[shun]

Originally Posted by incognittum

Would you like to chat through an instant messanger?

Have seen the private message. If the definition is correct, it must be very short and instant. Embarrassed, I don't know how to use what-you-called instant messenger and I am an old dog that fails new trick.

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Originally Posted by incognittum

Things do happen in the future,.....

I have asked for the definition of "the future", but you are always giving me, here again, things about the future. Future time and future things are different and I think that, if you pardon me, you haven't stayed on the subject steadily. As you say "Things do happen in the future", you have presupposed I know what is future. I still can't get the definition of "future time" even after you have chatted to me, in a fastest way, a thousand times of "future things".

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On the other hand, here is how we stay on our subject of time:
If you say "in two hours" is future, it is within today.
If you say "tomorrow" is future, it is within this week.
If you say "next week" is future, it is within this month.
If you say "next month" is future, it is within this year.
If you say "next year" is future, it is within this decade.
If you say "next decade" is future, it is within this century.
If you say "next century" is future, it is within this millennium.
If you say "next millennium" is future, it is within this biggest present time possible.

The contrasts above are enough for us to achieve an instant definition for "future time".

Would your next line be the definition of future time? Or another wandering future thing?

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If you scroll down this page you may see there is a past subject: "Do we have future tense?"

Here is the exact link:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/te...ure-tense.html

If we cannot define future time, we don't know whether we have Future Tense or not. That is to say, we jump to the conclusion that we don't have Future Tense, just because we cannot define future time. A very long premature jump.

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Down this page there is also another old subject: "Is Yesterday a past time?"

Here is the exact link:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ge...past-time.html

I am afraid the problem has not been solved yet. As there are new Yesterdays in the future, why would we call Yesterday a past time?

You work yesterday, you work today, and you work tomorrow. Will you regard the work as past? I don't think so.

Similarly, as we have Yesterday yesterday, have Yesterday today, have Yesterday tomorrow, and have Yesterday forever, why will we regard Yesterday as past?

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The conclusion deduced from above is very simple to me, we can't even define what is past, present, or future. But there must be the definitions somewhere, as far as I know. But where?

Perhaps, however, the answer has already been in "Do we have future tense?":

Originally Posted by tdol

However, having been through and seen this argument time and time again, I think of it as more a question of faith\belief, rather than logic.

So, your chatting messenger should be connected to Tdol's.