Don't worry about it Terre. No one else sees the error either, and it's 
definitely not a British vs. American English thing. Brad has a view of 
the perfect that is, to say the least, idiosyncratic, and he remains 
impervious to correction despite years of people with far more knowledge 
of grammar than he pointing out the mistakes in his conception.

His invidious distinction between linguists and grammarians is a 
response to the continuing derision that his ideas have faced on this 
list: if you don't agree with him, you're a horrible, head-in-the-clouds 
linguist and can be dismissed. Never mind that he's never managed to 
find a grammarian to agree with him.

Based on his comments, Brad appears to assume that the present perfect 
can only have one meaning (action starting in the past and continuing to 
the present).

There's a bit of irony there, in that he accepts the present perfect 
when it was what those nasty linguists call "imperfective aspect" and 
rejects it when it expresses "perfective aspect."

Given that Brad tends to reason about language error by inferring what 
"must" be the case based on grammatical labels rather than on how people 
actually use language, you'd think he'd go the opposite way.

Karl

On 8/16/2010 6:12 AM, Teresa Lintner wrote:
> Brad,
>
> I'm sorry, but I don't see the error in the sentence. In ESL textbooks the
> present perfect also has the meaning of "recently completed." This meaning
> is more often the case in British English, but it's also used here,
> especially in the news.  Isn't that the meaning in the sentence about Nick?
>
> Terre
> Teresa Lintner
> Senior Development Editor
> Cambridge University Press
> 32 Avenue of the Americas
> New York, New York 10013-2473
> Telephone: 212 337-5070
> Fax: 212 645-5960
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> From:	Brad Johnston<[log in to unmask]>
> To:	[log in to unmask]
> Date:	08/15/2010 10:27 PM
> Subject:	Re: from "Grammar Blast" via ATEG
> Sent by:	Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>              <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Geoff,
>
> So you like, "Nick has written a new song"?
>
> That's O.K. for you and your students? as if Nick is still scribbling? Even
> as we speak?
>
> Rather than, "Nick wrote a new song"?
>
> You're a linguist, not a grammarian, aren't you?
>
>
>
>
>
> What I wrote below is very much grammar, not linguistics, which is exactly
> why I think linguists should go somewhere else or grammarians should go
> somewhere else and let linguists carry on thinking about how the Armenians
> and the Greeks and the Visigoths actually speak or spoke. There's room for
> you guys but there's also room for people who think standard verb tenses
> are a necessary part of Standard English, and who understand, by the way,
> that conveying Standard English to students, particularly ESL students, is
> difficult and demands the dedicated attention of those who try to teach it.
>
>
>
>
>
> Grammarians struggle for coherence. Linguists are fascinated by
> incoherence. Two different disciplines. Two different goals. Two different
> results. Two different worlds.
>
>
> .brad.15aug10.
>
>
>
> From: Geoffrey Layton<[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Sun, August 15, 2010 5:00:51 PM
> Subject: Re: from "Grammar Blast" via ATEG
>
>   Who wants to know? Who cares? Why bother? And other standard responses to
> Brad's questions!
>
> Geoff Layton
>
> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:27:03 -0700
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: from "Grammar Blast" via ATEG
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Which verb phrase correctly completes this sentence?
> Nick ____ a new song.
>
> has writ
> has wrote
> has writed
> has written
>
> Houghton-Mifflin's (Grades 6-8) answer is "has written". Correct answer,
> not offered, is "wrote", unless Nick is still writing as we speak, in which
> case the sentence should read, "Nick is writing a new song".
>
> Is it not so?
>
> Same for this one for Grade 7:
>
>
>
> Which verb or verb phrase correctly completes this sentence?
> Mia ____ her part in raising money for the team uniforms.
>
>
>
> do
> done
> has done
> has did
>
> Mia "did" her part, unless Mia is still out knocking on doors.
>
> still Grade 7.
>
> Complete this sentence to correctly form the future perfect tense.
> Molly ____ written to her aunt in Dublin, Ireland.
> has
> will have
> had
> did have
>
> The future perfect is not possible without enabling context.
>
> Still 7th Grade.
>
>
>
> Which verb or verb phrase correctly completes this sentence?
> Lincoln ____ a taxi at the street corner.
>
>
>
> has catched
> catched
> was caught
> has caught
>
> Try "caught" here, Houghton-Mifflin -- and by extension ATEG.
>
>
>
> Which sentence has a verb in the past progressive form?
>
>
>
> Will you help me hang these curtains?
> It can be an awkward task for one person.
> Do you like the pink-and-orange stripes on the fabric?
> I was hoping for a bright, cheery effect.
>
> Ya wanna try this one without help, Seventh Graders?
>
> Now it's Eighth Grade and H-M is still doing it.
>
>
>
> Which verb correctly completes this sentence?
>
>
> Jack has ____ his bicycle all over Nebraska.
>
>
>
>
>
> rided
> riden
> ridden
> rid
>
>
>
>
>
> Not unless he's still pedaling, H-M.
>
>
>
>
>
> Whew! Houghton-Mifflin needs help.
>
>
>
>
>
> N'est-ce pas?
>
>
>
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>
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>
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