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It is often assumed that the semantics of temporal expressions is directly related to the linear time concept familiar from high-school physics—that is, to a model based on the number line. However, there are good reasons for suspecting that such a conception is not the one that our linguistic categories are most directly related to. When-clauses provide an example of the mismatch between linguistic temporal categories and a semantics based on such an assumption. Consider the following examples, suggested by Ritchie 1979: a.(1) When they built the 39th Street bridge...... a local architect drew up the plans. b.... they used the best materials. c.... they solved most of their traffic problems.

To map the temporal relations expressed in these examples onto linear time, and to try to express the semantics of when in terms of points or intervals (possibly associated with events), would appear to imply either that when is multiply ambiguous, allowing these points or intervals to be temporally related in at least three different ways, or that the relation expressed between main and when-clauses is one of approximate coincidence. However, neither of these tactics explains the peculiarity of utterances like the following: