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Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brad Johnston
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 10:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: compelled by context

"Michael Williams, 32, was scheduled to die last year for a 1993 rape, robbery and murder. Instead, he will get a new hearing because an investigator found that the forewoman of his jury had been married to a deputy sheriff who testified against him."

The Question: was the forewoman married to the deputy sheriff at the time of the trial?

The Answer: The way it is worded, that the forewoman had been married to the deputy sheriff, they were not married at the time of the deputy's testimony.

Had it been worded that the forewoman was married to the deputy sheriff, they were married at the time of the testimony.

In either case, their relationship would have been ruled prejudicial but it is doubtful the writer of the Post item made a conscious decision, one way or the other. He or she was probably just settling for routine bad grammar.

This can serve as a partial reply to someone who questioned what I meant when I wrote that unless timing sequence is indicated in the sentence, or compelled by context, there can be no past perfect. He asked what does, "compelled by context", mean?

If the writer wanted it known that the forewoman had been married to the deputy but was not married at the time of the trial, such context would compel the tense of the verb as it was written.

I have a better example of compelled-by-context for you.

.brad.22apr08.