alytical practical grammar - Toronto Public Library

:;l'NTAX-TENSES. 193
CO~NECTION OF TENSE~,
908. RULE XVII.-In the lise of verbs {lnd !Cun/:;
that in point of time relate to each other, the order of
lime must be observed jaB, "I have known him tll6se
many years "-not, "I know him these many year:,,;"
nor, "I knew him these many years."
909. REMARK.-Tbe particular tense necessary to be used must~epend
up"u the sense, and no rules can be given that will apply to all cases.
But it may be proper to observe-
910. An observation which is always true must be expressed in tbe
present tense; as, "The stoics believed that· all crimes are equal'" (408).
911. The present-perfect, and not the present tense, shonld be used in
connection with words denoting an extent of time continued to the present;
thus, .. They continue with me now three days, should be, .. have
continued," &c. (40~).
912. The present-perfect tense ought never to be u,ed ill connection with
words which express past time j thus, "I have formerly mentioned his
attachment to study," should be, .. I formerly mentioned," .tc_
913. To express an event simply as past, without relation to any othcr
point of time than the present, or as taking place at a certain past time
1l1cntioned, the past tense is used; as, .. God created the world.'·-" In
the beginning, God created the world." Exercises in (~Il:!) are examples.
914. When we wish to represent an event as past at or before a certain
past time referred to, the verb must be put in the past-perfect tense. Thus,
when we say, "The vessel had arrived at nine o'clock," we mean, at nine
o'clock the arriving of the vessel was past. But when we say, "The
vessel arrived at nine o'clock," we mean, the arri ving of the vessel was
then present.
915. It is always essential to the use of this tense that the event be
PAST at the time referred to. It is proper to notice here, also, that in
pointing out the time of a past event, two points 01' periods of time are
often mentioned-the one for the purpose of ascertaining tlte other. Thus,
.. We arrived an hour before wnset." Here the past-perfect is not used,
though the arriving is represented as past before a past time mentioned,
,iz., sunset, because sunset i8 not the time referred to, but is mentioned in
order to describe that time; and at the time described, the even!, arriving,
was not PllSt, but present. If in this example we omit the word
.. hour," and merely say "before sunset," the construction will be the same.
This will show that it is correct to say, "Before I went to France I visited
England," because the visiting of England is represented as present, and
not past at the time indicated by the word before. But if the event mentioned
is represented as rast at the time indicated by the word before, lOr
if the sentence is 80 arranged that only one point of paot time is indicated
at which the event referred to is past, the past-perfect must be nsed ;
as, "They had arrived before we sailed."-" They arrived after we had
sailed."-" I !tad visited England when we returned to America."
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