Is this correct:
"Before I will lay out his argument, I will define my terminology."
Or/and is this correct:
"Before I lay out his argument, I will define my terminology."
I would argue that the latter is correct but the former is not. My boyfriend disagrees. Which one is correct and why? Help!
Best Answer
Your sentence:
Is correct as written, and means something different from your proposed alternate:
John Lawler wrote in a comment:
His final sentence regarding Washington is in reference to FumbleFingers’ comment:
When you begin a sentence with
You are using will not as a neutral marker of the future but as a synonym for be willing. It’s like when your dad tells you to go clean your room and you answer No, I won’t! meaning that you refuse to do so, that you are unwilling to do so.
So that means:
That’s like saying that:
Here’s another example of this deontic use of will with before:
In other words,
Which is also:
All modal verbs in English have two modes of operation: the epistemic mode and the deontic mode. Knowing which is which is critical to figuring out which in this famous pair is the cry for help and which is the suicide note. :)
You should please see Professor Lawler’s linked answer for a bit more about this.