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Archiver > TMG > 2003-09 > 1062439439


From: "Darrell A. Martin" <>
Subject: RE: [TMG] Wording
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 13:08:12 -0500
References: <4b.332d01a4.2c84d0f1@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <000001c370aa$11421300$4502a8c0@Cheasa>


At 11:57 AM 9/1/03 -0500, Teresa Ghee Elliott wrote:
>Isn't any event we are recording in the past? I could record where I
>will be on the 2010 census, but that is very likely to change. But if I
>am recording where I was on the 1990 census, that is not going to change
>and it has already happened. It really wouldn't matter who my reader
>is.
>
>Teresa Ghee Elliott

Hi, Teresa:

That any *event* we are recording is in the past is, of course, true. But
not everything being reported by or in TMG is an event. Statements of
relationship, such as "these are the known children of John Smith" are not
records of events, for example. Part of this is grammar, and perhaps more
is the convention of genealogical publications. Either way, the present
tense is correct for the "children of" phrase -- although it is certainly
not the only possible way that *might* be correct.

Darrell


Darrell Allen MARTIN
a native Vermonter currently in exile in Addison, Illinois
www.darrell-martin.net/genealogy/

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