Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hanygeorge38]

hello teachers

I was reading the following jok but i have some inquiries,

It's the French Revolution and three men have
been brought to the guillotine. They are the
royal priest, the royal surgeon, and the royal engineer.

First up is the priest, and when granted a final
request before execution, he asks to die while
looking upward to Heaven.

This wish is granted and they lie him on his back.
But, when the blade falls, it stops just inches
from his throat.

The executioner and the crowd are amazed, and
conclude that God has saved the priest and so
they let him go.

The surgeon, next in line, also asks to die while
looking upward to Heaven.

This wish is also granted and they lie him on
his back. But, again, the blade stops just inches
from the surgeon's throat.

They let him go too.

The engineer has been watching the proceedings
carefully. He knows that the guillotine simply
has a malfunction but that this means he will not
die, so he makes the same request as the others.

The executioner lies him on his back and positions
his neck across the block. Then, as the engineer
looks up at the apparatus above, he says "Oh. Now
I see the problem."

why the present simple is used here to often should it be the past
simple

and what is meant by the block in that part

Thanks
_________________
hany

[bud]

Hi Hany,

Often jokes and accounts (i.e., what follows after "Guess what happened to me this morning?") are told in the simple present tense, even though they clearly happened in the past. I don't know why that is.

block - It was a large piece of wood that the condemned person would lay his head and neck on. Then the blade would fall.