What is the past perfect, Craig? It's not "had + the past participle". What is it? You're supposed to know.

What would you write on the board if a student asked you what it is? Make it short enough that your students can copy it in their notebooks and carry it out the door when the bell rings.

What is it, Craig?

(You're one of the ones who have been unwilling or unable to say what it is. Is there anything angry or insane about my simple request? What is it? Don't write a book, just say, in terms a student can understand, what it is. I asked Herb about as many times as I asked you and he finally, finally, said, It depends, which is a tad inadequate, as you will surely agree.)

.brad.17feb11.

~~~~~

From: Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, February 17, 2011 10:10:17 AM
Subject: Re: insanity

Dick,
The idea for this most recent conversation is to come up with a view of the past perfect that pleases the rest of us. Whether it pleases Brad is not important. It is insanity to expect a conversation with Brad to accomplish anything new, so our goal should be to discuss it with each other. I am looking forward to reading what Herb comes up with. I expect Brad to react angrily to that, but his response is irrelevant.
I may be wrong, but I think reacting to Brad has kept us from a productive discussion.

Craig

On 2/16/2011 3:51 PM, Dick Veit wrote:

If we would all try just a little harder, explain the past perfect just a little more clearly, try just one or two or fifty more times to get you-know-who to engage in productive dialogue, surely then he will see reason and all will be well and we can turn to other topics. We won't know if we don't try many, many, many more times, will we?

Cheers,
Dick

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:24 AM, Geoffrey Layton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

:)

Geoff Layton

Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:45:46 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: insanity
To: [log in to unmask]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.