Verbs: time, tense, and aspect

Let's start with verbs because they build on the process of lexical words losing their meaning and becoming traffic signals instead of vehicles for look-up meanings. 

Tense and Time

I suggested that English has only two tenses, past and non-past or real and irreal even though we understand the placement of actions or objects in present and future time. Tense is a method of marking time through morphological means, endings or internal vowel changes (English retains some alternatives to the "regular" -ed ending).

end/ended

catch/caught

write/wrote

fly/flew (but a batter flied out when a bird flew out)

But non-past times are marked differently.

I go to the doctor next week (specific time)

I go every Tuesday  (set time)

I go to Walgreens  (general time)

I am going to the grocery even as we speak (immediate present)

English tends to use context to differentiate immediate present, defined future, and general time states, unlike somewhat more synthetic languages that mark such times with endings, prefixes, or internal changes to words. The seven thousand or so active languages in the world use a wide variety of ways to mark time. 

What about our words for future time? We're gonna skip gonna, which we messed with last time. 

will

The word will is the most prevalent marker of future time. Here's what we can find out about it by looking at a selection of the 94 meanings for the verb  in the Oxford English Dictionary (only 60 of which are still used):

II.i.

The present tense will.

• II.i.7. Old English–1862

• † Expressing a desire: desire to, wish to, want to, have a mind to (do something); often also implying intention (cf. senses II.i.9, II.i.12, II.i.16). Obsolete.

He..examines the dinner-card..; points..to the dishes which he will have served.

W. M. Thackeray, Adventures of Philip  vol. I. iii. 3

II.i.14. Old English–

Expressing prediction of future events.

• 1918

Heavy field work'll spoil that girl. She'll lose all her nice ways and get rough ones.
W. Cather, My Ántonia  i. xvii. 143

II.i.15.a. Old English–

Expressing prediction of a contingent future event, or a result to be expected, in a supposed case or under particular conditions (with the condition expressed by a conditional, temporal, or imperative clause, or implied): must as a necessary consequence.

• c1740
  He who abandons or betrays his Country, will abandon or betray his Friend.
  Viscount Bolingbroke, Idea Patriot King Preface 4

II.i.16.a. Old English–

In the first person, expressing the speaker's or writer's immediate intention: I will ‘I am now going to’, ‘I proceed at once to’. In the negative, used idiomatically with verbs such as say, as in I will not say ‘I do not venture so far as to say’.

• 1934
  ‘I will not say I am absolutely sure of it,’ said Mr. Parker Pyne cautiously.
  A. Christie, Parker Pyne Investigates 72II.i.16.c.

II.i.16.c. a1200– 

In the first person plural, expressing a proposal: we will ‘let us’ (in early use with inversion of subject and verb) .

• 1823
  We will forget Mrs Dods for the present, if you please.
  W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well  vol. I. xii. 281

Here's a list of related meanings for the Indo European uel Il from the quirky but interesting The Origins of English Words (see Resources page): 

wish for, will; enjoy. L velle: desire; voluntas: of one's own will; voluptas: delight. velleity, volition; voluntary. involuntary; volunteer. benevolent; malevo-lent. nolens volens, reversed in willy-nilly (will-ye, nill-ye). voluptuary, voluptuous.

Gc, well, weal, wealth; commonweal. wallop, also gallop: first, delight in running, gallant. gala, galanty show; gallivant. gallimaufry: first, delight in eating.

William: will to protect.

shall

Are we strong enough for a dive into some of the 87 meanings (62 still current) listed for this word in the OED? I'll give a briefer summary but would happily dive into the OED if people wish. 

The earliest meaning, last documented in 1425 is "To owe (money or allegiance)."

The next, last found in 1562 is "In general statements of what is right or becoming, superseded by the past subjunctive form should."

A sense that lasted until 1625 is "what is appointed or settled to take place = the modern 'is to'. . ." 

We're getting closer. . . 

Here's a phrase from the Book of Common Prayer, still in use in the Church of England: "Ye shall pray for Christ's Holy Catholic Church."

So, I think we can see what turned into a more emphatic marker of future action, emphasizing obligation.

Aspect

Of course, actions move through time, so English marks completion with, as was earlier pointed out, the word of possession,  have. Ongoing actions, whether in past, present, or future time, are marked with the existential verb to be and an -ing on the following verb. (We'll explore the strange history of the existential verbs in a week or two.)

Nouns are next.