Re: From whence it IS?

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Wed, 3 Jun 1998 06:03:52 -0400

At 10:26 PM -0400 6/02/98, Jim West wrote:
>At 10:11 PM 6/2/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>John 2:9 - KAI OUK HDEI POQEN ESTIN - I am thinking this means, "and not
>>knowing from whence it was," but ESTIN is present tense. Would that be
>>,"and
>>not knowing from whence it is?" That sounds awkward to me. Why present tense
>>instead of past?
>>
>>William Boyd
>>
>
>I would call this the narrative present. I.e., in order to make a story
>more enthralling, the present tense is used so that "you are there". See?

I would agree that "narrative present" would be a better term, but
traditionally this is called the "historical present" in most grammars.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/