Sunday, October 17, 2010

Grammar Impact - "Politicians, Watch Your Grammar"

I thought this article about how small changes in grammar evoke (slightly) different reactions was interesting. Maybe even important. I mean, it kind of gives more weight to the editor's duty, doesn't it? Editor's have the power to change the way that people read things and interpret information -- that's a sizable burden resting on the decision as to whether to use the imperfect or perfect aspect!

The author defines these aspects as such:
" '[W]as having' and 'was taking' are known as the imperfect aspect, meaning an event may be continuing. But 'had' and 'took' are known as the perfect aspect, meaning the event is bounded in time.

1 comment:

Samantha said...

That's a good point Shayna. I have recently been struggling with the past tense in English since I discovered that I don't know all the rules and that what's acceptable in my dialect isn't always acceptable in standard English! This is something I need to research more.