LANGUAGE MAPPING SUMMARY

The grammar course refers to the notion of the human language faculty, not the Language Acquisition Device. Our devices are strictly linguistic and symbolic implements.

Everyone has one PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE really. Three fields or extents can symbolize this reality, for the grammatical time (CHAPTER 1).

In the Fields of Time, we observe on the verb form “will” mapping on the FUTURE already in the PRESENT grammatical form (CHAPTER 2).

We perceive and extract three Aspect patterns,
in CHAPTER 3 and SUBCHAPTER 3.1.

We symbolize the first element in the Simple pattern with the Greek lemniscate, that is, the INDETERMINATE OR INFINITY: it can be any verb.

We associate grammar and human natural mapping, as with geography and travel, in CHAPTER 4.

We people live on Earth. We usually view lands or waters as extents. We give at least psychological borders to areas in which we are. We perceive routes and ways to places. We happen to be at landmarks and places.

Such are human natural variables for space, in English. We can use them for the grammatical Aspect.

Arrows are very familiar symbols to show or indicate the way. We combine our mapping and arrow symbols, to exercise our target grammatical time, in CHAPTER 5.

The ability will be vital with Modal verbs. Their forms may not tell directly what time the talk is about.

We make a color palette, and combine language components for the Affirmative, Negative, or Interrogative (SUB-CHAPTER 5.1).

To expand our syntax, we learn to keep the head time (CHAPTER 6). We use time frames. We keep the real-time frame open for the Perfect, and we close it for the Simple or Progressive: Perfect tenses can make more than one reference in real time.

All along, we mind we use concepts, inventions, and symbols. We do not claim there is anything like time frames or time extents in human heads.

Common sense, if we can make a wheel, it does not mean we have wheels in our heads.

We compare our mapping variables {ON} and {IN} in CHAPTER 7. In classic terms, we compare the Simple and the Progressive, for the stative use of verbs as to love, to hate, to think.

We merge our mapping variables {IN} and {TO} for the Perfect Progressive, in CHAPTER 8.

We get a mapping variable {AT}, to manage all Aspects as we want.

We do not change language. The following examples come from the Corpus of Contemporary American English, COCA:
This is a dream come true. And I’m loving every minute of it.
I’ve been loving it. But I want to keep doing different things.

We consider the variable {ON} for an earthling basic variable in SUB-CHAPTER 8.1. Astronauts also have learned language on Earth.

Modal verbs challenge us on the target time in CHAPTER 9.

We make relative time frames for Modal forms, and learn to keep the earthling basic variable, in SUBCHAPTER 10.1.

But the obstacles, she would have made progress.
(She did not make or has not made progress.)

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Despite the obstacles, she would have made progress.
(She has made progress.)

Feel welcome.

9.3. DETAIL ON MODAL STRUCTURES

Modal Expression, especially the Interrogative or Negative, can give us some trouble, unless we approach the matter as science in a field: we analyze the molecules, see how they are doing, and make a model.

We can recur to CHAPTER 5, as well as compare APPENDIX 4.

54. We CANNOT skip the exercises.

55. We MAY NOT skip the exercises.

56. We WILL NOT skip the exercises.

57. We SHOULD NOT skip the exercises.

58. We OUGHT NOT TO skip the exercises.

59. We SHALL NOT skip the exercises.

60. We MUST NOT skip the exercises.

The form SHALL NOT may imply a conclusion, a decision ― more often in British English than in American, however. American English has the Modal WILL for resolves.

The Modal CAN attracts the particle NOT directly. They become one word, CANNOT. We may come upon the form CAN NOT in historic texts, as the GETTYSBURG ADDRESS.

President Abraham Lincoln gave the speech at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863.

The form “can not” is rarely used today. Feel welcome to read the ADDRESS as well as to do the VOLUNTARY EXTRA PRACTICE.

In the Affirmative, MUST NOT can mean that something is forbidden or strongly discommended. NEED can take on the regular negative. The auxiliary is the verb to do.

61. We DO NOT NEED to memorize dictionaries.

We can use the short form DON’T, when our contexts are not formal.
61a. We DON’T NEED to memorize dictionaries.

NEED can take a Modal negation, too. The Modal form may be more emphatic.

61b. We NEEDN’T memorize dictionaries.
(There is definitely no need to memorize dictionaries.)

HAVE TO takes the regular negative.

62. We DO NOT HAVE TO memorize dictionaries.
62a. We DON’T HAVE TO memorize dictionaries.

Our paths can diverge for NEED in the auxiliary PAST.

63. You DIDN’T NEED to do this.
(Something didn’t need to be done and it was not done.)

63a. You NEEDN’T HAVE done this.
(You did, but you COULD HAVE left it alone ― the thinking is about a hypothesis.)

Let us tackle the Interrogative. This is the Modal to move here.
CHAPTER 5 shows Inversion, along with the Negative Interrogative.

64. We CAN work a lot.
CAN we work a lot?

65. We MAY work a lot.
MAY we work a lot?

66. We WILL work a lot.
WILL we work a lot?

67. We SHOULD work a lot.
SHOULD we work a lot?

68. We OUGHT TO work a lot.
OUGHT we TO work a lot?

69. We SHALL work a lot.
SHALL we work a lot?

70. We MUST work a lot.
MUST we work a lot?

In Negative questions, the linguistic chemistry may depend on the form we use, short or full.

71. CAN we NOT work a lot?
71a. CAN’T we work a lot?

72. MAY we NOT work a lot?
72a. MAYN’T we work a lot?

73. WILL we NOT work a lot?
73a. WON’T we work a lot?

74. SHOULD we NOT work a lot?
74a. SHOULDN’T we work a lot?

75. OUGHT we NOT TO work a lot?
75a. OUGHTN’T we TO work a lot?

76. SHALL we NOT work a lot?
76a. SHAN’T we work a lot?

In questions, MUST NOT may ask about the proper course of things.

77. MUST we NOT work a lot?
77a. MUSTN’T we work a lot?

HAVE TO takes the regular Negative Interrogative.

78. DO we NOT HAVE TO work a lot?
78a. DON’T we HAVE TO work a lot?

Let us catch on to the Modal NEED in the grammatical PAST. It behaves more and more like a regular verb, in contemporary American.

79. DID you NOT NEED to work a lot?
79a. DIDN’T you NEED to work a lot?

Please compare,
80. NEEDN’T you HAVE worked a lot?

Expression 80 would be so rare that an American might consider it incorrect. Why is this? Asking questions involves making hypotheses.

Unless we ask a question for no reason or purpose and expect no answer at all, we make our questions thinking about some PROBABILITY at least.

Beside inversion, we can use the question mark or intonation alone, to make a question.

Let us regard language economy. In a language information pool, we may not need to provide information more than once.

80a. DIDN’T you NEED / HAVE TO work a lot?

An American could consider an alternate incorrect,
80b. *MUSTN’T you HAVE worked a lot?

NEED and MUST express a high degree of CONTINGENCY or CERTAINTY. Hypotheses with them might vary from those with other Modals: so many things SHOULD BE DONE, and they never are (!)

With high CONTINGENCY or CERTAINTY, we can net the hypothetical time: we have a strong hypothesis in the Modal alone. Here is our model (click to enlarge).

