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  • Sorting out the tenses

    From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to All on Monday, August 03, 2020 00:40:34
    Hello, all

    Raymond Chandler's short story "Pearls are a nui-
    sance" has the following piece of dialogue:

    "[...] The pearls are a string of forty-nine
    matched pink ones which Mr. Penruddock gave to
    Mrs. Penruddock for her golden wedding present.
    She hardly ever wore them lately, except perhaps
    on Christmas or when she had a couple of very old
    friends in to dinner and was well enough to sit
    up. And every Thanksgiving she gives a dinner to
    all the pensioners and friends and old employees
    Mr. Penruddock left on her hands, and she wore
    them then."

    "You are getting your verb tenses a little
    mixed," I said, "but the general idea is clear.
    Go on."

    Have you an idea what corrections the spearker would
    have made?

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Anton Shepelev on Sunday, August 02, 2020 20:25:31
    Hi Anton -- on Aug 03 2020 at 00:40, you wrote:

    Raymond Chandler's short story "Pearls are a nui-
    sance" has the following piece of dialogue:

    "[...] The pearls are a string of forty-nine
    matched pink ones which Mr. Penruddock gave to
    Mrs. Penruddock for her golden wedding present.
    She hardly ever wore them lately, except perhaps
    on Christmas or when she had a couple of very old
    friends in to dinner and was well enough to sit
    up. And every Thanksgiving she gives a dinner to
    all the pensioners and friends and old employees
    Mr. Penruddock left on her hands, and she wore
    them then."

    "You are getting your verb tenses a little
    mixed," I said, "but the general idea is clear.
    Go on."

    Have you an idea what corrections the spearker would
    have made?

    The section starts in past tense "Mr. P GAVE", "when she HAD" etc. Then suddenly shifts to present "she GIVES a diner" and back to past "she
    WORE them". Despite this, it does work as the pensioners' dinner
    appears to have been in the past and is intended to continue in the
    future. Interesting example!


    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)