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Still Tense About Tense? Tenses Part 2

Tense Talk

Last week we began a discussion about tenses. We talked about the six main tenses, their companion progressive tenses, and how to form them all. This post will talk about the time each tense refers to, as tense is all about time.

Here is a timeline of the six main tenses, from earliest to most future:

   < Past Perfect     Past    Present Perfect     Present      Future Perfect    Future >    

Here are explanations of each of the tenses:

Present: Something that is happening now.

I take piano lessons.
I am taking piano lessons.

Past: It already happened, and it is over. (Note the difference between past and present perfect.)

I took a piano lesson last night.
I was taking a piano lesson last night.

Future: It will happen at some time in the future.

I will take a piano lesson tomorrow afternoon.
I will be taking a piano lesson tomorrow afternoon.

Present Perfect: It happened in the past, and it is likely continuing in the present. It may not be over. (Compare with past tense.)

I have taken piano lessons for the past five years.
I have been taking piano lessons for the past five years.

Past Perfect: It happened in the past before something else happened in the past. Note that it is used in a sentence along with a past tense verb. Don’t use it with another past perfect verb. 

I had taken piano lesson for five years before I won the state piano contest.
I had been taking piano lessons for five years before I won the state piano contest.
Not:  I had been taking piano lessons for five years before I had won the state piano contest.

Future Perfect: It will happen in the future before some other event in the future. Note that the future perfect is generally used with another verb that is present, but implies the future. Do not use it with a future tense.

I will have taken piano lessons for five years before I go off to college to major in music.
I will have been taking piano lessons for five years before I go off to college.
Not: I will have been taking piano lessons for five years before I will go to college.

Most people don’t think about what tense they are using, and usually things are okay. In a couple of weeks, we will talk about some of the tense errors that are made.

Note, too, that infinitives can be used in the present tense or the past tense:

I wanted to go to the mall yesterday.
I wanted to have finished my shopping by now.

I hope you are less tense after two weeks of tense talk! Next week, we will talk about some irregular verbs that make us tense when we use them in various tenses!

 

 

 

 

 

Tense About Tense?

Verb Tenses

Tense is one grammar issue that doesn’t generally make us tense—like commas, for example. Most of us just talk or write without thinking too much about tense.  Tense, of course, refers to time and always concerns verbs.  This post begins a short series of posts about tense and its issues.

How many tenses are there in the English language? Many people would say three: past, present, and future. Actually, there are many more than that. But let’s start at the beginning.

A verb has a few forms: Present, Past, Past Participle, and Present Participle. These are related to, but not the same as, tenses.

Present: The regular old form of the verb. Let’s use talk as an example.
Past: The past tense form of the verb. With regular verbs, we just add   -ed to the present: talked.  One problem is that there are so many irregular verbs in our language. More about that in another post.
Past Participle: Talked
Present Participle: Talking

Okay. Let’s use an irregular verb:

Present: Freeze
Past: Froze
Past Participle: Frozen
Present Participle: Freezing

Now, how many tenses are there? More than three. Most people would say there are twelve, and that is what we will say. However, if you want to get really fancy, there are more than that. There are six main tenses, and each one has a companion progressive (or continuous) tense, thus making twelve. Here they are, and here is how they are made using the verb forms above.

1.Present tense – Use the present form: I talk to you. The pond freezes.

2. Simple past tense – Use the past form: I talked to you. The pond froze.

3. Future – Use the auxiliary (or helping) verb will with the present form: I will talk to you. The pond will freeze.

Now, each of those tenses has a perfect tense:

4. Present perfect tense – Use the auxiliary verb has or have with the past participle form: I have talked to you. The pond has frozen.

5. Past perfect tense – Use the auxiliary verb had with the past participle form:  I had talked to you. The pond had frozen.

6. Future perfect tense – Use the auxiliary verbs will have with the past participle form: I will have talked to you. The pond will have frozen.

Okay. Those are the six main tenses. Each one has a matching progressive or continuous tense, and often these tenses are more commonly used.

7. Present progressive tense – Use the auxiliary verb am, is, or are with the present participle: I am talking to you. The pond is freezing. (Our pond example doesn’t make complete sense in these progressive examples, but we will stick with it!)

8. Past progressive tense –  Use the auxiliary verb was or were with the present participle: I was talking to you. The pond was freezing.

9. Future progressive tense – Use the auxiliary verbs will be with the present participle: I will be talking to you. The pond will be freezing.

10. Present perfect progressive tense – Use the auxiliary verbs has been or have been with the present participle:  I have been talking to you. The pond has been freezing.

11. Past perfect progressive tense – Use the auxiliary verbs had been with the present participle: I had been talking to you. The pond had been freezing.

