Re: "I didn't know that..."

On 3/12/06, Harold Ensle <heensle@...> wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 15:13:28 -0500, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
>
> >Given statement X which is a true statement that continues to be true
> >in the present time, what tense/mood/verb form would your lang use in
> >X in the equivalent of "I didn't know X"?
> >
> >AFAICT, Englishhas somewhat free variation between the past and
> >present indicative here, although the present is only an option when
> >the statement continues to be true.
>
> I don't see this. The reason the past is used here is because it is,
> in fact, the simple past. This statement is in reply to someone telling
> you the fact, therefore you NOW KNOW the fact and the present thus
> cannot be used.
Well, as a native English speaker, I must disagree with you.  I hear
and use the present here frequently.  e.g. upon seeing someone at work
whom I recognize elsewhence: "I didn't know you work here!"  or, to
someone else, "I didn't know she works here!"  I could, it's true, say
"I didn't know you/she worked here!" - that'd be that free variation I
mentioned.

> And as above...this is indeed a counterfactual statement because
> you NOW KNOW the fact. Thus the usage of the subjunctive here
> makes sense.
None of the above makes sense to me, unfortunately.   The statement is
true; therefore it's not counterfactual.

I know that the subjunctive had wider use in Latin, hence the name,
but my Spanish teacher kept drilling into us that it was keyed to
doubt.  As she would say, in this case, "Where's the doubt?"

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>