This study investigates the synchronic distribution of grammatical expressions (grams) along the path of grammaticization for anterior and diachronically related senses. I use the synchronic distribution of these grams as a means of inferring their diachronic behavior, particularly in terms of renewal, defined as the 'refilling' of a given semantic domain in the on-going process of grammaticization. The data support the hypothesis that there is a robust tendency for renewal among grams

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... g anterior and related senses and therefore suggests certain stability in the shape of tense/aspect systems in the languages of the world, at least for this set of grams.