Here's a quote from a book I've just started to read (Always On : Language in an Online and Mobile World) questioning the reason for the proliferation of errors in common texts (newspapers, ads, etc.) that I think is relevant to this discussion: "Might it be that we the readers (who ourselves are often writers) are less fussy than we used to be? Is it that we could proofread— we know the rules— but no longer care to do so? More radical still is the issue that even good writers are themselves becoming less certain about rules for word construction and sentence mechanics. Is it ‘‘iced tea’’ or 'ice tea’? ‘Ring tone’’ or ‘ringtone’? And so what?" In other words, so what if we're a little loosy-goosy with verb tenses? Who cares?

Geoff Layton
 
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 12:06:50 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Exhibit #126, Grammar for Teachers
To: [log in to unmask]

Grammar for Teachers, Andrea DeCapua, c.2008. Available at Amazon for $56.

(Dr. Andrea DeCapua is Associate Professor of Multilingual, Multicultural Studies in the Graduate School at The College of New Rochelle.)

Section 5: Perfect

Underline the past perfect verb phrases

A. Forty-eight thousand dollars was still a lot of money. More than he <had> ever had in his life. And since he <had> never intended to split it with Earl, it was all his. But his bad luck <hadn't stopped> didn't stop there. Earlier today, he <had> learned through Rose's cousin in Toledo that Arturo Garcia <had> showed up at her house, put a knife to her throat and demanded to know where Ian was. Marie, who was afraid of her own shadow, <had> claimed to have had no choice but to tell him the truth.  (C. Heggan, c.2003, Deadly Intent, page 95, Ontario: Mira.)

B. Her rounds finished, Abbie returned to the kitchen, feeling much more relaxed than she <had been> was twenty minutes earlier. Agonizing over a man who <had> apparently vanished was stupid and nerve-racking. Whoever <had> attacked her was gone, and so was Ian.  (Ibid, page 164.)

~~~~~~~

Eleven 'had's in A & B above. Nine wrong, two right. (No past perfects) Error rate: 82%. In a grammar text.

Look at the title. It's a book written for you, Grammar Teachers. It's been out for three years but who has complained? Who has said, "Wait a minute; that's not right"? 

Geoffrey said, "State your case". Is this better, Geoff?

.br-had.02aug11.

"You can't make a past tense verb into a past perfect verb by putting 'had' in front of it."
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