Subj : Tenses...  1.
To   : Anton Shepelev
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Mon Jun 08 2020 23:33:17

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

AH>  I could have written "... none of which has [blah blah]
AH>  but all of which we are still using."  Although it would
AH>  have made a nicer parallelism I felt it might be
AH>  unnecessarily wordy.

AS>  Indeed. The amendment I had in mind (but withheld) was
AS>  the following:  "none with magic(k)al powers, but all
AS>  of them still in use".


          I consider it a reasonable alternative....  :-)



AS>  My other misdoublt about it (withheld, too) was that "but"
AS>  does not seem to introduce any kind of contradtion! On the
AS>  other hand, magical items, being rarer, are likely to be
AS>  used longer.


          The latter is +/- what I had in mind.  Once I am dead & gone my heirs & executors may not see any further need to keep various household items.  If I owned a magic ring they might feel differently about it.  But if I'd never told them this ring had magical powers, or if they preferred to believe the old lady was delusional, you might see it offerred for sale as "antique jewellery".  ;-)



AH>  As a native speaker I depend heavily on my Russian modem
AH>  buddies & foreign language textbooks to identify the names
AH>  of verb tenses.

AS>  I think the terminology is largely the same in English
AS>  Grammars written in English, by the English, and for the
AS>  English.


          Exactly.  One of the reasons I like traditional grammar is that I can communicate with people of all ages... from all over the world... knowing their dictionaries & grammar books will employ +/- the same terminology mine do.  :-)



AH>  In general the present tense would work too, but in this
AH>  example I figure it would change the emphasis as well as
AH>  the rhythm I had in mind.  :-)

AS>  If I grasp this distinction corretly, then I should say
AS>  that a busy and professional photographer may say: "I am
AS>  using a Horizon camera,"


          Such a person might say "I am using [blah blah], as we speak... but I use different equipment under different conditions."  :-)



AS>  whereas a time-to-time amateur like me who shoots several
AS>  film rolls a season may say: "I use a Horizon camera"?


          If that is the only camera you have, yes.  Although I continue to use the cutlery I inherited from various people I have other cutlery as well... and I won't bore you by explaining in detail which item I use for which purpose(s).



AS>  That the sound of your original version is better is "fixed
AS>  with the golden nails to the walls of inevitable necessity".


          "Necessity is the mother of invention", or so I am told.  While I can hardly compare myself to Mozart I can see now why I understood intuitively what he meant when I did sight reading.  It simply wouldn't work any other way.  Yet my writing area, like Beethoven's manuscripts, is littered with revisions.  :-Q



AH>  If I knew he'd reverted but my brain slipped a cog, I
AH>  might say "I forgot he'd been vegetarian as an impecunious
AH>  student but modified his stance after he began doing hard
AH>  physical work in the construction industry....  :-)

AS>  Your extrapolation has given new life to my example, but I
AS>  see no cogs slipping...


          Upon reading your reply I see I forgot the end quotation marks there. Even English teachers make misteaks, but I appreciate the compliment... [grin].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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