word choice: verb tenses

When humans use different verb tenses to communicate, it can sometimes betray the pretense of what they say. Inadvertently, humans have a way of giving away their true intentions when communicating because verb tense is not something usually attended to as much as, say, adjectives or adverbs.

When you say, “Hmm, what word am I looking for?”– You are rarely trying to choose a verb tense. The only ones that you do focus on, consciously, I bet, are ones like lay/lie, which have unintelligible constructions requiring memorization. (Don’t get me started on how ridiculous English is compared to Dog.)

So, here’s the deal: Dogs don’t focus on verb tense. And, when we hear humans, we verb tenses tend to stick out like a sore paw. They become really important when talking about controversial subjects in which a “spin” is often found…

Here’s one example to think about today…

…regarding “fracking” (high-volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing in mile-long lateral bores), it is often said that…

“There is impermeable rock between the Marcellus Shale and any aquifer.”

Humans! Focus on the verb tense. Is this sentence true? Let me just tell you: sort of. The fact of the matter is that there is indeed thousands of feet worth of rock inbetween the Marcellus and the aquifers we usually drink from…

…however, THEY PUT A HOLE IN IT. It’s not impermeable anymore. Hence, the reason God invented the past tense. The sentence ought to read:

“There was impermeable rock between the Marcellus Shale and any aquifer.”

The pretense has been betrayed: sleight of hand, so to speak, corporations are trying to get you to believe that the hundreds of thousands of mile-long holes they drilled into the earth did not compromise the integrity of the earth.

Now, go ye and find some verb tenses…