12. Future perfect progressive tense –  Use the auxiliary verbs will have been with the present participle: I will have been talking to you. The pond will have been freezing.

There you have it! Some verbs aren’t used often in progressive tenses. Others are used mostly in progressive. Our examples of the past and future perfect tenses show how the form is made, but the sentences really need something added to them because of how we use those tenses. 

Next week, we will see the differences among the tenses, how they are used, and the timeline showing where each belongs. 

Oh, what about those other fancy tenses? We use them,  but we don’t really think about them much. And yes, we can and do use them incorrectly sometimes. I am not going to delve into the other tenses (twelve is enough for now), but if you would like more information about the “past unusual conditional” tense, be my guest!  http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/conditional/

 

 

National Grammar Day 2016!

March 4 is National Grammar Day! A whole day devoted to grammar . . . And here is our annual Grammar Day post.

Fifteen Things About Grammar

Virtually every written human language has developed rules for its use.
 Way back in ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle were interested in language and can be blamed for helping form the foundations of the parts of speech.
 Latin became the language of Western Europe during the Roman Empire, and  later it became the official language of the Roman Catholic Church.
The word grammar comes from the Greek word gramma which means “writing” or “letter.” This root is also found in other English words like autograph, paragraph, telegram, monogram, etc.
Grammar school got its name because it was the basic school where students learned to read and write.
In the Middle Ages, the language of the Church and official government documents was Latin. English was the language of the lower class and is a hodgepodge of Latin, Greek, German, French, and other languages.
On the island of Great Britain alone, there were between thirty and fifty distinct dialects of English. People who spoke one dialect couldn’t understand the others.
In the 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer began writing in English. However, it was not standardized.  There was no great need for it to be standardized, since most of the population was illiterate. 
In the fifteenth century the printing press made the language of the London middle and upper classes the standard for English. Those who disseminated  information wanted it to be understood by as many readers as possible.
The first printing press in England began operation in 1485. The first book  printed  was Sir Thomas Malory’s collection of King Arthur stories known as La Morte D’Arthur.
 By the 1700s, writers were compiling dictionaries and  grammar books as English literacy grew.
A standard written English evolved. “Correct” English was often that spoken by the more educated. However, since the educated class included clergy and teachers, the standard spread; most people wanted to do business and communicate with one another, so standard grammar and spelling was necessary. 
The standards were developed for effective communication, not to impress others. Dialects and distinctive pronunciations are OK in informal spoken language. However, written language should adhere to standards for better communication.
English is very tolerant of accepting new words and adds thousands of new words each year.  This makes English the richest language for words and shades of meaning. It also makes the language difficult to learn for foreign learners.
Time Magazine has predicted that the word whom will be gone by the end of the 21st century. ( I hear you all cheering!

Thank you to this website for the info!

Some Quotes About Grammar

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense but the past perfect! – Attributed to both Owens Lee Pomeroy (1929–2008) and Robert Orben (b.1927)

Practice safe text — use commas, and never miss a period. – Internet meme

There are grammatical errors even in his silence. – Stanisław J. Lec, Unkempt Thoughts, translated from Polish by Jacek Gałązka, 1962

If the English language had been properly organised by a businessman or Member of Parliament, then there would be a word which meant both “he” and “she”, and I could write, “If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis”, which would save a lot of trouble. – A.A. Milne

I always put the apostrophe in “ain’t” to make certain I’m using proper improper English. – Author unknown

Every time you make a typo, the errorists win. – Author unknown

When money talks, no one checks the grammar. – Author unknown

No one can write perfect English and keep it up through a stretch of ten chapters. It has never been done. – Mark Twain

The serial comma is sexy, smart, and useful. – Author unknown

You call them swear words, I call them sentence enchanters.- Author unknown

Thank you to this website for the quotes!

Some Grammar Funnies

 

 

Are You As “Gruntled” As I Am?

Now and then I see a post or article about words that are negative, but have no positive counterpart — like disgruntled. There is no gruntled. There are many words like this, generally missing a positive antonym without the negative prefix of dis or mis or non or un or in. Occasionally, there is a similar word with a negative suffix like –less, for which there is no counterpart without the suffix.

So, I thought I might try to write you a story with some of these words. Here goes:

I was recently invited to a party. It was evitable that I would accept, since I do not love parties. Some people are much more ept at socializing than I am. I heard that some of the people were choosing to go in costume, but I prefer to go cognito. Being on the shy side I walk into a party chalantly.

The hostess had hired a comedian to provide entertainment. When he got up to begin his act, it was promptu, since the whole thing was planned. He was actually quite funny, and his intelligent humor was ane. His funny stories flowed well with continuing sequitors. 

