The ManicaPost
Have you ever heard or do you have friends who think the word ‘‘ignorance’’ is a noun from ‘‘ignore’’? They speak fairly beautiful and correct English but when it comes to ‘‘ignorance’’ they say, “I love her very much but I hate her ignorance.
I text her or call her but she never responds until after weeks of painful silence. It is this ignorance that I hate about her.” Quite embarrassing, isn’t it? You instantly wonder what he is talking about. Then you realise that the poor boyfriend or fiancé thinks ‘‘ignorance’ is what somebody does when they ignore you. It is not.
You may want to ask me, “Radio and newspaper English teacher, what then is the noun formed from ‘‘ignore’’? Excellent and brilliant question! But who said there was one. It is not every verb from which we can form a noun. This is clearly one English word we cannot form a noun from. There are lots of verbs in this class. Others are ‘‘pump’’ or ‘‘pumping.’’
I had a very learned friend . . . let me say a friend, who loved speaking in English, who often said, “The blood pumpulation was slow because he had a heart problem. The heart could not pump enough blood.” He said it so beautifully that for one split second you thought there was a word like ‘‘pumpulation.’’ How I wish there was a word like this! There were times I thought to myself, “Why is there no word like this?” That is the fun of English language . . . sometimes just how funny English is! You can never simply reason your way through. There is no common sense in every threading of sentences. You must know the acknowledged rules of grammar. And not all of them are logical or sensible.
Think of verbs like snore, boil, paint, sweep, spell, sneer, smear, spearhead and wash. What are the nouns from these doing words?
IT’s HIGH TIME . . .
It is high time we teach these people a lesson. (Incorrect)
It is high time I confront him one-on-one.(Incorrect) I cannot stand it anymore!
It is high time churches stop abusing poor people in the name of God. (Incorrect)
All the main verbs following, ‘‘It is high time . . .’’ must be in the Past Tense even if we are talking about ‘‘now’’.
It is high time we taught these people a lesson (Correct)
It is high time I confronted him one-on-one. (Correct) I cannot stand it anymore!
It is high time churches stopped abusing people in the name of God. Why Past Tenses? Obviously you will ask. Here is the answer. Bear in mind that these actions, in all the 3 sentences, have not been done: teaching, confronting and stopping abusing . . . The speaker has not done anything at all. He is simply expressing that the time to act . . . to do it . . . is now (It is high time.) To express or show that it is an action that has not actually been undertaken, hence, only a wish, we use the past tense. This type of verb (past tense in structure, but present in meaning) is called an inchoative verb.
It is high time farmers changed the seed. You are talking about ‘‘now’’ that they should change the seed but you use Past Tense ‘‘changed’’ because this is an inchoative verb. We do not say, ‘‘It is high time farmers change, buy tractors, invest in horticultural products, borrow money from relevant financiers, stop winter ploughing . . .’’ All the main verbs must be in the Past Tense . . . like this, ‘‘It is high time the farmers changed, bought, invested, borrowed, stopped . . .’’
Does your language need a bit of repair? I am sure you now have a definite answer. Thank you. Enjoy.
