Thank you, Linda--your remarks help! Chuck Fisher Professor, English Aims Community College 5401 West 20th St. Greeley, CO 80634 970-339-6520 [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: Linda DiDesidero To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 5:54 AM Subject: Re: "Add" or "Added"? Hi, Chuck. I don't know if we talked about your question here. Here is my take on it: The two sentences could be synonymous, OR they could refer to different events (or to different sub-events of the same big event), though in actual usage, this distinction might not be apparent to many speakers. 1. "Would you mind if I added your name to the list?" Yes, this -ed ending follows the rules. The question refers to a hypothetical completed action: the state of the name having been added to the list. Hence the -ed ending. So the speaker is asking the hearer if she would mind a state or condition in which her name had been added to the list by the speaker. It seems to me that the second example has a slightly different meaning in that it refers to the beginning of the speaker's action, but not its completion. I don't know how aware speakers might be of these distinctions if, in fact, they exist. 2. "Would you mind if I add your name to the list?" This question refers to a hypothetical act of the speaker taking a pen and beginning to write the name on the list. She is asking if the hearer would mind this undertaking. While sentence 1 refers to the completed state of the name being on the list, sentence 2 refers to the act of the speaker actually writing the name on the list. You can imagine different situations in which these distinctions might be important. For example: Would you mind if add your name to the list, or do you want to do it? *Would you mind if I added your name to the list, or would you want to have done it? Linda 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/