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If an event will occur in the future I might say:

There will be an event and it will have a number of features.

If it occurs in the past I might say:

There was an event and it had a number of features.

If it is occurring now I might say:

There is an event and it has a number of features.

What if I dont yet know the time of the event relative to "now"? Alternatively, what if I do not want to reveal if the event has occurred yet, but I do want want to describe it?

If I want to remain ambiguous about gender I can use the neuter form. Is there something equivilent in tense, or is there a selection of tense neutral words I can use instead?

Mr Purple
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    Nominalize it the occurrence of this event or use a tenseless verb construction like gerund having this event or infinitive to make this event happen, etc. – John Lawler Mar 26 '14 at 02:54
  • "The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes that a fact was true before, is true now, and will be true in the future." http://www.englishpage.com/images/verbs/simplepresentfact.gif http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepresent.html – Kris Mar 26 '14 at 06:44
  • I believe that there are sufficient people who are infuriated with my explanation of the subjunctive - but subjunctive is what you actually mean. What you mean is not ambiguous, but encapsulated for flexibility. Read my response at http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/155893/how-is-the-english-subjunctive-composed/156033#156033. – Blessed Geek Mar 26 '14 at 07:22

1 Answers1

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A generalization like one of these doesn't specify when the event occurs:

There are a number of features with this event.

or

There are a number of features associated with this event.

or

The event is associated with a number of features.

Canis Lupus
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