ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a model of the English tense system which can be used in analysing the systems of tenses that are used in the various types of WC (and in the HCs supporting them). The framework in question is that which is set out at greater length in Declerck (1991a). In the present book this model will be adopted without drastic changes, though there will be a couple of (especially terminological) adaptations, to which special attention will be drawn. Since, for obvious reasons, the survey has to be as concise as possible, I will restrict myself to just those aspects of the theory that are directly relevant to the topic of this book, viz. the use of tenses in sentences involving a WC of one of the various types under discussion.
