Teacher Discussion Forums

I think it's about time to air this topic again, but those who feel they've been there before need not join in this thread.

This is from the book "From Sign to Text: A Semiotic View of Communication By Yishai Tobin". Talking about Hebrew:

"the extra-linguistic contexts between the encoder and decoder (e.g. the social and professional distance between them) may also influence the choice of tense used in these utterances: the more distant the relationship, the more likely a remote form will be used to convey these specific kinds of messages; while the closer the relationship, the more likely a proximate form will be deemed acceptable or appropriate."

I think the same goes for English usage. What do you think?

"One often finds oneself embarassed in these situations"

"Does Sir require anything else?"

These, and other ways of establishing social distance,

such as sheer verbiage:

"Do you think you could possibly...........?


also exist but I'm fairly sure that the"past simple" /remote form/2nd column is the most widespread.

So I'd say I agreed with you.

It occurred to me that

Copper: "Have we been drinking?"

is an attempt to establish nearness/rapport, just like

"Today we are going to do a listening"

The same definitely goes for English usage. Anyone disagree?

The "present" can also be used for past events to make them seem closer:
"So last night I'm down the pub and this geezer walks up to me and says..."

is an attempt to establish nearness/rapport,

I'd say it's an attempt to humiliate and infantilize the member of the public by using a construction used for rapport with small children.

I'd say it's an attempt to humiliate and infantilize the member of the public by using a construction used for rapport with small children.

In the context Juan gives, I'd agree. But I can imagine other contexts, like a manager saying to his or her team "What we need to do is..." to mean "What you need to do is..."

How cynical you both are. MY copper was a friendly chap talking in a jovial matter-of-fact way, not your sarky plod.

"Let's be careful out there"

JuanTwoThree wrote:How cynical you both are. MY copper was a friendly chap talking in a jovial matter-of-fact way, not your sarky plod.

"Let's be careful out there"

Let's just blow into this bag, sir.



We, we, monsieur.

"The royal we (Pluralis Majestatis) is the first-person plural pronoun when used by an important personage to refer to himself or herself. It's best known usage is by a monarch such as a king, queen, or pope. It is also used in certain formal contexts by bishops and university rectors.

In the public situations in which it is used, the monarch or other dignitary is typically speaking, not in his own proper person, but as leader of a nation or institution. Nevertheless, the habit of referring to leaders in the plural has influenced the grammar of several languages, in which plural forms tend to be perceived as deferential and more polite than singular forms. This grammatical feature is called a T-V distinction.

Popes have used the we as part of their formal speech with certain recent exceptions. The English translations of the documents of John Paul II dispensed with this practice, using the singular "I", even though the Latin original usually continued to use the first person plural "We".

The editorial we is a similar phenomenon, in which editorial columnists in newspapers and similar commentators in other media refer to themselves as we when giving their opinions. Here, the writer has once more cast himself or herself in the role of spokesman: either for the media institution who employs him, or more generally on behalf of the party or body of citizens who agree with the commentary.

Similar to the editorial we is the practice common in scientific literature of referring to a generic third person by we (instead of the more common one or the informal you):

By adding three and five, we obtain eight.
"We" in this sense often refers to "the reader and the author", since the author often assumes that the reader knows certain principles or previous theorems for the sake of brevity (or, if not, the reader is prompted to look them up), for example, so that the author does not need to explicitly write out every step of a mathematical proof.

The patronizing we is sometimes used in addressing instead of "you". A doctor may ask a patient: And how are we feeling today? This usage is emotionally non-neutral and usually bears a condescending, ironic, praising, or some other flavor, depending on an intonation: "Aren't we looking cute?"."

Inclusive and exclusive we...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We