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Jooney Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Tense
Hi,
Of course, most chefs and cooks profess the gospel of simplicity. And then they weaken. “Nowadays it has to be pretty special before I’ll invest,” said Ms. Davison of America’s Test Kitchen, while admitting, in the next breath, that she’s about to buy a panini press.
My grammar book says, "When adjuncts and the complements of temporal prepositions such as after, before, as soon as, etc., take the simple present, not the will construction, when the reference is to future time."
So I'm questioning the grammticality of the underlined subordinate clause. Is it OK as is?
Thank you in advance.
Of course, most chefs and cooks profess the gospel of simplicity. And then they weaken. “Nowadays it has to be pretty special before I’ll invest,” said Ms. Davison of America’s Test Kitchen, while admitting, in the next breath, that she’s about to buy a panini press.
My grammar book says, "When adjuncts and the complements of temporal prepositions such as after, before, as soon as, etc., take the simple present, not the will construction, when the reference is to future time."
So I'm questioning the grammticality of the underlined subordinate clause. Is it OK as is?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
This is a tough one. Because English does not have a dedicated conjugation that is always future tense, the "will + verb" construction is typically used. But, when you have a something that already infers the time element, in this case a proposition, it is unnecessary.
- This is a tough one.
- Because English does not have a dedicated conjugation that is always future tense, the "will + verb" construction is typically used.
- But, when you have a something that already infers the time element, in this case a proposition, it is unnecessary.
- " Notice also, that "about to buy" is used here as well.
- "About to + verb" (or "Going to + verb) are also future indicators, but for something that is very imminent.
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6 Answers
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This is a tough one. Because English does not have a dedicated conjugation that is always future tense, the "will + verb" construction is typically used. But, when you have a something that already infers the time element, in this case a proposition, it is unnecessary. It does not mean it is incorrect to use "will", but you do not have to, since it is already implied by the word "before." No
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jooney“Nowadays it has to be pretty special before I’ll invest,”My first impression is that it's incorrect, but on the other hand it seems natural to refer to a "second (future) step" in this way.
"It must be very special before I'll go on to do X."
There's also the possibility that "will" is used to describe the decision process.
"I a
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Just to clarify, my opinion is that you could say "before I invest" and that would be perfectly acceptable. But, "before I will invest" is not wrong, just unnecessary since you already have the time element indicator of "before."
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Thank you, KJinCali79 and Avangi, for your answer.
I think the crux of the matter is whether "it has to be special" should be considered as referring to future time. If it refers to future time, the will in the preposition phrase may be redundant in that the future reference is already signaled in the main clause.
I think the crux of the matter is whether "it has to be special" should be considered as referring to future time. If it refers to future time, the will in the preposition phrase may be redundant in that the future reference is already signaled in the main clause.
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jooneywhether "it has to be special" should be considered as referring to future time.I'm inclined to agree with you.
The "nowadays" can throw us off, because it sounds like the present.
But it can mean "during the present period of time, I will do X when Y obtains."
(I think habituation can include a future element.)
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