rule for attachment, which indeed is what linguists have done. Nevertheless,
structural analyses reveal much about the nature of grammatical constructions.
Tense and Its Complexities
When we examine tense closely, it becomes apparent that the relation between
tense and verbs is not a simple one. Tense does not merely indicate when an ac-
tion took place, as evidenced in sentences such asMacarena could visit her sick
friend in the morning.The verbvisitis not tensed in this sentence; instead, the
tense marker is attached to the modal. But although the modal is in the past
tense, the action is to occur in the future. Many students have a hard time grasp-
ing this concept.
PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR 127
Sentence: 4.24: Fritz may get a promotion.