MODAL ECONOMY; CLICK TO ENLARGE

Please compare the absolutely correct in American,
81. SHOULDN’T you HAVE read this all?

There is a structure close to the Modal verbs MUST, NEED, OUGHT TO or SHOULD. It is TO BE (SUPPOSED) TO.

82. You WEREN’T (SUPPOSED) TO get the gizmos.

We can recur to the structure later in the grammar journey. Let us now exercise our brains in
9.4. MODAL RELATIVITY PRACTICE

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CHAPTER 9. TO TELL THE FASHION IN VALUABLE TIME

With Modal verbs, our view on time may become as with two hour glasses. Modal verbs do not narrate the real time. Their manner is relative to real time.

We also could say that Modal verbs mediate between the grammatical Time and Aspect. The name “modal” comes from the Latin word “modus”, meaning an extent or measure.

In CHAPTER 2, we viewed the verb form “will” in our Fields of Time. The form did not belong clearly with the grammatical PRESENT, PAST or FUTURE. The same is true about all Modal verbs.

The PRESENT form of the verb WILL can map on the FUTURE.

The PAST form can tell about the PRESENT, as well.

“We will be hiking” (FUTURE);
“We would like to have some tea now” (PRESENT).

Some grammars will have Modals for defective verbs. They do not have all the three forms. Let us compare other verbs.

REGULAR VERB: TO TRAVEL
INFINITIVE to travel
1ST FORM travel 2ND FORM traveled 3RD FORM traveled
DYNAMIC PARTICIPLE traveling STATIVE PARTICIPLE traveled

IRREGULAR VERB: TO WRITE
INFINITIVE to write
1ST FORM write 2ND FORM wrote 3RD FORM written
DYNAMIC PARTICIPLE writing STATIVE PARTICIPLE written

MODAL VERB FORMS:

MAY
1ST FORM may 2ND FORM might

CAN
1ST FORM can 2ND FORM could

SHALL
1ST FORM shall 2ND FORM should

NEED
1ST FORM need 2ND FORM (needed) 3RD FORM (needed)

MUST
1ST FORM must 2ND FORM (must)

WILL
1ST FORM will 2ND FORM would

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Modal verbs can be truly unlike other verbs.

They do not have infinitive forms.
We do not say * “to may”.

They do not have participle forms.
We do not say * “mayed” or * “maying”.

They do not use will for their grammatical FUTURE.
We do not say * “will may”.

Their forms can have more than one grammatical time reference.
We could say,
“You might think about reading this all”.
MIGHT is the PAST form of the verb MAY, yet it refers to the grammatical PRESENT here.

We also could say,
“As children, they loved the old library,
where they might read as well as play.”

MIGHT is the PAST form of the verb MAY,

and it refers to the grammatical PAST.

We may envisage Modals in logical categories.

POTENTIALITY PROBABILITY CONTINGENCY CERTAINTY

POTENTIALITY:
Our potential is what we are actually able to do, or something we have real prospects to become able to do. Something potential is something that actually might come into existence.

PROBABILITY:
It belongs mostly with guesswork. Humans happen to consider probability in theory making. Possibility is a close synonym. We can have it for equivalent with probability, in grammar.

Let us think about Madame Règle. She has the potential to have lunch at Latimer Sauf’s restaurant every day. He always has a table for his friends, and she has enough money.

However, her work with Paris haute couture designers happens to keep her over the lunchtime. Her coming to lunch is probable, but not certain.

CERTAINTY:
It requires both potentiality and probability. Let us think about Monsieur Sauf’s birthday. Madame Règle WILL come to meet him. It is certain.

CONTINGENCY:
Some books will have something contingent for something likely, and some will say it is something unlikely to happen. We tend to tell likelihood by how often something takes place.

Madame Règle has a resolve here. Words have etymologies. The adjective “contingent” comes from the Latin words “tangere, tangens”. The words meant “to touch”, “touching”.

Madame Règle has contingency for something touching on, dependent on something else. Let us mind that cause and effect may not depend on simple factors.

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Contingency needs a potential for something to happen. What is certain has to be probable.

When we speak about own POTENTIAL, we mostly say what we are able to do. To tell own resolves, we most often use the verbs CAN or MAY.

We are able to do things only in probable circumstances, even if our abilities are outstanding. CAN and MAY are our most prominent words for PROBABILITY, too.

MAY is going to sound a bit more formal. CAN is going to be more colloquial. CAN happens to express probability greater than MAY.

CONTINGENCY may require that we adapt own resolves to circumstances. Our Modal verbs to express the extent of that requirement are NEED, SHOULD, OUGHT TO, and HAVE TO.

We always use OUGHT TO with the infinitive: “we ought to learn”, “we ought to work”.

American English differs from British much, on the verb SHALL. In American, the verb serves to prefigure resolves for potential circumstances:

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Feel welcome to
GRAMMAR NOTES ON THE US CONSTITUTION.

We are not likely to use the Modal verb WILL for CONTINGENCY, if we love independence (!)

We people yet can be CERTAIN about own perception and volition. The Modal verbs WILL and MUST can express a strong prediction or resolve.

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Let us now think about Modal verbs and the grammatical time. So far, all our contexts allowed second forms, as COULD or MIGHT, to work for the PAST grammatical time.

However, is it enough to put a Modal verb into its second form, to express the grammatical PAST?

21. You MIGHT use the phone;
(a tentative suggestion in the PRESENT.)

21a. You COULD use the phone;
(a tentative suggestion in the PRESENT.)

Modal second forms may express polite offers and yet stay in the grammatical PRESENT.

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Modal forms generally, PAST or PRESENT, influence the language register. The register concerns the styles we use when we speak or write on various occasions. In simple words, it has a lot to do with being polite.

CAN is very colloquial in its register for suggestions. It could be rude for a suggestion, when we directly address someone we do not know.

Let us imagine we ask,
22. CAN I open the window?
The answer might be
22a. You certainly are capable of that,
but you are not allowed to.

CAN is not offensive when we simply state on POTENTIAL or provide information — in other words, we talk about an objective circumstance, rather than a subjective resolve.

23. Bald eagles CAN fly above clouds.

We might use the verb can as in example 23, during formal talks. Modal mediation is important in American English.

If we want to negotiate or provide guidance, we should not misinterpret Modal verbs for uncertainty or passiveness.

Modal verbs are a matter of good style, tact, and logic, not only in business talks. When we say something would not work for us, we are as assertive as when we say it is not going to work.

Please mind, content as here is not a form of address: I am not writing specifically to any person or persons.

Let us see how Modal verbs can make us sound more objective.

23a. Bald eagles fly above clouds.
(We would be likely to say this about a specific area where bald eagles live and fly above clouds, and most likely when we are in that area.)

24. Modal verbs CAN express varying degrees of potential, probability, contingency, and certainty.
(The guidance applies generally, about whatever Modal context).

In American as well as British English, we mind the Negative Interrogative. Requests with forms as CAN’T or COULDN’T imply that consent is expected.
(We would not readily assume approval from someone like a never-possibly-happy-person, would we?)

25. COULDN’T I use your car?
(I expect you are going to allow it.)

When someone is not a never-possibly-happy-person, we can ask,
26. COULD I use your car (please)?

