American English (was Re: [lbo-talk] five pundits in the dock)

Guest lbodownload at yahoo.com
Thu Dec 29 02:41:08 PST 2005



>> > "Would have had" -- what's that called in
grammar: past continuous?
>>
>> I think it's something like a past imperfect.
Between "had had," "could
>> have had," and "would have had" I hear distinct
shades of meaning aroud
>> the difference between "can" and "will."

A simpler explanation might be that it's a mangled past perfect subjunctive.

The subjunctive forms look too much like an ordinary past tense

"your momma's so stupid that when the doctor told her to take a urine she wished she HAD studied harder"

so they are slowly being replaced by a simplified syntax where WOULD forms every subjunctive

"your momma's so stupid that when the doctor told her to take a urine she wished she WOULD HAVE studied harder"

or

I heard this for the first time in a freshman lit class. Despite my descriptionist sympathies I very nearly had a stroke.

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