As much as I admire the nature of the English language, I think we need
to be very careful about certain generalized claims about language.

Geoff Layton:
>    The recent posts on verb tenses, as well as the one just
> preceding, made me realize all over again what a difficult, but gloriously
> unpredictable this language of ours is.  I think that the group has shown
> that no one really ever masters it.

No language can be seriously unpredictable.  If that were the case, we
would be unable to learn it.  From a first language learner perspective,
all human languages are more or less easy (or difficult) to learn.

Teaching non-native speakers has made me realize how much knowledge of
English native speakers "get for free."  Our discussion about the
English tense aspect system has been about how to explain it.  Given its
complexity, it is remarkable the few kinds of non-standard forms that
occur in the various dialects of native speakers. I suspect the kind of
tense problems in native speaker writing that teachers are responding to
deal with changes from the past to the historical present to relate a
story in more immediate, vivid terms.  In other words, even these
non-standard switches in tense are principled.

As a teacher of pre-service teachers, I think it is much better to show
my students how much complex knowledge we all have about English which
is never taught. Variability occurs because certain principles of
English are in conflict and/or the writing system is an imperfect
representation of what is possible in the oral language.

Bob Yates, Central Missouri State University


(Of course, there are remnants of the historical origins of English
which are not predictable.  Consider the irregular verb forms.  Because
I know a little German, I recognize how these irregular forms show that
English is a Germanic language  Nothing about the verb "go" reveals what
its past and past participle forms are.  That is truly unpredictable
from a first language learner perspective.)

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