In a blow to those who still harbored the illusion

[go760orgohome]

Hi Ron,

I ruled out A (still harbored) and B (had still been harboring) because "still" indicates ongoing process but "harbored" in A and "had been" in B indicates completion of the verb "harbor".

Is that a valid point or would you say these two constructions above are acceptable?

Thanks in advance for your attention!

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

I ruled out A (still harbored) and B (had still been harboring) because "still" indicates ongoing process but "harbored" in A and "had been" in B indicates completion of the verb "harbor".

Is that a valid point or would you say these two constructions above are acceptable?

Thanks in advance for your attention!

you appear to be equating "ongoing" with "present". if so, that's a very big mistake; "ongoing" can apply to any tense/timeframe whatsoever.

fortunately, like other big mistakes, this one is easy enough to resolve with a few very basic examples.
for instance, with the argument above, you would also have to claim that "An hour ago, I was still at the office" is wrong. that sentence clearly isn't wrong, so we know where the mistake is.

[go760orgohome]

Hi Ron,

I ruled out A (still harbored) and B (had still been harboring) because "still" indicates ongoing process but "harbored" in A and "had been" in B indicates completion of the verb "harbor".

Is that a valid point or would you say these two constructions above are acceptable?

Thanks in advance for your attention!

Thank you, Ron!

[frankieguo]

.

hey ron, why is (A) wrong?
because of "the trick for enabling?"
thanks!!

[RonPurewal]

.

hey ron, why is (A) wrong?
because of "the trick for enabling?"
thanks!!

yeah, that doesn't make sense here.
the thing that "enables this person to do xxxx" is the trick itself. the sentence must be constructed to reflect this idea, as it is in choice D ("a trick that enables...").

[RonPurewal]

note, by the way, that "a trick for ___ing" is not necessarily wrong. if the trick itself doesn't actually ____, but somehow indirectly helps with ____ing, then this is exactly the construction you want.

e.g.,
This gentleman may genuinely want to meet you; on the other hand, feigned interest is a common trick for increasing sales, so beware if he suddenly launches into a sales pitch.
——> here, the trick doesn't directly increase sales, so "a trick that increases sales" would be incorrect.
rather, the trick attracts attention, which is then exploited to produce sales.

[RonPurewal]

you can also eliminate A because the tense of "had added" just doesn't make sense at all.

in context, the sentence is describing comments that are (or might be) added as the message is forwarded to others. i.e., the addition of comments and the forwarding chain are contemporaneous.

"had added" implies that all of the comments had already been added at some previous time—directly contradicting the intended meaning.

[JbhB682]

Hi - in option C - why is "is privy" incorrect ?

I agree that the comments specifically are hypothetical / too be made / not yet written down in emails but i still thought th present tense "is privy" is better

Reason : i have the capability NOW (or when the trick is enabled specifically) to read any hypothetical comments

Now whether the comments have already been made | whether the comments will be made is irrelevant to the choice in verb tense (between is privy vs will be privy)

The point is - i have the ability/capabilityto read any comment (comments made in the future too, i have the capability to read it)

Analogy to option C) I visualize all your future misdeeds .

Would a sentence like this be wrong ? I think the present tense (visualize) is okay here. I am able to visualize in my mind right now - all your future misdeeds right now . When you actually commit the misdeeds is irrelevant to the choice of verb tense but i can visualize it right now

Same way -- i am privy right now to any hypothetical comments any one makes

Thoughts ?

[JbhB682]

"Emial exchanges are private" refers to an idea that is not attached to any particular timeframe. That idea has been rendered questionable by the actions described, but the idea itself is no less an idea.

Think about this example:
In the 16th century, explorers sailed around the globe, forever disproving the idea that the Earth is flat.
--> You wouldn't write "was" here, because it's an idea. (People could still think that the Earth is flat, although they'd be wrong.)

Hi Experts - could you explain a bit regarding the red ? I thought "Was" was appropriate here

(i) In 1820, Sam disprooved the idea THAT the earth is flat
vs
(ii) In 1820, Sam disprooved the idea THAT the earth was flat

Why is "Was" wrong in (ii) and "is" is accurate in (i) ?

Thank you !

[TiffanyB]

Hi Experts - could you explain a bit regarding the red ? I thought "Was" was appropriate here

(i) In 1820, Sam disprooved the idea THAT the earth is flat
vs
(ii) In 1820, Sam disprooved the idea THAT the earth was flat

Why is "Was" wrong in (ii) and "is" is accurate in (i) ?

Thank you !

It may be easier to consider a different example for clarity.

1) I learned that the earth is round.
2) I learned that the earth was round.

In option 1 (much like your option i above), the earth is still round. Even though I learned this information in the past, it continues to be true.

In option 2 (similar to ii), the earth wasn't only round when I learned that fact! This sounds like the earth was round, but its possible that its currently a different shape.