http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aMorphology+tag%3aPresent+progressive&tag=Morphology,Present+progressive&orTags=0Search results for 'tag:Morphology tag:Present progressive' matching tags 'Morphology' and 'Present progressive'en-USCSMOD (Debug Build: 3110.25895)http://www.englishforums.com/English/TenseUsed/3/bgwmh/Post.htm#115522Tue, 05 Jul 2005 11:16:09 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:115522viognierHi all <br /> <br />Hi TS. As you said, we don't know how to define present and future. But we can strictly define a grammatical category [tense], in terms of morphology. A grammatical category consists of a paradigmatic opposition of morphological forms. Thus we can define [past tense], [present tense] and [future tense], theoretically. <br />(I'm not sure if I explain my opinion clear enough or not. If you're interested in it, I'd like to quote more clear definition next time.) <br /> <br />The discussion went around the question: how we should define the semantics of the "simple present form" vs. the "will+infinitive form." That is, the question was whether we can describe the semantics of "will+infinitive form" as [future tense] or not, I guess. <br /> <br />The former and the latter questions are intertwined, but I think we can discuss them from both sides. <br />------------------------------------------- <br />Hi MrPedantic <br />It's interesting. <br />I'm inclined, however, to distinguish first of all the semantics of the present progressive from that of the simple present tense (of reportive usage). It's not easy, although the difference seems obvious intuitively. So it seems you brought forward another difficult question..! <br /> <br />viognier