Subj : Can't/Couldn't...  1A.
To   : Paul Quinn
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Mar 02 2018 18:00:57

Hi, Paul!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

ak>  It was the third glass pane I can't carry to my house!"

PQ>  An interesting story, Alexander. I would normally say
PQ>  "couldn't".


         Same here.  As for *why* we do what we do... that's not always easy to 
explain without using technical terms, but I'd say you managed quite well.  :-)



PQ>  It's probably something to do with tense.


         Bingo!  :-))



PQ>  "Can't" means to comment on something in progress, I think.


         Yes, "can" is present tense...



PQ>  "Couldn't" implies that something that has occurred in the
PQ>  past.


         ... and yes, "could" is the past tense of "can".



ak>  I just thought now that maybe I should have used the Present
ak>  tense -- the man's speech is direct, in quotes.


         Irrelevant.  Here's a direct quotation of a nursery rhyme:

                       I had a little nut tree;
                       Nothing would it bear,
                       But a silver nutmeg
                       And a golden pear.

                       The king of Spain's daughter
                       Came to visit me,
                       And all for the sake
                       Of my little nut tree.


IOW, the quotation marks indicate that you're repeating somebody's exact words. 
I quoted the above example in the past tense because that's how I heard it as a 
child.  If the imaginary person in your example used the past tense because the 
item in question had already been broken, "It *was* the third pane" is correct.




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

.