218 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences > Arts and Letters. 
The use of a relative tense, as itself the point of reckoning 
for what is sub-relatively past or future, is sporadic only, its 
possibility being illustrated by “I had been about to eat. 77 The 
further possibilities exhibited by “I had been about to have 
eaten, 77 etc., are, so far as observed, entirely neglected in lin¬ 
guistic practice. (But, in the time-correlation of several verbs, 
compare “We believed him to have been about to confess to 
have regretted his not having planned to claim to have desired, 
etc., etc. 77 ) 
Degree of remoteness from the chosen point of reckoning 
is occasionally indicated. Tor instance, “I have eaten, 77 de¬ 
veloped perhaps by analogy with “had eaten 77 and “shall have 
eaten, 77 indicates in English a less degree of pastness than “I 
ate 77 ; but as, in the use of correspondent forms, the other lan¬ 
guages exhibit notable inconsistency, it may be neglected. 
Listed in chronological order, the tenses appear as follows: 
(1) Ante-past, e. g. “I had eaten. 77 
(2) Past, e. g. “I ate. 77 
(3) Post-past, e. g. “I was to eat. 77 
(4) Present, e. g. “I eat. 77 
(5) Ante-future, e. g. “I shall have eaten. 77 
(6) Future, e. g. “I shall eat. 77 
(7) Post-future, e. g. “I shall be about to eat. 77 
The imagined modal force of the post-past, on which some 
comment was foreshadowed on page 213 may be explained 
as follows: Of two phenomena let one (men’s being horses) 
appear as condition, and the other (men’s eating oats) as con¬ 
clusion; and let the condition rank as untrue. In cases of 
this sort the condition is commonly conceived as past. The 
reason for this it is unnecessary to establish. 73 Granted the 
73 The shadow at least of a reason is apparent. Thus, that men be 
horses is, so far as accumulated data indicate, untrue. Yet, if to all 
futurity be given the chance to make them horses, the obviousness of 
such untruth is somewhat lessened. This loss of obviousness it is the 
part of rhetorical prudence to avoid. It is better not to give to time 
the chance to turn the untruth into truth—better not to use the 
future tense. 
Of the remaining tenses—past and present—the latter is exposed to 
the risk which attends all incomplete observation; and observation in 
the very nature of the case can never be carried out completely to the 
