Those who pretend that they know better than everyone who has ever published 
on the subject and yet offer nothing more than misplaced sarcasm to buttress 
their position have even more work cut out for themselves.

A remark from Richard Dawkins (made in a somewhat different context) leaps to 
mind: "It is, of course, entirely legitimate to question conventional wisdom 
in fields that you have bothered to mug up first. That is what Einstein did, 
and Galileo, and Darwin. But our hundred million are another matter. They are 
contradicting ... vast fields of learning in which their own knowledge and 
reading is indistinguishable from zero."

Brad Johnston wrote:
> Herb wrote:
>  
> I don’t doubt that this is honest inquiry on your part.  It is, however, 
> uninformed inquiry as well, and, as others have suggested, your inquiry 
> would be much more successful if you took some time to study the area 
> that you are researching.  You might look, for example, at the sections 
> on tense and aspect in Sidney Greenbaum’s Oxford English Grammar (OUP 
> 1996).  It’s a very thorough and readable reference grammar and not 
> terribly expensive, about $50 for the hardback edition.  Amazon has used 
> copies at half that price.  I think you’d find it useful.
>  
> *~~~~~~~~~~~~*
> **  
> *The Oxford English Grammar, by Sidney Greenbaum, c.1996, page 272.*
> * * 
> * 5.28   Past Perfect *
> * * 
> * The past perfect (or pluperfect) is a combination of the past tense of 
> the verb /have/ (/had/ or the contracted form /'d/) with the perfect 
> participle. It is used to refer to a situation in the past that came 
> before another situation in the past. The past perfect represents either 
> the past of the simple past or the past of the present perfect. *
> * * 
> * *
> * *~~~~~~~~~~~~* *
> * *
> * * 
> * Those who don't know what's the matter with this have their work cut 
> out for themselves, don't they, Herb? *
> * * 
> * .brad.06apr08. *
> 
> You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster 
> Total Access 
> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=47523/*http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com>, 
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> 
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> 

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