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PAST forms may change the degree of Modality we express. Let us mark this degree in cubes. We can think about mountaineering.

27. Careful with this handle, it MAY break.

27a. Careful with this handle, it MIGHT break.

28. Careful with this handle, it CAN break.

28a. Careful with this handle, it COULD break.

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We could name the handle in the picture above a quickdraw. We yet can use the examples here to learn flexibility. Modal forms will require that we are flexible.

We can begin with simple words. There are multifarious handles in this world. We may need one to break a can of food open, when hiking.

A can, the noun, may mean a metal container. The verb to can may mean putting goods in cans. The auxiliary can is a Modal verb form.

Words always can have more than one meaning.

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Let us compare other Modal verbs for their degrees of CONTINGENCY or CERTAINTY, respectively.

29. The can WILL / HAS TO / MUST break open.

30. The can SHOULD / OUGHT TO break open.

31. The can NEEDS to break open.

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Modal forms HAVE TO and MUST differ in sense, not in degree of Modality.

32. You HAVE TO take care of the handle;
(such are the circumstances).

33. You MUST take care of the handle;
(my common sense says so).

Colloquial American English has phrases as
GOTTA TO
HAVE GOT TO
or
HAS GOT TO,
for CERTAINTY as well as CONTINGENCY.

Let us remember that colloquial uses are colloquial because they depart from the standard. We have a note on human mental lexicons in SUB-CHAPTER 6.3. We keep away from informal uses in official contexts.

If we are not in a formal situation, and we want to talk common sense, we can say,

34. You GOTTA take care of the handle.

Common sense does not mean we should not have any sense of humor.

34a. That HAS TO / GOTTA be the handle.

Colloquial language is mostly banned from schools. We may need some acquaintance with it to comprehend everyday speech, however.

Informally, the word “stuff” may mean “talk”, “matter”.

34b. We HAVE TO / GOTTA learn to handle the Modal stuff.

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Much of the above is a strong challenge on our arrow cues: how do we use them with Modal verbs?

We can think about the target grammatical time.
35. Alice COULD read when she was five.

36. Ten years ago, he got a loan, and COULD start his new business.

For the target grammatical time, we think about the context, not only the language forms. Linguistically, our time reference can be tacit.
Please compare SUB-CHAPTER 6.2.

7. I haven’t seen her today.

7a. I didn’t see her today.

The time reference is tacit, as the word “today” does not decide on grammar.

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American English, as any natural language, allows paraphrase. Let us see our target time and frame with paraphrased Modal verbs.
35a. She was able to read.
36a. He was able to open his new business.

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What strategy can we develop for the Modal PAST? We can use syntactic structures. Feel welcome.
CHAPTER 9.1. MODAL SYNTAX, GRAMMATICAL PRESENT OR PAST

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8.2. PRACTICE FOR ALL ASPECTS

Exercise 45. We can warm up, merging our symbolic cues. As for our MIND PRACTICE, we may just think and visualize.

Example:
The plain arrow symbolizes the variable {ON}. Pointed up or down, it cues for the grammatical FUTURE or PAST. Horizontally, it indicates the PRESENT. We may refer to SUBCHAPTER 5.1.

We can merge the plain arrow, let us say for the variable {IN}, within the same grammatical time. Here, it is going to be the PRESENT.

Answer:
A. Before the merger:
Jemma smiles.

{ON}, the PRESENT
the Present Simple

B. After the merger:
Jemma is smiling.

{IN}, the PRESENT
the Present Progressive

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We are not practicing behaviorist reflexes. We are working on flexible habits. We may think about Jemma, as well as Bob or anyone, including ourselves, and with various verbs. It is important that we learn to merge features for grammatical variables and time.

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THE TASK

Exercise 46. We merge features as above and think about Expression. We just think and visualize.

Answer:
A. Before the merger
Does Bob worry?

{ON}, the PRESENT
the Present Simple

B. After the merger
Is Bob worrying?

(His dad is wearing a horrible tie.)

{IN}, the PRESENT
the Present Progressive

Exercise 47. Let us practice deciding {ON} our cognitive extents. We complete the structures and arrow cues.

Not everyone fancies speaking about feelings and thoughts. However, it is important that we try to represent them in language. We may think about time and change.

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When we are able to put words together well, our words represent our notions and thoughts in language. We can name this ability representation, as there is always more than one way to put words together and make sense.

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Example: I love …

Answer: I love language.
(We can answer without telling anyone;
we remember the MIND PRACTICE.)

1. I hate …

2. I thought that … was pretty.

3. I remembered … then.

4. I considered … important.

5. I want …

6. I hated … when I was a child.

7. I think that … is stupid. [TABOO]

8. I remember …

9. I consider … important.

10. I wanted … when I was a child.

Exercise 48. It is natural to follow what is good for us. Therefore, let us try to “trade” language features. We merge the features in the wording with symbolics.

Example: I love …

Answer: I have (always) loved language.

Again, we can give our answers in our thoughts, envisioning situations for which we might use the phrases.

1. I think (about) …

2. I concluded …

3. I like …

4. I keep …

5. I sensed …

6. I thought (about) …

7. I feel … (always, that)

8. I was thinking (about) …

9. I learned …

10. …means a lot to me.

Exercise 49. The Perfect Progressive Aspect makes three tenses, PRESENT, PAST and FUTURE. It has an open time frame.

Let us practice our linguistic gravitation: we close the time frame, when we are {ON} a cognitive ground (please compare SUB-CHAPTER 6.1).

We have part the mapping cues and stay with the Affirmative. We may not want much to do, in one go.

Example 1: have breakfast
EVERY DAY, 8:00 ― 10:00 A.M.
TIME NOW: 18:00 P.M.

Answer: I had breakfast.

Example 2: have breakfast

EVERY DAY, 8:00 ― 8:30 A.M.
TIME NOW: 8:15 P.M.

Answer: I have been having breakfast.

1. work

MONDAY ― FRIDAY, 9:00 ― 17:00 A.M.
TIME NOW: Monday, 10:00 P.M.

2. work
MONDAY ― FRIDAY, 9:00 ― 17:00 A.M.
TIME NOW: Saturday, after 19:00 P.M.

3. read

EVERY DAY, 22:00 ― 24:00 A.M.
TIME NOW: 23:00 P.M.

4. read

EVERY DAY, 22:00 ― 24:00 A.M.
TIME NOW: 00:15 P.M.

5. go to the gym
TUESDAYS 19:00 ― 20:00 A.M.
TIME NOW: Wednesday, after 21:15 P.M.

Exercise 50. Let us practice our earthling proper egoism (please compare SUB-CHAPTER 8.1). In conversation, we cannot merely follow on grammar.

We decide {ON} our language extents. We ignore the cue that would not be properly egoistic.

Example: She (cherish) her friends.

Answer: She has cherished her friends.

1. The book set (consist) of five parts.

2. She (sound) like under a bad impression.

3. Yesterday afternoon, he (recall) his school years with friends.

4. She just (recognize) the handwriting now.

5. He (agree) to the new conclusion just now.

6. Now, she (appreciate) the ancient manuscript for an hour.

7. He (want) to go to the Arctic before he went to the Antarctic.

8. The house (belong) to the family for 10 years.

9. He usually (respect) other opinions, but not that time.

10. This time tomorrow, she (see) her brother.

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From the key: example 7 shows we always should consider the entire utterance, to make out the grammatical time. The verb form “went” places the stretch of speech in the PAST.

