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How can I cover past, present and future in one statement?

English Language & Usage Asked by DBedrenko on February 5, 2021

I can make statements about rain in the past, present and future:

  • "it has rained" covers the past, as does "it has been raining all day today"
  • "It is raining" covers the present
  • "It will rain today" covers the future

How can I cover all three time periods with one statement? That it has rained prior to the moment, in the current moment and is expected to rain after the current moment.

Is there anything syntactically or grammatically wrong about the sentence "It is raining the whole day today", which I believe covers all bases? If so, what rule does it break?

3 Answers

"It is raining the whole day today" is a highly unusual sentence: it seems that it is not found at all (Weather forecasts can be as precise as to predict rainy weather for a whole day, which is not continuous rain, but not more.) But this is true for the model of the sentence relatively to the particular happening that rain refers to and some others. In the case of other happenings on which man can have a greater degree of predictability it seems different and sentences such as the following appear to be normal.

  • He is sorting out old papers all day today and doesn't want to be disturbed.

The rule that seems to be broken is a semantic one, the assertion of an event which can be only an eventuality (for the rest of the day) according to all means of verification of its truth at human disposal.

If it had been instead "Rainy weather is our lot for the whole day today.", no logical issue would seem to impinge upon the thinking as we rely fairly much on weather forecasts for the predictability of such events, and as we think right away that the assertion depends on a meteorological forecast.

Answered by LPH on February 5, 2021

The way to say this is:

It has been raining all day.

One continuing event

We use the present perfect continuous for a single activity that began at a point in the past and is still continuing:

I’ve been reading your book – it’s great. (I’m still reading it.)

He’s been living in the village since 1995. (He is still living in the village.)

She has been writing her autobiography since 1987.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/present-perfect-continuous-i-have-been-working

Answered by Xanne on February 5, 2021

The tense you are looking for is the Simple Present Tense.

Although called the 'present:

The simple present tense [...] is used to describe habits, unchanging situations, general truths, and fixed arrangements.

So for example:

It is hot in the desert.

Does not just mean that right now the desert is hot, or only that it has been in the past, or will be in the future, but that the ongoing, continuous temperature in the desert is "hot".

The simple present version of your sentence is

It rains.

Examples of the simple present are:

The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.

I take my holidays in France

He drinks coffee after dinner

Answered by DJClayworth on February 5, 2021

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