Further to this post, a reader has sent us an ingenious example of a novel linguistic construction that attempts to escape the constraints of the English language in order to give the impression that tentative predictions of the future are happening now:
“The fact is we are causing future contemporary climate change. [Geological hazards are] another portfolio of things we haven’t thought of,” says Bill McGuire from the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre at University College London.
H/T Ian L
Here’s another new tense for the English language – the continuous future-present – from p14 of the famous Kofi Annan -endorsed Global Humanitarian Forum report, written by a PR firm, but routinely referred to (eg recently by Caroline Lucas) as a UN report :
“Figure 2 – The impact of climate change is accelerating over the next 20 years”.
Courtesy of a commenter – ‘potentilla’ – at the Guardian’s commentisfree site, the New Scientist quote the Met Office’s Vicky Pope.