We also can think about the alternate language forms.

In example 3, a phrase as “*yesterday afternoon, he will recall his school years with friends”, could not work with our cognitive map for YESTERDAY.

In example 8, a phrase as “*the house will have been belonging to the family for 10 years”, would go against natural human possessiveness: we place property {ON} cognitive maps.

Grammar is not only about style. It is also about logic and sense.

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Exercise 51. In natural language, our real-time present allows combining the time reference. We can talk about events that took place TODAY with a PAST grammatical reference. For events that are to take place, we can use the FUTURE.

We remain with our healthy egoism: we stay {ON} cognitive extents, for hearts and minds, regardless of any cues.

Example:
TODAY, PRESENT; he, know the answer

Answer: He knows the answer. {ON}
(We ignore the dot, the Progressive symbolics.)

1. YESTERDAY, the PAST; she, believe it

2. TODAY, the PRESENT; she, work

3. TODAY, the PAST; they, see each other

4. TOMORROW, the FUTURE; he, live here for ten years

5. YESTERDAY, the PAST; she, speak with them

6. YESTERDAY, the PAST; he, write for an hour

7. TOMORROW, the FUTURE; you, work here for five years

8. TODAY, the PAST; we, hike in the mountains

9. TODAY, the PRESENT; she, exercise for an hour already

10. TOMORROW, the FUTURE; he, watch television, at this hour

Exercise 52. SAMSON THE AGONIST is a story of a hero who had magic hair that gave him power. Naturally, we do not have to believe everything we read, online either.

Our “Observations as by a grain of sand” are to help us keep grammar even against unusual wording, like in EXERCISE 42. We have only part the cues: we practice independent language skill.

We first put our verbs into the grammatical PAST, and then into the PRESENT. We mind our Expression: the Affirmative, Negative, and Interrogative.

Example: The grain of sand, with its power to stay on the shore and in the sea, 1. (think) about a proper measure for own composition.

Answer: The grain of sand, with its power to stay on the shore and in the sea, was thinking about a proper measure for own composition.

A. Length N 2. (seem) to give granularity the right proportion. A modicum N 3. (be) the argument to the grain of sand: it 4. (bring) to mind limitation rather than weight.

B. The grain of sand 5. (think) about wisdom. What wisdom 6. (be) ?

C. It 7. (may be) a grain of wit and manhood well resolved, but the grain of sand N 8. (consider) going into a drama like that of Samson the Agonist really necessary.

D. The grain usually 9. (rest) close to the shoreline, not entirely by own will, but by the way of life it 10. (practice) since its earliest years.

E. Owing to this lifestyle, it 11. (decide) to devote part its time to necessities of cognition.

F. Thinking about own format as a potentiality by another, it 12. (deliberate) whether it 13. (be), as a grain of sand, a fruit of ability or mere industriousness.

G. It 14. (can be) up to itself to conclude on own structuring. For that chance, it 15. (spend) half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening, to ponder on composite phenomena strictly.

H. It 16. (do) its daily dose of reckoning for about fifteen minutes, when a westerly 17. (arrive) to the shore. Its habitual way, the wind 18. (make) a little eddy on the shoreside.

I. The grain of sand 19. (think) if that 20. (be) wise.

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Obviously, wits cannot be something we grow on our heads.

Let us now put the story into the grammatical PRESENT. Our grammar journey has had some dramatic narrative already, in EXERCISE 44.

Answer: The grain of sand, with its power to stay on the shore and in the sea, is thinking about a proper measure for own composition.

A1. Length does not seem to give granularity the right proportion. A modicum is not the argument to the grain of sand: it brings to mind limitation rather than weight.

B1. The grain of sand thinks about wisdom. What is wisdom?

C1. It may be a grain of wit and manhood well resolved, but the grain of sand does not consider going into a drama like that of Samson the Agonist really necessary…

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Our sense for distance and time may encourage altering the word “that” from the grammatical PAST into the word “this”, for the grammatical PRESENT.

Modal verbs can challenge our logic. Feel welcome to CHAPTER 9.

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8.1. EARTHLING BASIC VARIABLE

PLANET EARTH FROM ONE MILLION MILES AWAY,
PICTURE BY NASA DEEP SPACE CLIMATE OBSERVATORY.

Let us compare the Simple and the Perfect, our cognitive values {ON} and {TO}, for the verb to HAVE.

As in EXERCISE 14, we can think about language content and inner framework.

In the auxiliary role, the verb to HAVE works for the framework. We mark it green. As a content verb, it can tell about ownership. We mark it mauve then, as all content verbs.

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Madame Règle speaks excellent American English. Her friendship with Jill Smith started over a website forum discussing philosophy and linguistics.

They agreed that Latin had had {TO} influence over English and French thought, although the languages belonged to diverse language groups.

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This is one of the reasons for some French reference in our grammar voyage. Latin has affected {TO} both English and French languages.

On the other hand, English and French have {ON} very dissimilar shapes. English is a Germanic language, and French belongs with the Romance language group. Some American insignia have {ON} Latin mottos.

We could hear or read sometimes that American English is an international language. There are no international languages really. Esperanto does not have {ON} many features of a natural language.

We can say that American English is a lingua franca, that is, a tongue spoken worldwide.

By origin of the phrase, we can associate a lingua franca with free speech. In Latin, the adjective “francus” also meant someone exempt from service, someone at liberty.

The Roman Empire rule over the present-day territory of France collapsed early, and ancient Romans knew the local people as Franks, READ IN WIKIPEDIA.

America and France have had {TO} historic ties. The French were American allies in the WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. The Statue of Liberty is a memorial to American independence and alliance with the French.

There are many Statues of Liberty. The most famous statues are those in New York and Paris. A French sculptor, FRÉDÉRIC BARTHOLDI, designed the Statue.

Bartholdi patented it as Liberty Enlightening the World (La Liberté éclairant le monde, in French). The American statue stands on the Liberty Island, in New York Harbor.

*****

Madame Règle has {ON} a small book of poetry with her today. She has finished {TO} the book about Descartes. At home, she has {ON} a big volume about influences between French and English thinkers.

She has been reading {AT} two book series, poetry or philosophical commentary, one at a time, all this week.

Latimer Sauf is not surprised at her reading habit. The special edition of Larousse Gastronomique he got from her last Christmas has {ON} an elevated and celebrated place in his restaurant main hall.

The guests have turned {TO} many of the pages so far. He has had {TO} another copy to read at home. He has been studying {AT} it to detail. He has {ON} extra Larousse dishes on his menu.

*****

Let us focus on the grammatical time and cognitive variable.

FUTURE
He WILL HAVE been reading; {AT}

PRESENT
He HAS been reading; {AT}

PAST
He HAD been reading. {AT}

We can compare the beginning of our language journey, the Fields of Time (CHAPTER 1).

How does the Perfect Progressive change for the PRESENT, PAST, and FUTURE? It is the verb to have to change.

The verb to have changes the same as in our Fields of Time, for our cognitive variable {ON}, the Simple Aspect.

