Subj : A question about tenses
To   : Anton Shepelev
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Sun May 24 2020 13:46:26

Hi, Anton!  Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas Hinton:

DH>  The writer is writing about events which have happened (past).
DH>  We have no idea what (if anything) has transpired since. In
DH>  any case, to suddenly shift from past to present would be quite
DH>  jarring to the reader. And also, the ring is (or seems to be
DH>  from this fragment) a very minor part of the story so who really
DH>  cares about it's current location? :-)

AS>  I see.


           Okay.  I could add a story about some things a friend gave us after his mother's death, but apparently you don't need it....  :-)



AS>  It reminds me of a dialog line from a British horror story,


           Note to Alexander:  dialog(ue) reflects the way the characters in a story would speak & can't necessarily be taken as a guide to proper usage.



AS>  where a woman excalims "I forgot he was vegeterinan!", when
AS>  she realies she has prepared no vegetaranian meal for her new
AS>  acquaintance, who, by all means, is vegetarian still.


           If this woman thinks it's imperative that "forgot" agree with "was" she may be adhering to a "rule" which native speakers break routinely, because it doesn't make sense when e.g. somebody who claimed to be vegan or vegetarian awhile ago may have changed their mind.  Dallas & I often see the latter.  :-Q




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 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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