Date:  Sun, 18 Feb 1996 00:50:06 -0700

From:  Rudy Troike <RTROIKE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU>

Subject: Present tense in newsbreak announcements



    My assumption is that this practice derives from the well-established

narrative practice in English to shift from past to "present" (nonpast) tense

to foreground narrative action, so it is not as peculiar as it seems in

isolation. But somebody mentioned awhile back that there is a separate

newsgroup on usage. Shouldn't that be the appropriate venue for this sort

of topic? Perhaps someone could provide that address, and shift some of

the traffic off the ADS-L. No need to duplicate functions.



--Rudy Troike (rtroike[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ccit.arizona.edu)