FUTURE
He WILL HAVE a book; {ON}

PRESENT
He HAS a book; {ON}

PAST
He HAD a book. {ON}

Let us compare the cognitive variable {IN}. In the content role, the verb to have can also tell about eating. Madame Règle likes the extra Larousse dishes by Monsieur Sauf.

FUTURE
Tomorrow at this hour, Madame Règle
WILL BE having her extra Larousse and reading a book; {IN}

PRESENT
Madame Règle
IS having her extra Larousse and reading a book now; {IN}

PAST
When Jill walked into the restaurant yesterday, Madame Règle
WAS having her extra Larousse and reading a book.{IN}

Let us compare the variable {ON}. Here are our Fields of Time, again.

FUTURE
She WILL BE at the restaurant; {ON}

PRESENT
She IS at the restaurant; {ON}

PAST
She WAS at the restaurant. {ON}

For all tenses, this is always the first element in the verb pattern to change for the grammatical time. It changes the same in our Fields of Time, the same as for our variable {ON}.

Let us compare all Aspects. The elements that adapt for the grammatical time are underlined.

We can view the value {ON} as a basis for other Aspects.

We also can focus on the value {ON} and view other Aspects as syntactic expansion.

Please mind that finding a basic value does not impose any particular order to use the values, especially if we come to the resolve that our {ON, IN, TO} and {AT} can be our learned cognitive variables.

*****

Let us turn to American English as it is really. We do not intend to invent a new language.

This is a dream come true. And I’m loving every minute of it.
(NBC Today Sun as in the CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH, COCA.)

The Simple Aspect can tell what we have {ON} our cognitive map. What we perceive does not have to take up an entire extent.

Even if we regard an entire cognitive extent, it does not have to imply that we are preoccupied. Another way round, we live on planet Earth, and none of us could preoccupy it.

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The Progressive Aspect, the value {IN}, can help mark a matter as different from the regular and basic {ON}.

To compare space, we may feel as IN an area, rather than ON a regular cognitive map, for matters we perceive as irregular or EMPHATIC.

The Progressive can help delineate in time, on something out of the ordinary, as a dream come true: dreams coming true are not anything regular.

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In this view, we can have the value {AT} for the most divergent from the regular, basic {ON}.

Could we have a natural feeling to return to the basic variable, after we “go away”? The following example looks spontaneous and shows our matter well.

{AT} I’ve been loving it. But {ON} I want to keep doing different things.
(People magazine as in COCA.)

Some classic grammars might not agree to have verbs as “to love” or “to hate” in the Progressive at all. However, if to let anybody PRESCRIBE what language should be like, we might have to recur to MIDDLE ENGLISH.

*****

American English is a live language, and live languages also change. Thinking about free speech, let us consider a cognitive difference, for the two forms:
“I hate you”,
or
“I am hating you”.

We can compare human perception on physical space.

“I am hating you” is {IN} an area only.

“I hate you” is {ON} the entire extent.

Our grammar is correct when it properly renders how we feel and think.

To speak American freely, we should choose independently if we say that we are hating or loving something, or that we hate or love it.

This can be our earthling proper egoism: we have our inner grammars work for our minds, rather than adapt our minds to rules that cannot be universal, anyway.

The variable {ON} can be our earthling and basic variable. Who knows, maybe the ancient Latin rules, from which classic grammars derive, emerged owing to human variables, only they were not called variables then, hence the “stative use of verbs”?

Naturally, classicist or generativist, we do not have to be always gravely serious about everything we say.

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VARIABLES OR OPTIONS?

We may come across presentations of language as features.

An Aspect both Perfect and Progressive would be the Perfect Progressive. An Aspect neither Perfect nor Progressive would be the Simple.

Some approaches might attempt a picture for language as made of options. However, our brains are live structures and have simultaneous processes.

When we use the Present Simple, our paths for the Perfect Progressive for example do not become “switched off”. If we use the Progressive, we do not exclude a possibility for the same thing to happen also in a manner we describe in the Simple:

“I‘m loving you”,

would not mean

“I don’t love you”.

Planet Earth is our natural habitat. When we people think what there is {ON} a geographical map, we do not exclude possibilities for places {IN} areas, routes {TO} places, as well as locations {AT} places.

Humans are likely to learn languages {ON} a planet for an indeterminate future. Even astronauts learn {ON} Earth.

Associating language, thinking, feeling, and generally space is natural. What would feelings, thoughts, or works be — without room?

Finally, our variable {ON} does not correspond with an option as OFF. We do not turn our brains off, also when we go to sleep.

We can conclude that Aspects are not options. Options can be mutually exclusive. To take one option, we would have to exclude other choices. Variables work together, also simultaneously.

Feel welcome to practice.

8.2. PRACTICE FOR ALL ASPECTS

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CHAPTER 8. ALCHEMY OF TIME FOR BEGINNERS

Most grammar resources agree that we have four Aspects in English, the Simple, the Progressive (or Continuous), the Perfect, and the Perfect Progressive (or Perfect Continuous).

By the label, we can say the Perfect Progressive should have features of the Perfect and the Progressive.

We extracted general patterns for the Simple, Progressive, and Perfect in SUB-CHAPTER 3.1.

We can compare Perfect Progressive examples, as online or in books, and note a general pattern for it, too.
FUTURE:
I will have been reading.

PRESENT:
I have been reading.

PAST:
I had been reading.

Let us think how to build this pattern. We can reckon the verb to be from the Progressive takes the place for the head verb in the Perfect pattern.

The verb to have in the Perfect attracts the third form. The Progressive auxiliary be takes on the third form, within the Perfect pattern.

We can have the Perfect Progressive for a merger of the Perfect and the Progressive. Our alchemy makes room for the head verb in the merged, Progressive pattern.

We have correlated the Simple, Progressive, and Perfect Aspects with cognitive mapping values, {ON}, {IN}, and {TO}.
Please compare CHAPTER 4.

We can use the Perfect to say what has progressed TO a time.

We can use the Progressive to tell what is progressing IN a time.

The two combined, the Perfect Progressive can help tell what has been progressing IN a stretch of time we refer TO another time.

What language marker (preposition) could we choose for our merged variable? We could think about “into”, to join the “in” and “to”.

However, “into” may mean the same as “in” or “to” alone, dependent on the context. The westerly wind frolicked into eddies, in exercise 44 (SUB-CHAPTER 7.1).

“Into” may make an impression more formal or emphatic than “in” or “to” on their own.

Let us think about the preposition AT.

Something has been progressing AT this time.

If our moment in time belongs with the FUTURE, we can say,
AT a time, something will have been progressing.

If our moment belongs with the PAST, we can say,
AT a time, something had been progressing.

Some grammar books will associate our feature {TO} with the Aspect we also can name the Perfect Simple. Some may have the name Perfect Continuous, for our variable {AT}.

Psycholinguistics says that naming processes do not change the ways language forms can work for brains. Book authors are people, and people happen to differ in approaches. Language forms can work regardless of grammar labels.

Our visualization is not to fix a picture for language. We do not have to stay with the same visuals for all time. We can present our mapping on one extent, as well as a few extents.

We can merge our Progressive and Perfect arrow cues (please refer to SUB-CHAPTER 5.1).