Although my house is usually peccable, the hostess’s house was in perfect array. Even the room with the cat’s litter box was gusting. The evening continued quite pleasantly for a while. Then two guests became commnunicado and didn’t remain  ruly. I like both these guests, so I looked at them with dain, and had givings about how it would turn out. When the argument escalated, I was frankly plussed. One participant was a female cousin of mine, who was descript and would stand out in any crowd. She was hibited when it came to speaking her mind. The other person arguing was tall, but very gainly. He was surprisingly mayed when the woman flirted with his friend instead of him. It was beknownst to me that the two of them used to be a couple.

After watching this argument for a while, I was commital about going home. I accepted from a ride from a neighbor I knew would be a reck driver.

March 4 is National Grammar Day
 So next week’s post will be the annual Grammar Day Post. Stay tuned!

 

Cake, Prizes, and Fun with Words

I hope you will be able to join me this Friday evening, February 26, at 7 p.m. at the Petaluma Copperfields on Kentucky Street. I will be launching my newest book, Fifty Shades of Grammar, with a talk about where grammar comes from and why we need it. Then, I will read some scintillating parts of the book. There will then be prizes and chocolate cake. Who could ask for more? What a way to spend your Friday evening! And it is all free! Support your indie bookstores and our local authors!

Join Me!

Go Slow: Flat Adverbs Ahead

http://www.thinkstockphotos.com
Photo by Egal

Flat adverbs? Is this yet another grammatical thing we need to know about? Well, yes and no, but it isn’t difficult. 

Let’s start at the beginning. Adverbs are the part of speech that “describe” verbs. They usually tell how or when or to what extent. And they can also describe adjectives or other adverbs. And to review, adjectives are the part of speech that usually describe nouns (or pronouns), telling what kind. Here are some examples of adverbs:

He talks quietly. (Quietly is an adverb that tells how he talks.)
We will leave soon. (Soon is an adverb that tells when we will leave.)
He talks extremely quietly. (Extremely is an adverb describing another adverb – quietly – that tells to what extent.)
She is really pretty. (Here, really is an adverb describing the adjective pretty, telling to what extent.)

You have probably noticed that many (probably most) adverbs end in  -ly, especially the ones that tell how or to what extent (as opposed to the ones that tell when, like now, then, soon, and later).

Now, there are also some other words that end in -ly, mainly some adjectives like lovely, lonely, and daily.

So, not all adverbs end in  -ly, and not all words that end in -ly are adverbs.

Now, what does this have to do with flat adverbs, and what are they anyway?

Okay. Many of the adverbs that end in  -ly  are created from the adjective, which has no  -ly:

quiet is an adjective (quiet house), but quietly is an adverb (talk quietly).
soft is an adjective (soft blanket), but softly is an adverb (speak softly).
quick is an adjective (quick bunny), but quickly is an adverb (run quickly).
slow is an adjective (slow turtle), but slowly is an adverb (drive slowly).

You get the idea. 

A flat adverb (finally!) (oh, and final is an adjective, and finally is an adverb) is an adverb without an  -ly at the end.

Soon, now, then, later, too, very . . .  adverbs with no -ly. Easy.

But that is too simple. How about these sentences?

Drive slow because the roads are slippery. (Should it be slowly?)
You went fast through those curvy roads.
You need to come clean about what really happened.
Stay close to me as we walk through the crowd.
He hit the ball really hard.

Let’s talk about those flat adverbs:

Drive slow. Well, you could also have said drive slowly, so is drive slow okay?
You went fast. Well, there is no fastly. Fast is both an adjective (fast car) and an adverb (drive fast). There is no  -ly form at all of this flat adverb. 
Come clean. Here is an adverb where the -ly form is used differently than the flat form. The wound healed cleanly is fine, but you wouldn’t say come cleanly. We just don’t use it that way.
Stay close. Stay closely doesn’t make sense. However, follow closely does, so the flat adverb and the  -ly form are used differently in this case.
Hit hard. That makes sense. But if you say hardly hit, well, that is really the opposite. So, in this case the flat adverb and the -ly form are opposites!

Flat adverbs used to be more common. Now, if we can use the -ly at the end, we tend to. For example

The moon is shining brightly –  instead of shining bright.
Drive slowly through the storm  – instead of drive slow through the storm.
Run quickly until you get to the other side of the street  – instead of run quick.

So, if you can use the  -ly version, it is probably best.

However, you have seen that in some cases the flat adverb and the -ly version have different uses, which is fine (stay close and follow closely, for example). In other cases, they are complete opposites (hit hard and hardly hit), which is also fine. In those cases, using the flat adverb is perfectly fine.

