TES 26 Tense Ask most people and they would say that English has three tenses past,

, present and future. We disagree. Here's the choice before us: English existed. English exists. English will exist. three tenses past present future two tenses past present present

If you learnt about tenses when you were at school, you were probably taught the threetense analysis, but modern grammarians almost all favour the one with two tenses. Why? The crucial question is whether the future is separate from the present. The modern analysis says it's not, because will is a verb with its own tense, and that tense is present. So in Literacy Strategy terms, will exist is a verb chain just like has existed and may exist. All are built out of a present-tense auxiliary verb (will) followed by a participle or infinitive (exist). How can we be sure that will is present tense? Because it has a past tense: would. How do we know? Well, this is where we can show that all this matters to the busy teacher of English. One of the things young writers practise is reporting other people's words and thoughts, and one of the things they learn to manipulate is tense. English has a rather peculiar rule which favours 'backshift' - shifting present tenses into the past when they're reported in a past-tense context. For instance: Everyone thinks that today is Friday. Everyone thought that today was Friday. This rule is odd because the sentence Today was Friday is simply weird out of context. The only justification for the past tense was is the past tense in the reporting verb, thought. Now look what happens when you report a (supposed) future tense: Everyone thinks that tomorrow will be Saturday. Everyone thought that tomorrow would be Saturday. Notice how will turns into would through backshifting, in exactly the same way that is changed into was. That's one reason why we can be sure that would is the past tense of will - and that will itself is present tense. Still not convinced? Well, here's another bit of evidence. Let's start with this pair of examples: When he felt happy he looked happy. When he feels happy he looks happy. Here the verbs have the same tense. Why then does a future will look demand a present feel rather than a future will feel?

When he feels happy, he will look happy. Once again: the supposed 'future' behaves just like a present tense, so it must be a present tense. So what? Well, if you try to help children to control their tenses, you can simply forget about the future. The only problems for them are in the choice between past and present (including the choice between past would and present will). Its another reminder of the way some of the so-called grammar rules of the past led to confusion rather than clarity.