Perfect tenses have an open time frame: they connote another, simultaneous reference in time.

Let us think about the Perfect Simple. The PRESENT Perfect Simple can embrace some time with reference TO the PRESENT.

17. Madame Règle has lived in Paris for fifteen years.

The open frame here looks TO the PRESENT, regarding a time fifteen years ago.

The PAST Perfect Simple can refer one time in the PAST TO another time in the PAST.

17a. Before moving to Paris, Madame Règle had lived and worked in Lyon, the silk capital of France, for five years.

The open time frame looks TO the PAST, regarding a time five years before.

The FUTURE Perfect Simple may look to a time span from the PRESENT TO the FUTURE. Our basic or nodal time reference is the PRESENT, but we can think about the PAST as well.

17b. Tomorrow, Madame Règle will have lived and worked in France for twenty years.
(Altogether, in France, she has lived in Lyons and Paris.)

Madame Règle is an avid reader. She never really reads one book only. She usually has a small book with her, tied to her bag with a colorful scarf like with a string. She says that actually being able to look at a book makes it more present to her mind. At the same time, there is always another, bigger book she reads at home.

The practiced school habit of stringing books together might have had its advantages. Jill shares the behavior sometimes.

The Perfect Progressive makes a dual time reference and has an open time frame, the same as Perfect Simple. The Perfect Progressive can highlight a process, its time span or dynamism.

Let us think about the verb to read. We write the verb to read identically in the first, second, and third form. We say it differently.

1st form 2nd form 3rd form

read read read

[rI:d] [re:d] [re:d]

The verb to have takes the third form.

17c. Madame Règle has read [re:d] a book about a French thinker, René Descartes.
(She has finished.) {TO}

When we merge the Perfect and the Progressive, our pattern has room for the head verb in the Progressive.

17d. She has been reading [rI:dI Ƞ] a series of philosophical commentary books.
(Her reading is still in progress, she has not finished yet.) {AT}

We do NOT use the third form twice, and we do not add the ING to it. The following example shows the potential error.

17e. She has been * [re:dI Ƞ].

Let us return to our variable {ON}. Could we have it for our basic cognitive reference? Feel welcome to further journey.
8.1. EARTHLING BASIC VARIABLE

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6.5. THE TARGET TIME AND FRAME

Berry target, photo by Brigitte Tohm from Pexels.

With goals, purposes and targets, the matter is to have what we want, where we want it, and when we want it, like a bowl of berries in the picture above.

For language skill, we need to practice linguistic targets.

Exercise 37. We have our time frames for our guidance. We choose between the Simple and the Perfect, in the PAST.

Please put the verb in the form for the grammatical PAST and give the arrow cue along with the mapping value. In language, we can seek inspiration with words. Let it be a simple chair this time.

Example: His parents (surrender) □ his place in the kindergarten. When Ms. Duncan (suggest) □ playing the musical chairs, Art (throw) □ in three right hand gloves. One of them (belong) □ to Ms. Duncan.

If we feel we could be better off writing entire answers, we can do so without looking to others. Writing belongs with human fine motor behavior. It is important in integrating language skills.

Answer: His parents surrendered his place in the kindergarten. When Ms. Duncan suggested playing the musical chairs, Art threw in three right hand gloves. One of them belonged to Ms. Duncan.

We can only think about the logical cues and mapping values, as in MIND PRACTICE 1.2.
Answer: {ON}

1. Despite his early predilection for challenge, he (get) □ himself a chairborne job. His chair (have) □ an advantage, however. He (design) └┘ it for use by one person exactly

2. Originally, he never (expect) □ of a woman to fill a chair. He (change) □ his mind when he (perceive), □ at about 26, that the strategy almost (reduce) └┘ him to his local club armchair, for dialogue.

3. He (marry) Jin in summer. They (spend) □ their countryside honeymoon mostly bringing the chairs from the garden. His friend Jalen (persuade) □ him to go on a vacation, in a better weather. They (choose) □ Amtrak to journey. Art and Jin first (meet) □ in a parlor car. Face to face with their notebooks, they (realize) □ they were actually chatting with each other over the Unlimited (!)

4. He soon (begin) □ developing his son-in-law attitude. Eva, his mother-in-law, (love) □ to say nobody should let predecessors set the measure for the chair. Art (have) □ a reservation. His job (be) └┘ by principle like trying to keep someone on the edge of the seat with soft overboiled noodles. Jalen Seges (agree) □ that office routines (take) □ some time.

5. Art (know) □ that contending Eva’s arguments (be) □ suggestive of trying verbally to captivate a moving rock. Incontrovertibility (belong) □ with the Seges family ethos. A Yale graduate married to a Harvard grad, Ms. Seges (be) └┘ a woman of resolve, throughout her life. She (talk) table and chairs right when junior (begin) □ preschool. Her grandchildren would go to best schools, to fill their grandparents’ walnut bobbin chairs.

*****

Art is thinking about a new job. Routines of predetermined beginning and end are not his nature. With language work, we also can learn to negotiate: we contend the arguments and not the people, for that.

Could we look up the Amtrak Unlimited, Yale, and Harvard over the Internet? Can we comprehend words like “incontrovertibility”, if our dictionary does not have them? There are sample hints down this page.

Exercise 38. Please tell the time frames and map values (ON, IN, or TO), along with the grammatical time (PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE). We have the arrow cues with every task, if we need them.

Example: Her father 1. (be) a nibmeister. She 2. (have) a clear taste for good quality since she 3. (be) a little girl.

CUES

Again, we can think about the frames and variables, minds first or only.
Answer:
(1) □ was, {ON} PAST;
(2) └┘ has had, {TO} PRESENT;
(3) □ was, {ON} PAST.

A. When she was in her early teens, she 4. (make) a miniature book. It 5. (be) three inches square.

B. She 6. (keep) the book for her thinktionary. She still 7. (happen) to add words to it, though she 8. (make) many more such books.

C. A young girl, she 9. (put) her miniature book in her jacket pocket and 10. (go) to sit by the river. Whenever a word 11. (come) to her mind, she 12. (write) it in with her miniature fountain pen.

D. Her handwriting 13. (change) a little, since then. By and large, she 14. (adjust) her letters to the size of her notebook. One day, she 15. (engross) her future husband’s name in her thinktionary. His name 16. (remain) the only word to take a page entire, out of the alphabetical order.

E. Chantelle 17. (have) a collection of pens. Her favored inkwells 18. (be) glass, silver, and pewter. Her first book 19. (tell) about a girl’s language of the heart.

*****

Form (16) also might be “his name remains”: there are no universal rules to govern contexts, and we are free to decide on our own, dependent on our cognitive mapping.

Miniature books belong with arts. Their scopes may be the same as of standard volumes. They are smaller because they are miniaturized. Chantelle’s miniature book is one of the biggest sizes ― it is three inches square.

The “thinktionary” is a coined word. We can compare it with the word “dictionary”. Everyone can have own thinktionaries. Have we met Chantelle already?

HINTS FROM THE KEY

We do not have to use Past Perfect forms whenever anything happened earlier or preceded something else. We would need millions of past tense forms to speak about Old English, thinking only about the days and years since those times.

Amtrak Unlimited is a forum for Amtrak passengers.

