Crazy as it may seem, I feel as if I am going crazy with the unrelenting pounding of the past perfect on the grammar list. Crazed with a passion of language dating far back into the history of the Marian family, I find it difficult to become bored with any facet of language discussion, as long as it is headed somewhere. It is crazy to think that repetition and redundancy, the very essence of skills and drills, do not actually teach anything about language, but merely offer a brief respite of finality to something that has no final answer. As we crazily search for that instance where meaning is singular, duplicity and choice reign supreme. Crazy as this may sound, can't we just think of the past perfect as a "choice" that writers may make, one of infinite choices, that contribute to meaning in all of its myriad forms. It is an option, not an ultimatum; how can we say this is "wrong?"

 

Best Wishes,

 

Gram