200. If degrees of probability can thus be eliminated from the
copula, much more so can expressions of time, which may always be
regarded as forming part of the predicate. 'The sun will rise
to-morrow' may be analysed into 'The sun is going to rise to-morrow.'
In either case the tense belongs equally to the predicate. It is often
an awkward task so to analyse propositions relative to past or future
time as to bring out the copula under the form 'is' or 'is not': but
fortunately there is no necessity for so doing, since, as has been
said before ( 188), the material form of the copula is a matter of
indifference to logic. Indeed in affirmative propositions the mere
juxtaposition of the subject and predicate is often sufficient to
indicate their agreement, e.g. 'Most haste, worst speed,' chalepha
tha kala. It is because all propositions are not affirmative that we
require a copula at all. Moreover the awkwardness of expression just
alluded to is a mere accident of language. In Latin we may say with
equal propriety 'Sol orietur cras' or 'Sol est oriturus cras'; while
past time may also be expressed in the analytic form in the case of
deponent verbs, as 'Caesar est in Galliam profectus'--'Caesar is gone
into Gaul.'

201. The copula then may always be regarded as pure, that is, as
indicating mere agreement or disagreement between the two terms of the
proposition.




CHAPTER III.