Patty,
Before you all get too worked up, and since "Traffic Surge" was/is mine, let me say that I considered apologizing for letting two trolls sucker-punch me and get me to respond to them. That was a mistake. The last and most offensive post of mine was a keyboard error. It was meant to go back to the sender, not to the list.
But I decided that since retort tends to lead to rejoinder in ever widening circles, I'd better "leave it lay". Then you came to my defense, which I appreciate. It is no fun to be to object of Paul & John's childish comments, however valid they think them to be.
Here's what I think they object to. The purposes of my continuing crusade are two.
One is that it has become clear over time that the linguists on the list tend to dominate the list in a way that crowds out considerations of grammar and the problems of teaching grammar. To anyone who doubts this assertion, I suggest you add up the posts for say the third quarter of this year and get a non-subjective fix on the extent of the domination. Don't take my word for it; add them up yourself. The linguists do dominate this listserv. Their goals and interests are different.
Secondly, there are very real problems in the grammar marketplace that seem to slip quietly past the professionals on this list.
Last April, a grammar text came on the market which deserves your attention, but you -- we -- are too busy wondering why the Goths and the Visigoths went to war over the pronunciation of some long-forgotten word.
Look at this:
The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! 101 Ways to Impress With Your Writing and Speaking, c.2010. [Paperback]
Arlene Miller, author
page 15: Tenses
Present perfect: I have walked to the store every day this week. (It happened in the past and is likely continuing.)
Present perfect progressive: I have been walking to the store.
Past perfect: I had walked to the store before I met Sue. (It happened in the past by a certain time at which something else happened.)
Past perfect progressive: I had been walking to the store when I met Sue.
Future perfect tense: I will have walked to the store by six o'clock. (It will happen in the future before some other future event.)
Future perfect progressive: I will have been walking to the store every day this week by tomorrow.
page 16: Here are the tenses for the verb to be, using the pronoun you:
Present Perfect/Present Perfect Progressive: you have been/you had been being
Past Perfect/Past Perfect Progressive: you had been/you had been being
Future Perfect/Future Perfect Progressive: you will have been/you will have been being
~~~~~~
"You will have been being"? Wow! It's no wonder students are confused and hate grammar. Grammar makes a lot of sense but not if you take to heart what is written above.
Isn't this what ATEG should be thinking about? Isn't this what grammar teachers need to know and to convey to their students? If you're a grammar teacher and you don't know what's the matter with Arlene Miller's grasp of it, above, you have work to do before you deserve to stand in front of students.
The lack of response to legitimate grammar considerations is why you hear from me from time to time. It's a mess out there in the Land of Grammar Textbooks and it's even worse in the Land of Online Grammar Advice -- much worse. Yet professional grammarians stand aside and let it exist, as above, without protest.