atw: Re: Particular past tense

Distributing this poster to my colleagues always gets a laugh: 
http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif






"Hallett, Michelle" <Michelle.Hallett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
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27/04/2007 10:30 AM
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atw: Re: Particular past tense






I've seen "family's" in a design document meant for a customer.
 
Michelle

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Trussler
Sent: Friday, 27 April 2007 10:25 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Particular past tense

"a sufficiently large number of the ignorant can always turn the tide."
 
The tide seems to be turning on apostrophes.
Where I am currently working, a lot of the staff are writing TV'S, and 
CD'S in the like, new style.
What is worrying me is that they are also applying the apostrophe to all 
plurals.
So we now get 
      the PC'S are on the table's, and the plug's are in the socket's.
 
Like Malcolm Turnbull, I don't quite understand this democracy thing.
Bob T 


 
On 4/27/07, Daryl Colquhoun <atw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
Oh dear. Sorry about that mishap with the previous post.

Michael:
>Ah, yes. The power of democracy. Never mind the facts; a sufficiently 
large 
number of the ignorant can always turn the tide.

But at least that large number (based on my sample of 5) have the good 
grace
to be talking about something other than the subject of this discussion,
which I now propose to subvert. It seems the "present perfect continuous", 

according to the websites, is what we get when we deploy that bane of
English learners, the present participle, thus, *"The driver has been 
losing
control of his truck and he's been ending up in a creek". Which is plainly 

not possible here. It works in something like "I've been studying this
question all night". And it's different from the plain present perfect;
compare "I've washed my car as long as I've owned it" with the somewhat 
silly "I've been washing my car as long as I've owned it".

I take Michael's point about perfect and continuous being a dichotomy, but
I've always called this construction with the present participle 
"continuous". So this isn't really perfect? Because it's still happening?
(In which case I suppose the websites are just simplifying.)

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