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Post by ghostthinker25 on May 30, 2019 13:03:09 GMT
Many textbooks describe the future tense as a way to talk about things that are certainly going to happen in the future. However, we can't be fully aware of all the factors that will affect the future. Is it correct to use a present tense to talk about a possible future event without using any uncertainty markers at all?
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Post by archlogician on Jun 3, 2019 1:48:50 GMT
When an agent communicates honestly in the future tense, I think we can adopt a pragmatic interpretation of truthfulness to obtain a reasonable semantic account in these standard approaches. It gets subtler when the agent communicates dishonestly. However the issues in understanding the semantics of deception, though I am not versed on whether these exists a literature of such things, would seem to arise regardless of future or present tense. As such, I would contend that these future tense defaults to certainty relative to the agent's ability to achieve certainty, but this is a defeasible phenomena.
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Post by joustos on Jun 10, 2019 16:25:45 GMT
Many textbooks describe the future tense as a way to talk about things that are certainly going to happen in the future. However, we can't be fully aware of all the factors that will affect the future. Is it correct to use a present tense to talk about a possible future event without using any uncertainty markers at all? Actually in English the future tense is occasionally used to state a (presumed) necessary consequence, rather than a future event, as in the case, "If I walk too fast, I WILL FALL down." In some other languages, such as Italian, the future tense may be used to admit a present possibility, as in "Sara` bella, ma non e` gentile" ( = She may be beautiful, but she is not polite). This "... may be..." is the present Subjunctive, not the ordinary or Indicative present tense [… is ….] |
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sculptor
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Post by sculptor on Jun 13, 2019 12:39:42 GMT
Many textbooks describe the future tense as a way to talk about things that are certainly going to happen in the future. However, we can't be fully aware of all the factors that will affect the future. Is it correct to use a present tense to talk about a possible future event without using any uncertainty markers at all? No because I might not know about this tommorow. |
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