ATEG Archives

March 2009

ATEG@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU
Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
Re: On the road to Nashville
From:
"STAHLKE, HERBERT F" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 9 Mar 2009 08:06:04 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (56 lines) 
Direct discourse:
Cindy says, "I have lived in Nashville for ten years."

Indirect discourse:
Cindy said that she had lived in Nashville for ten years.

Under conditions of sequence of tenses, past perfect can be the past of present perfect.

Herb


Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
[log in to unmask]
________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wollin, Edith [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: March 8, 2009 4:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: On the road to Nashville

Cynthia had lived in Nashville for ten years before she moved to Toronto.

        -----Original Message-----
        From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Brad Johnston
        Sent: Sun 3/8/2009 12:44 PM
        To: [log in to unmask]
        Cc:
        Subject: On the road to Nashville


When Cynthia got to Nashville, she had been driving for 8 hours. (past perfect)

When Cynthia gets to Nashville, she will have been driving for 8 hours. (future perfect)

Whee. Here she is in Nashville. She's been on the road for 8 hours. (present perfect)

Cynthia has lived in Nashville for 10 years <and still does>. (present perfect)

Cynthia lived in Nashville for 10 years <but now lives in Toronto>. (simple past)

Note that the past perfect is not the past of the present perfect. If she now lives in Toronto, we say "she lived", we do not say, "she had lived".

Is it possible to conjure context that compels, "she had lived"? Yes, of course. If you have enough shoe polish, you can make a polar bear into a brown bear, but as it stands, if she now lives in Toronto we say, "Cynthia lived in Nashville for 10 years".

        To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

        Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

ATOM RSS1 RSS2