grammar - Why doesn't the auxiliary will qualify as future tense?


According to A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, Tense is defined as follows:



Tense. A system marked by verb inflection or auxiliaries whose basic use to locate the situation in time: I liked it (past tense, past time), I like it(present tense, present time).



However, the author also points out:



..., English is not one of them: it has no future tense. It does have several ways of talking about future time, and the most basic one does involve the auxiliary will.



These two quotes made me puzzled because, as noted above, Tense is denoted by inflection or auxiliaries and the auxiliary will seems to clearly meet the criteria. In conclusion, my question is



  • Why doesn't the auxiliary will qualify as future tense?




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