Б. С. Хаймович, Б. И. Роговская теоретическая грамматика английского языка

We hear you are engaged to be married. (Jerome).

§ 257. The present non-continuous non-perfect may be used to denote a future action. The usage has been handed down from Old English with its two-tense system, in which a future action was regularly denoted by the present tense.

When employed in the simple sentence to denote a future act the present non-continuous non-perfect mostly occurs with verbs denoting concrete acts¹ (such as to come, to leave, to sail, to go, to dine, to break up, to graduate, to meet, to see, to remain, to start, to take place, etc.).
When so used it has a distinct modal force. It is used with the implication of the certainty of fulfilment².
Consequently one can see that though the usage is a very old one, it has acquired a new meaning not observed in Old English.
Quite naturally, the present non-continuous non-perfect used in reference to the future occurs, as a rule, in a context indicating futurity (with such adverbials as tonight, tomor­row, next week, etc.).
It is regularly found in adverbial clauses of time and condition if the verb of the principal clause denotes a future act, i. e. if it is used a) in the future tense, b) in the imperat­ive mood, c) in the present tense and is followed by an infin­itive with a future meaning.
I will try and be at Throop Street if nothing interferes. (Dreiser).
Answer by special message when you get this. (Ib.).
I want to speak with you before we meet at the theatre. (Ib.).
L. S. Barkhudarov and D. A. Shteling see the cause of this usage in the modal tinge of the present non-continuous non-perfect. In their opinion the present in the subordinate clause stresses the reality of the condition or circumstances represented by the subordinate clause. It leaves some room for doubt, however, because it does not explain why the usage is confined to definite types of clauses.
I. P. Ivanova believes that the use of the present in the subordinate clauses of time and condition results from the fact that the, idea of futurity is sufficiently clear from the form of the verb in the principal clause and the semantics of the conjunction.
The form of the verb in the subordinate clause expresses no temporal meaning of its own, and is adjusted to that of the principal clause, which accounts for the retention of the older form (of the present tense) in the subordinate clause.

§ 258. We can say that as compared with other groups of verbal grammemes the present indefinite non-perfect is the richest in temporal meanings, since it serves to represent an action as belonging not only to the present, but to the past and to the future as well.

The Past Non-Continuous Non -Perfect

§ 259. As a part of the verb system it may be said to pre­sent an action in the past (past tense) unspecified as to its continuity or entirety (non-continuous or common aspect) or correlation with other situations (non-perfect order).

Used in speech it can denote isolated acts, a succession of events, recurring actions, etc., the aspective colouring being dependent on the meaning of the verbs and the context it occurs in.


E. g. I looked in her eyes again. (Hemingway).
I looked in her eyes, p и t my arm around her and kissed her. (Ib.).
In the late summer of that year we l i v e d in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. (Ib.).

§ 260. Since it denotes an action which precedes the moment of speech, i. e. it is associated with a time limit, it is not very well suited to represent permanent actions, in other words, it is less general in sense than the present non-continuous non-perfect, that is why it is but rarely used in 'omnitemporal', 'generic' meaning, though this is not alto­gether impossible.

E. g. Faint heart never won fair lady. (Proverb).
The idea conveyed is that what was true for the past is true for the present and the future. Likewise in It w a s ever thus. This is however, a purely literary device.

§ 261. The past non-continuous non-perfect is largely used in narration. This is, as it were, its main sphere as seen from the examples below. The share of this grammeme in narration with reference to the past is about 82.4 per cent.

My friend s a w the priest from our mess going by in the street, walking carefully in the slush, and p о и n d e d on the window to attract his attention. The priest looked up. He s a w us and smiled. My friend motioned for him to come in. (Hemingway).

§ 262. The past non-continuous non-perfect functions as a relative tense when denoting a future act viewed from the past (with a modal tinge of certainty, see § 257).