Re: English was Re: Why can't we scroll the window with the middle button?

On 06 Nov 2001, pagesflames_at_usa.net (Dusan Bolek) spake and said:

> <--Begin of offtopic
> In minutes of meeting I need very often to describe
> something said in past about future. For example: Mr.
> No-need-for-name-here asked if our-product-name will be sold
> officially. Grammar checker in MS Word doesn't like this
> sentence and I got something as "Generally, if the first
> verb of a sentence is in the past tense, all subsequent
> verbs must be in the past tense" and also some examples. I
> do not think that computer grammar checker is a reliable
> source for these informations. So I need to know if this is
> true. If I should use a past tense for all other verbs, then
> how can I know that we have been talking about something in
> future ?
>
> End Of offtopic-->
>
> Sorry again for this off-topic and thanks for reply.

No problem. I have tendencies towards grammar fascism :)

I take it that you are not a native speaker of English. I'll give you a grammar tip, and then some references for useful books for writers.

[puts on grammarian hat]

In general, one wants to consistently use the same verb tense. Switching tenses repeatedly in the same piece tends to confuse the reader and it makes the author seem undecided.

HOWEVER...you have to use the Right tense to express the Idea. And tense is important in expressing the temporal (time) aspects of the idea. Your example:

  "Mr. Smith asked if our Deely-Bopper will   be sold officially."

in which the speaker, Mr. Smith, spoke about a future event (Deely-Bopper sales). The speaker asked (yesterday, at the meeting) about your future intentions regarding sales policies (which may or may not be already established) for the Deely-

Your original example is correct. If it was cast into uniform tense, it expresses different ideas:

• Present Tense "Mr. Smith *asks* if our Deely-Bopper *is sold* officially."

  Here, Mr. Smith is asking right now if the Deely-Bopper is   currently on the official product list. Well, that's not right.

  Just for starters, the meeting whose minutes you are reporting   occurred yesterday, Mr. Smith isn't asking his question *right   now*[1]. His question was asked and answered yesterday.

  Second, The question is different: here, he wants to know if   your Deely-Bopper is currently an official For Sale product.

  That's not the question Mr. Smith asked.

  [1]Well, he might be :) but it would be out of your earshot and   out of the context of yesterday's meeting. So this version   doesn't work.

• Future Tense "Mr. Smith *will ask* if our Deely-Bopper *will be sold* officially."

  This is no good. This is even more broken than the first try!   How can you report on something that someone hasn't yet said?

• Past Tense "Mr. Smith *asked* if our Deely-Bopper *used to be sold* officially."

  Hmmm...this has possibilities. Here, we've got the "yesterday"   aspect down. But again, the question has changed. Now what he   wanted to know was whether or not your Deely-Bopper used to be   an official product for sale.

  Note that I'm using "used to be" here rather than "was",   because in colloquial English, in this kind of context, the   verb phrase "was sold" is construed to be in the present   perfect tense: that is, it expresses an action (selling) that   began in the past, but continues on into the present. For all   practical purposes, in colloquial English, in this context, the   verb phrase "was sold" means essentially the same thing as the   verb phrase "is sold."

  Isn't English fun?

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

• _The Elements Of Style_ by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White A true classic on writing in American English. It's been in print for more than 80 years now. It's available from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com).

  Since the copyright on the original 1918 edition expired, it is   available on the web at any number of places. Here's one:

    http://www.bartleby.com/141/

  And actually...bartleby.com has lots of reference books online.

• The Harbrace College Handbook is a great manual of American English grammer.
• Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage is another classic.

Hope this helps.

N.

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