ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters we have—generally at any rate—started from the grammatical (or functional) categories recognized by the English language (such as present tense, preterit, ivill, etc.) and then inquired into their meanings (functions, uses). In this chapter it will be our purpose to start from the notions concerning time that are universal, independent of any special linguistic features, and then to examine how far and in what way they are expressed in the English verb. To some extent this will be a mere (shorter) repetition of what has already been said, only turned the other way, so that now we shall look from the inside at the same things which we have been regarding from the outside: still the new viewpoint will allow us to bring together things whose connexion was perhaps obscured by the former arrangement; and some things will be dealt with here at some length which could not easily find a place in the previous chapters.
