April 1994/Expanding a Conversation Processor for Time/Table 2

Table 2 The auxiliary and tense combinations below initially have an unclear auxiliary meaning. But the processsor can determine a clear meaning through sentence analysis.

Auxiliary        Tense    Clear Meaning
--------------------------------------------------
no auxiliary     Past     Particular Point of Time
                 Present  Limited Duration
is               Present  Limited Duration
                 Future   Fixed Plan
could            Future   Possibility
could be         Future   Possibility
may be           Past     Possibility
                 Present  Possibility
may have         Past     Possibility
                 Present  Possibility
may have been    Past     Possibility
                 Present  Possibility
would            Past     Characteristic
would have       Past     Characteristic
would have been  Past     Characteristic
would be         any      Probability
must have been   any      Logical Necessity
must             any      Obligation
must be          any      Obligation