Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
Herb,
   I can also imagine a context in which "what happened" was occurring as she related it--a journalist, for example, reporting on an event that suddenly turned tragic. "Someone opened fire. She realized she was supposed to be professional. She took a deep breath and, between sobs, related what happened." The second version, "related what had happened," would mean she was reporting after the event, not during it.
   I agree. The pragmatics is interesting.

Craig
   

STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote: 








Because of the lack of context, we’re in the realm of invited inference.  The second sentence invites the inference that what she related happened just prior to the time of the sentence and is somehow related to her emotional state.  The first sentence permits but does not invite this inference, and so she could also be relating something that long before, perhaps did not involve her directly, but moved her deeply.
 
The pragmatics of sentences like these is particularly interesting, and there’s been some good work done on the nature of invited inference by Michael Geis, Jerry Morgan and others.
 
Herb
 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brad Johnston
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 9:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: What does this mean?
 







What does this sentence mean: She took a deep breath and, between sobs, related what happened?

 

What does this sentence mean: She took a deep breath and, between sobs, related what had happened?

 

.brad.04nov09.

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