Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

True enough, and that was the sort of special context I was thinking 
of. Replace "This morning" by "Yesterday morning" in 1 and 3, to make 
the contexts unambiguously past, and my point remains valid.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re[4]: ex 26 + 36.8ff, (36.29)
Author:  doug.kasten AT juno.com at internet
Date:    27/01/1999 15:29


Dave,

I'm not exactly following everything pertaining to this thread.  However, 
I thought I spotted serious problems with your examples below.  Comments 
after your four examples.

On Wed, 27 Jan 1999 22:36:57 -0700 "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net> 
writes:
>Peter,
>> I am now starting to understand your privative model, thank you for 
>> the explanation. Presumably you would say that an English simple
>> present is unmarked. So, consider: 
>>
>> 1. This morning I read the newspaper. 
>> 2. Every morning I read the newspaper.
>> 3. *This morning I write a letter to my mother. 
>> 4. Every morning I write a letter to my mother. 
>>
>> Why is 3 not permissible (except perhaps in a rather special 
>discourse
>> context), whereas 1 is OK? Because there is an alternative form:

#3 IS possible, as is #1 with pronunciation 'reed'.  Imagine this 
context, which is perhaps not common but not at all contrived:
     I get up early one morning and there're a million things to do.
My wife wants me to fix whatever and with firmness in my voice I say, 
"This morning I read the paper and I write a letter to my mother."  This 
expresses a volitional aspect to the predication, as well as an immediacy 
perhaps beyond "I'm going to....".  Perhaps I've identified your special 
discourse context, but I don't consider it unusual in any way.


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