(By Sonia Cristofaro): "This chapter examines the form of the verb in ‘when’ clauses. Examples (1) - (3) provide instances of ‘when’ clauses in English (throughout the chapter, ‘when’ clauses will be enclosed in square brackets in the examples): (1) [When I go there], there is hardly anybody around. (2) [When writing the next chapter], you should deal with these issues. (3) [When the Nazis came to power], several intellectuals left Germany. ...❡
As was done for purpose clauses (Chapter 125), ‘when’ clauses are defined in functional, rather than morphosyntactic, terms. A ‘when’ construction is regarded as one encoding a temporal relation between two events, such that there is a temporal overlap between the two. The exact extent of the overlap is unspecified and subject to variation. For instance, in (1) and (2) the linked events are simultaneous, while in (3) they may or may not be simultaneous – in fact, there might be an interval of some days, or even months or years between them."