Studies of particular languages

Futurity can be signalled in English in a great variety of ways. [Aarts reviews previous statements concerning the progressive and non-progressive present with future reference.] There is considerable agreement among authors who have dealt with this topic, but to define the conditions that cause a speaker to choose the one form rather than the other would call for a detailed study. The importance of context of situation has been overlooked. Elements within the sentence depend on one another. The subject is not a factor making the use of the simple or progressive future present unacceptable. The adverbial element often 'specifies' the tense, so that both work together (as Crystal has shown) to produce a time-relationship. This does not mean that an adverbial need occur in the same sentence. The adverbial specification may not be explicit. In many traditional approaches it is assumed that the verb is the only element determining the grammaticality of sentences which use the progressive or non-progressive present, and that verbs occurring in such sentences constitute a limited class of verbs having common semantic features, but on the whole grammarians have been reluctant to commit themselves on the latter point. Most of such verbs are 'process' verbs (Joos's term), but some process verbs cannot signal futurity in the present tense and Joos's classification into process and status verbs does not cover all verbs. Simple and progressive present with future reference are part of a multi-member system signalling futurity. Future reference of the present tense is possible, in certain contexts, with the majority of English verbs.