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The Past II

Introdução

The Grammar Mechanic of the PAST FACTUAL


  • The modal of past pacts is DID 1

  • DID = fact in the past – a deed – meaning it happened!

  • Placed before the verb, the modal is emphatic and strong sounding.

  • When we wish to reduce the emphatic force, the auxiliary inverts with the verb, bringing more stress onto the verb word. The modal is contracted as an ending and is softer when spoken. The modal did converts into the -ed ending of the so-called regular past verbs.


As we can see from the mechanics of the grammar, the modal of fact in the past did, just as we saw with do, can be manipulated, depending on the emphasis we require. With the modal placed behind the verb, we get the sensation that there is a conjugation of the verb; nevertheless, even though the leading sound of each of our so-called regular verbs does not change, there is an ending added to this pure sounding verb.

Having said this, we mustn’t forget that there is a specific change in the dynamic. What we are essentially doing is indicating an event behind us – in the past – and adjusting the emphasis. All verbs in the past work the same in the emphatic forms, with the strong emphatic did preceding the action word (our verb). In this case the word that is moved backward is the past factual modal with the action verb word released from the withdrawn position. When we change the positions, we must move the action word – our verb – backwards. The weakened modal, did, becomes quite soft and may produce one of the three basic –ed ending sounds: t, d or id.

1 Did may well be derived from the noun - DEED

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