present active indicative

Ron Thomas rthomas1 at one-eleven.net
Mon Mar 12 16:13:34 EST 2001


I read an article, three different times, on the present active indicative
with resepect to MT 19.9. My question does not deal with MT 19.

My question deals with the impact the mood has on the tense. Does the
indicative alter the normal force of the present tense? For instance, this
comment was made by a gentleman: "Observing that in the present indicative
no clear distinction can be drawn between ongoing action and so-called
'punctiliar' action as is possible in the imperfect and aorist
indicative.." he then quotes A.T. Robertson (p. 864).  The response to
this, it seems to me, would not be the grammar, but the context. For
instance in 1 Cor 13.5 and the word "think." Continuity would be involved
there.

This is followed by (in the following paragraph), "Thus, while it is true
that in moods other than the indicative the present tense denotes
continuing action, in the indicative mood itself no distinction can be
drawn from the mood between the action which is continuing and the action
which is not."

If I'm understanding him correctly (or am I?) he is suggesting that the
mood will affect the force of the tense. Is not the indicative mood an
assertion of the reality of a circumstance without offering any kind of
"commentary" on the tense? Will not the tense, by default, have its normal
force unless the context would suggest otherwise?

I have not read anything, in Wallace, that would suggest what Dr. Osburn
says here. Have I overlooked or misread something?

Ron Thomas
(just a student of the language)



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