ABSTRACT
The verbal group is that class of the unit 'group' which operates at the element 'predicator' in the structure of the clause. Halliday's three-term system is used here, the only modification being that will is not always taken as signifying the future. Both an operator will and a modal will are recognised. Sequent tense may be used in reported speech and expressions of 'unreality'. The name 'sequent' is derived from 'sequence of tenses'. This relates to its use in reported speech. With reported speech the verb in the rankshifted clause is usually in the past tense if the verb of reporting is also in the past tense. To find out whether the verb in indirect reported speech is sequent, one has to translate the clause into direct quoted speech. If the same tense is possible in direct quoted speech, then it is not sequent; if the same tense is not possible, then it is sequent.
