09-23-2011, 04:48 AM
(09-23-2011, 04:30 AM)abu nuwas Wrote: I have a natural dislike of the use of the present tense to describe stuff which happened in the past. I find journalists just the same ( Dusting down my best frock, i nervously enter. Sir Alan speaks on the phone, giving no sign of having noticed my coming. He barks down the phone to the Prime Minister, as if he were a candidate for the Apprentice.....)Thanks Abu. I never gave a thought to the tense- it was something in the moment I suppose. Whitethorn/ hawthorn, they are both used but in my area whitethorn more so for some reason. I never liked the word 'hawthorn' , I find it difficult to say correctly.
So, it takes a lot to overcome my little idiosyncrasy, but this little cameo did --- I expected a 'darkling thrush' to make an appearance at any moment! I checked 'whitethorn'-- it is what I would call white hawthorn. I am desperately trying to think of a proper crit, but I can't.

