The English present tense is argued to yield simultaneous readings under
present tense intensional operators (via SOT) and double access readings
under past tense operators (via de re interpretation; Absuch 1997, a.o.;
though see challenges from Gennari 2003, Altshuler & Schwarzschild 2012,
Klecha 2016). Here, we consider examples where the embedded present is
anterior both to the speech time and the attitude holder de nunc time, such
as the case of **takes** in (1):
(1) He gets maps from friends and calls in at local offices of the American Automobile Association to get directions, but still gets lost several times…I can’t remember how long **it takes him**, but it’s weeks.
We argue that such embedded presents are instances of the historical
present (HP), and hence that accounts of the HP must be changed to allow
composition with clausal embedders, which we do by making it an intensional
operator relative to a salient narrative or story.
