Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/the_subtlety_of_english_grammar

Comment #182

2006-01-26T19:28:21Z

The English language is one helluva precision instrument but all so subtle that we may sometimes miss the more piquant of its nuances: How often have you heard the phrase, He / She is a “Qualified Architect”?
Does the subtext imply that there is perhaps an unlearned aggregate slurry of “Unqualified Architects” a-building about all around us?

Comment #181

2005-09-23T12:33:16Z

Thanks, Peter. That makes sense, and is something I hadn't even observed, let alone understood.

Comment #180

2005-09-14T13:04:12Z

A key difference between the last two examples is that the embedded clause is tenseless in the first and tensed in the second. That is, it makes sense to say "my store [was] burned down" but not "my store burn down". The untensed version describes an event that is given tense by the "I had ... in 1990" while the latter version, already having tense, is given causation by the "I had". Or something like that. :)