Harvard and Yale are two very prominent and competitive American universities.

*****

How do we interpret words as incontrovertibility?
Here is how we can interpret information about words. We do not need to memorize it.

Just browsing and reading dictionaries, we might get even surprised with how much we remember and “intuitively” use.

We can interpret incontrovertibility by the word build.

The American Heritage online will show the word in•con•tro•vert•ible and explain that the verb to con•tro•vert may mean “to raise arguments against; voice opposition to”.

We look up the parts in– and –ibility. The particle in– may negate. The particle –ibility can work with a noun and connote “an ability, inclination, or suitability”.

However, the particle in– may also mean “having the function of”. We can look up words such as “inbound” or “incant”. Inflammable materials or substances can be highly flammable.

The verb “to controvert” derives from the noun controversy. The noun consists of the particles contro– and versus.

Contro– or contra– can connote “against, opposite, contrasting”. The particle in– does not work in the sense “into” or “within” with the particle con–.

The American Heritage dictionary can tell that incontrovertibility relates to the adjective incontrovertible, meaning “impossible to dispute, unquestionable”.

In•con•tro•vert•i•ble•ness is another, probable form.

We can guess that Art Veltall’s mother-in-law may be a person difficult — but not impossible — to persuade or influence. His wife Jin is some personality, too.

READ HOW TO USE THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY

Feel welcome to further journey.
CHAPTER 7. STATIVE USE OF VERBS

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6.4. MORE GRAMMAR AND WORD PRACTICE

Boutique d’bonheur, photo by Brigitte Tohm from Pexels.

It is natural to wish someone good luck, with tests and exams. Grammar exercises can “buy” us some luck. They do not have to be difficult, for that. Good luck (!)

Exercise 34. All verbs in parentheses will have a closed time frame, and remain {ON} a PAST cognitive ground.

1. The kitten (spill) all the milk by the mill down the hill.

2. The hedgehog (hide) the apples from the bird in a good jar with a lid.

3. The rabbit (strew) the cashews for the jabiru and (go on) making his debut callaloo.

4. The gades (lay) a fair-trade plan for a decade.

5. The corn-fed chick (flee) the shed for some strick.

6. The adept turtle (keep) his hep by the skep except when the bees (sweep).

7. The little bat always (cut) the coconut a bit imprecise, cooking the rice to suffice all sojourning mice.

8. The mountain cat usually (sit) on his mat to chat with the standpat spat on habits and repast.

9. The southern wind (heave) the sea and (sheave) the tides to incline a span unsized in eyes.

10. The butterfly (weave) in a cove; the dove taut (think) about a courtly lot.

*****

For spoken American English, please find the Voice of America at VOANEWS.COM. There is worthwhile, standard American English along with materials for learners. The LEARNING ENGLISH site has slow and clear readouts of news.

*****

Exercise 35. Let us try our time frames and logical cues with mapping values. Our pieces of thought are longer, more proportionate to everyday language.

We can be very serious about grammar and keep a sense of humor: when we humans learn, we happen to be very formal, and this may burden our learning and language styles.

Good American English does not have to be gravely serious (!)

WE CAN FIND THE LYRICS ONLINE
We also can visit the official website
THE OFFICIAL SIMON & GARFUNKEL

Example: Right after he (1) had fought his dependence on the game of Monopoly, he (2) fell for spinnakers completely. A born and bred Alaskan, he (3) went to cruise the Antarctic with a chute.

1. He (4) sold his vintage Chevy and nearly (5) bought a Jeep, when he (6) thought that his vehicle (7) approximated an expression of his ego. A Jeep almost (8) portended a personality change.

2. A newspaper article on alpha and beta males seriously (9) disappointed him. He (10) was neither.

3. Many years, he (11) has looked for a role model. Nobody (12) has met his expectations on both personality and body build, however, and he (13) gave up trying to have body and mind for separate, on Earth.

4. He (14) has pursued some philosophy. At the present, he (15) is pessimistic on a resolve between existence and matter. He (16) thinks he (17) will resort to stoicism.

5. His friend (18) says he (19) needs some sense of humor, if he (20) wants to put up with a woman in his life. The woman always (21) is another Self.

Could this be Jim?

Exercise 36. We are staying with the Simple pattern {ON} a PAST time extent. We try some syntax for the Negative, too.

Example: Consciously pragmatic, Jill (decide) that tidying on her own (be) N too traditionalist. At least she (remember) where her things usually (be) before she (put) them somewhere completely else.

Answer: decided, was not (N, the Negative), remembered, were, put

In the beginning, we may care to write up entire answers. Our human memories can learn with writing habits. It is up to us to choose (!)

Full answer: Consciously pragmatic, Jill decided that tidying on her own was not too traditionalist. At least she remembered where her things usually were before she put them somewhere completely else.

1. She never (get) totally honest with anyone, on favorite comedy episodes.

2. An article on family roles in kite flying (incline) her towards psychoanalysis for a while. She yet soon (conclude) that she (need) N another grammatical person to be herself. Being herself anyway (happen) to her all the time, and she simply (like) to hold the strings. The West Coast had the weather.

3. Disputes on Sandburg and Creeley (bring) her to the belief it (be) never possible to think about one poet strictly, although it (make) no sense sometimes to try talking about two at the same time.

4. After some study of a number of concepts on the cosmos, she (picture) the humanity as an odd kind of fish in a series of still larger fish tanks. Early in the series, there (be) N any point to try bringing another fish tank to imagination. It anyway (require) adding more fish tanks.

5. She (tolerate) pop music well and (watch) American football with friends, but she always (choose) her fountain pens on her own and (keep) them just for herself.

Could this be Jill?

Feel welcome to some more exercise, on the open or closed time frame and the PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE.
6.5. EXERCISES

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6.3. EXERCISES: THE ASPECT AND THE TIME FRAME

Camille Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre, Morning, Cloudy Weather, Wikimedia Commons

Exercise 32. For our warm-up, let us practice the time frames. We can do the exercise in our minds solely, as in the MIND PRACTICE. Our head verb is to work.

Example 1: Monsieur Sauf had worked.
Answer: {TO}, a PAST cognitive ground.
(a time frame open to a reference mark in the PAST)

Example 2: Madame Règle will work.
Answer: {ON}, a cognitive ground for the FUTURE.
(a time frame closed on a FUTURE time reference)

Please mind that our grounds for the PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE are the grammatical time. We do not need insight greater than for classic grammar, to talk about what happened, or to predict on our real-time future.

1. Monsieur Sauf worked.

2. Monsieur Sauf will have worked.

3. Madame Règle has worked.

4. Madame Règle works.

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One of the worst mistakes in language work is to keep vocabulary practice apart from grammar exercise. We are about avoiding it here.

Big dictionaries should not scare us. We do not have to memorize them. We can learn by referring to them.

It is good to use monolingual dictionaries and select on word sense. A monolingual dictionary has words and definitions in the same language.

Our brains can get the habit to choose on word sense. For example, the AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY has about 10 senses for the verb TO BE.

The word MAN has about 20 senses, and one of them is “a human being, a person”.

Women also belong with this sense of the word, as in all men are created equal, a phrase we may know from the Declaration of Independence.
FEEL WELCOME TO READ ABOUT THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

We may not want to worry about getting the money to buy expensive dictionaries, especially if we are just beginners. There are free dictionary resources, available over the web and in libraries.

