Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

Hi,

I was just randomly surfing the internet and came across an article so full
of  historic usage of the present simple that it reminded me of this
discussion where some doubted such a usage exists in English. Here it is.
Enjoy:

http://noahsarksearch.com/ed-davis.htm

<http://noahsarksearch.com/ed-davis.htm>James Christian

2010/2/1 <dwashbur AT nyx.net>

> Karl already answered most of this, so I'll just add a comment or two:
>
> On 1 Feb 2010 at 10:03, James Christian wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi Dave, so let's take a look at the 'present tense'.
> > (1) He knows Sally
> > (2) John works at the factory
> > This expresses both past, present and future.
>
> Wrong.  Both express present and say nothing about past or future.  You're
> doing classic
> eisegesis there.
>
> > (3) And so after he went into the bar he goes up to the barman and
> > orders a pint
> > These express actions in the past.
>
> And it's faulty English grammar.  Aberrations cannot be used to determine
> normative usage.
> I'd say "nice try," but really it's not.
>
> > (4) And so when you come to me you can check.
> > This expresses something that will happen in the future
>
> Once again we are looking at subjunctives in both clauses.  I'm not sure
> what part of that
> idea is beyond your grasp.
>
> > Conclusion. No fixed tense is grammaticalised and uncancellable to
> > the 'present simple' verb
> > form. Are we to conclude that these are homonyms as well David? How
> > many examples will it
> > take to show that tense is not uncancellable to any verb form in
> > English you could possibly
> > chose?
>
> No, they're not homonyms, and this pale attempt at reductio ad absurdum
> falls on its face.
> How many examples?  A few legitimate ones might suffice, but so far I
> haven't seen any.
> What I have seen is a pitifully inadequate understanding of English
> grammar, coupled with
> massive reading-in of preconceived ideas.
>
> This is a waste of my time.  I will not respond to this butchery of English
> grammar again.
>
> Dave Washburn
>
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
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