In linguistics, the prospective aspect (abbreviated PROSP or PRSP) is a grammatical aspect describing an event that occurs subsequent to a given reference time.
As an example, consider the following sentence: The verb would arrive expresses a combination of past reference time (the situation of my getting home, established as being in the past by the introductory clause) and an event (John's arrival) whose time of occurrence is subsequent to the reference time.
Technically, this verb is said to be past tense, prospective aspect, with the tense expressing the time of the overall situation and the aspect expressing how the event itself is viewed, relative to the vantage point of the overall situation.
In English, the prospective aspect is most clearly distinguished in the past.
However, in English it is possible to express the prospective aspect in tenses other than the past using the so-called going-to future: "He says he's going to finish soon.