Re: USAGE: gotten, boughten

Thomas Wier wrote:

>Quoting Eli Ewing <CelticSlim@...>:
>>Still, it says here that "was going," "used to go," and "went" are all
>>forms of imperfect past, and that "was going" is the "past >>continuous"
>>construction, i.e., one specific imperfect form.
>Says where? Whatever you're reading, it's wrong. The simple past >(aka preterite)
>has no set aspect to it, although the tendency is to >use it for aorist
>functions.
I've also seen and heard those other forms referred to as "imperfect". _201 Latin
Verbs_, as I recall, gives an example of English conjugation (in a horrifically
nonenglish format!); and under "imperfect", those sorts of forms are given.

I generally take "was ecksing" as progressive, or continuous as Eli calls it. I
take "used to ecks" as perfect or imperfect past habitual; and "ecksed" as
either perfect or imperfect past tense. (Much depends on whether the verb is
stative, punctual, durative, etc.)

Let's face it: English is weird. It doesn't really do what the grammars (and our
teachers) have taught. The basic verbal system _finally_ made sense to me after
I read Sihler's grammar (of Latin and Greek). His description beats the snot
out of what I learnt in grammar and high school!

Padraic.
===================================================================== Thomas Wier "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n / Dept. of
Linguistics mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought / 1010 E. 59th Street
and not complete one road that has no turn" Chicago, IL 60637 Empedocles, _On
Nature_, on speculative thinkers