For American English, there also is THE FREE DICTIONARY, or MERRRIAM-WEBSTER.

“Jumping into deep waters” is yet no good strategy for language, and Hispanic learners may like to compare the Spanish DICCIONARIO. People with French or German might like to use LAROUSSE or PONS, respectively.

All the websites have extensive free contents.

Our Travel in Grammar has a mirror in a Slavic language, Polish.

*****

We may look up dictionary definitions, but we people naturally build own, mental lexicons for meaning. The word “mental” means “of the mind”.

It comes from the Latin word “mens, mentis”, signifying the mind, disposition, feeling, character, heart, as well as soul. Reading dictionaries can help us build own lexicons in our minds.

American English ― the same as any other language ― has formal and standard, as well as colloquial language uses. To be colloquial, a use may depart far from the standard, or even go opposite to it.

Colloquially, the word “mental” may refer to insanity. By standard, a “mental lexicon” is a “vocabulary of a mind”. We can decide how we use words. Free speech cannot require that we blindly follow, especially colloquial uses.

Let us try to reckon on word sense. The AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY says that stollen is a rich yeast bread containing dried fruit, as raisins, and candied fruit, as citron; chopped nuts, and spices.

In other words, stollen can be full-bodied sweetbread with fruit sweetmeats, grated or milled nuts, as well as marzipan or citron.

Obviously, own lexicons cannot be always a piece of cake. Let us think about COSMOS, as in the American Heritage dictionary:

1. The universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious whole.
2. An ordered, harmonious whole.
3. Harmony and order as distinct from chaos.
4. pl. cos•mos•es or cosmos Any of various mostly Mexican herbs of the genus Cosmos.

We do not have to agree. Human civilizations have had ideas as a “cosmogonic strife”, and the outer space observably clashes, sometimes.

The cosmos flower grows also in the USA, up to the Olympic Penninsula in Washington (WIKIPEDIA).

Here is my idea for the word “cosmos”:
1. space to include the planet Earth ― we can compare the “outer space”;
2. spatial reference to be mapped on itself, as in stereometry, mathematics, information technology, and philosophy
(we can refer to the cosmos and give it attributes, we yet do not include the cosmos in any larger space, to map it);
3. American colorful garden flower to attract birds, also similar to gillyflower in color.

(Do not underestimate juniors learning, and please remember that the word “dude” is TABOO in official situations.)

There are a few kinds of the cosmos flower. The word “cosmos” comes from Greek. Also originally, it happened to refer to the outer space.

If we want to find out about the position of the Earth in space, we can visit NASA.GOV. NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of America.

A good idea is to read a dictionary “until we get it”. If we are not sure what the “solar system” means, we open the dictionary at “solar” and “system”.

Sooner than later, we are going to be able to flip pages and read big dictionaries just like books. Let us try our linguistic natures with real words and big dictionaries.

Exercise 33. Natural languages do not have fixed connotations. A “squid” can be a marine animal. It may be a bird toy. “A bit of cosmos” may be a garden stretch grown with cosmos flowers to attract birds.

Let us mind our time frames.
Example: The goldfish awoke, hearing a croak.
Answer: a/wake, {ON} the PAST ground

1. The motmot had completely befallen for a piece of fresh stollen.

2. The skylark found nothing to outbid the bit of cosmos with a squid.

3. The soybean alone outshone the legumes fair in Bayonne.

4. The hornbill had overlooked the rook by the brook.

5. The golden frog behind the chilidog overslept and wept.

6. The windflower withstood the rude mood in the wood.

7. The woodpecker has custom remade the pasquinade to treat his clade.

8. The spotted redshank bachelorette did reset her buret for the bouncing bet.

9. The kinkajou understood that honey was for feel-good.

10. The kittiwake has shaken and partaken in casing bacon in Macon.

Feel welcome to further practice.
6.4. EXERCISES:
THE TIME FRAME AND THE VARIABLES, ON OR TO

*****

6.2. GRAMMAR COGNITIVE GROUND

Camille Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre, Morning in Spring (Le Boulevard de Montmartre, Matinée de Printemps), Wikimedia Commons

The picture above is part a CITYSCAPE SERIES by Camille Pissarro. The series shows Boulevard Montmartre at different times of the year, day, and in varied weather.

We can think about grammar as allowing varied views on time.

Let us imagine an American in Paris (George Gershwin did). The American we imagine could be a young woman. She could be the Jill from the office, the Jill Smith that Jim wanted to meet.

Jin was not lying.
Jill is on her vacation.

Could this be Jill?

Jill is a reedy yet energetic figure, her rebellious and dark, almost black hair flying in the mid-September Paris wind. Jill is a very resolute person, one to walk big steps and to breathe deep.

Jill is entering a French restaurant ― a place deliberately prudent in its fine interior. She is looking for her friend, Madame Règle. Madame Règle often has her lunch there.

*****

Monsieur Sauf is not the stereotype, for a man to make his living gratifying taste buds. But the large apron knotted on his left hip in a kind of ― Jill, though learned, would never be sure ― stevedore or half hitch, you could think that he is some athlete, here about a plate of Moules Marinière himself. He is the restaurateur.

*****

This is not the first time Jill meets Monsieur Sauf. Still, she feels minute in his presence. She asks Monsieur Sauf about Madame Règle. Monsieur Sauf can say, reliant on his knowledge,

7. I haven’t seen her today.

He also can say,

7a. I didn’t see her today.

Madame Règle is not a systematic person at all. The only regularity about her would be a small book she always carries fastened to her bag with a scarf or, actually, a variety of scarves of many colors and textures.

The book is not the same book every day, and the choice of the scarf sure depends on some totally unpredictable factor, just as the exact time for lunch, for which you might want to assume the broad time frame of about sixty minutes to commence or not to happen altogether.

Madame Règle comes to lunch between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. or does not show up at all. Let us check on the time. It is 1:30.

Monsieur Sauf can use expression 7. The expression has an open time frame. Madame Règle still may emerge in the door.

7. I haven’t seen her today.

Now let us think the time is 2:30. Monsieur Sauf can use expression 7a. The expression has a closed and PAST time frame.

Monsieur Sauf knows that Madame Règle is not coming today. The knowledge is part the context.

7a. I didn’t see her today.

What if Jill asks whether Madame Règle was there, let us say, half an hour earlier? Monsieur Sauf may follow his linguistic gravity,

7b. I didn’t see her.
(On the cognitive ground: She was not here at the time in the PAST you are asking about.)

Jill is a grindstone to turn about good food. There is no telling her that good food could be bad and she esteems the French cuisine.

She usually visits Monsieur Sauf’s restaurant when she is in Paris. If she meets Madame Règle, she sure will join her for a meal by a table looking to the Quai de Seine (!)

There is an anecdote associated with Benjamin Franklin. A man asked a smith to make his ax especially sharp. The man ended up turning the grindstone himself.

We can find plenty of facts and trivia about America at ARCHIVE.ORG, a free internet resource.

Let us practice our more and more METICULOUS natures in exercises.
6.3. EXERCISES: THE ASPECT AND THE TIME FRAME

*****

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