Rule of thumb: If there is an -ly version of the adverb that has the same meaning as using it “flatly” (is that even a word, or did I just make up a new adverb? She sings flat! Not flatly!), use the -ly version, as it is more common these days. If the flat adverb says it best (bestly?) use a flat adverb.

News:

Yesterday, Joel Friedlander, self-publishing expert, published a guest post of mine on his popular blog. Click here to see it.

I did an interview for KRCB radio about my upcoming event at Copperfields. I will post it when it is broadcast next week. It’s about – what else – grammar!

Speaking of Copperfields . . . if you live in the area, I really hope to see you on Friday evening, February 26, at 7 p.m. at the Petaluma Copperfields for the official launch of Fifty Shades of Grammar. In addition to reading parts of the book, I will be talking briefly about where grammar rules come from and why we need them. There will, of course, be cake and prizes. 

signing off for this week . . .

The Grammar Diva

Writers: Copyediting Doesn’t End with Your Manuscript! Guest Post

Here is a guest post I wrote for Joel Friedlander’s blog. Joel is the go-to person for self publishing, so you should definitely check out his website!

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2016/02/arlene-miller/

Avoiding Jargon

This is a good article on avoiding jargon in your business writing:

http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/grammarly/10-jargon-phrases-avoid-business-writing-01455724#YxXgeWFME3vvbqOh.97

What Is Love? The Annual Valentine’s Day Post

I was going to give you some nice quotes about love  — and I still will — but then I thought I might write something a little more personal  . . .

I have been in love two — maybe three — times in my life. So, love, to me, isn’t that frequent an occurrence. And we probably all have our own definitions of what romantic love is. To me, it is when a piece of your heart still belongs to that person no matter how many years have passed. Obviously, other things are involved, but  that is how I can tell the “love” relationships from the others. There is no better feeling  than being in love — and sometimes no feeling that is worse.

But I have some questions:

There is a difference between “loving” and “being in love.” What is that difference?

What is chemistry? Is it merely physical attraction or is it something more? Can you have chemistry without physical attraction?

Why is it that we so often “love” those who don’t return our feelings? And we don’t return the feelings to those who “love” us? And can it be love at all if it is one-way only?

Is love the same at 60 as it was at 20? 30? 

Can you love two people at one time?

Is there such a thing as a soulmate? And do we each have just one soulmate somewhere in the world?

Are there really lots of people we can be in love with? Only a few? Or does it vary depending on who we are? And if it depends on who we are, what is it about us that makes that true?

Is there anything to the “law of attraction”?

For a long-term relationship is “being in love” necessary — or may it even be detrimental?

Is the state of “being in love” temporary? Does it sometimes turn into love and sometimes not?

Can you be married and “fall in love” with someone else, and if you do, what do you do?

What is the difference between being “in love” and being “in lust”?

Well, enough of my questions. If you have any “answers” or opinions about any of my questions, please do comment!

———————–

I have a book called Be Gentle with Me for I Love You As I Love the Sun. I have had this book since high school or college, and I have kept it, ragged as the cover is now (it is a small hardcover book). I just love the quotes in it. Here are some of my favorites. (Punctuation is not mine,, but is taken directly from the quotes.)

The supreme happiness of  life is the conviction that we are loved — loved for ourselves; say, rather loved in spite of ourselves. – Victor Hugo

I find as I grow older that I love those most whom I loved first.  – Thomas Jefferson

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. – Martin Luther King

Think not that you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds  you worthy, directs your course – Kahlil Gibran

He is not a lover who does not love forever. – Euripides

Love at best, is giving what you need to get. – Rod McKuen

We are all born for love; it is the principle of existence and its only end.  Benjamin Disraeli

We seldom think how much we owe our first love. – Goethe

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. – G.K. Chesterton

To love is to become not as a single tree with one root, but as two intertwining vines. – Jay Foster

The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned. – Somerset Maugham

You don’t love a woman for what she says, but love what she says because you love her. – Andre Maurois

I have loved many but I’m not sure if I have ever been loved. – Marilyn Monroe

Familiar acts are beautiful through love. – Percy Bysshe Shelley

I’ve fallen in love with you. I’m taking it badly. – Noel Coward

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. – Solomon 8.7

Love hasn’t any windows to see through, but so many doors to walk out of. – Rod McKuen

All you need is love . . . -Lennon/McCartney
News:

There will be a Goodreads giveaway of my book Trashy Novel from February 15 to February 22, so sign up on Goodreads to enter! You cannot enter until February 15. This is a giveaway of the print book.

Save the Date: I will be speaking and reading from Fifty Shades of Grammar at its official launch at Petaluma Copperfields Books on Friday evening, February 26, at 7 p.m. Please join me for word fun, cake, and prizes.

Happy Valentine’s Day from The Grammar Diva!