Tense and temporal semantics

Tenseless theories of time entail that earlier than, later than and simulta neous with (i.e., McTaggart's 'B-series') are the only temporal properties exemplified by events. Such theories often come under attack for being unab le to satisfactorily account for tensed language. In this essay I argue tha t tenseless theories of time are capable of two feats that critics, such as Quentin Smith, argue are beyond their grasp: (1) They can coherently expla in the impossibility of translating all tensed sentences by tenseless count erparts; (2) They can account for certain obviously valid entailment relati ons between tensed sentence types. In analyzing tensed entailment relations tenselessly, I favor a date analysis of tensed language over a token-refle xive theory. The upshot is that tenseless theories of time are not undermin ed by the linguistic facts.