. "elle mangera"), and argue that the latter is an inflected form, and thus a genuine "future tense", wherea

I don't know. It depends on the definition of "tense", maybe. MW:

1 : a distinction of form in a verb to express distinctions of time or duration of the action or state it denotes
2 a : a set of inflectional forms of a verb that express distinctions of time b : an inflectional form of a verb expressing a specific time distinction


So yeah, maybe they can all be f

Well, "I had fun tomorrow" is a new one on me!But then, it might be back to the future

Sorry for the mix-up on "may"; I th

The past tense could also be called a future tense, of course, on the same basis:

1. If I posted this in Linguistics tomorrow, would you mind?

MrP

And of course, the main clause "would you mind" is also relative future.