GRAMMATICAL MODELS

Prepared by:
PINKY MARIEL G. MANGAYA
PhD in English
Historic present is the ordinary present tense, except that
it used to discuss events that occurred in the past. That is:
in terms of grammatical form, there is no difference at all
between the historic present and the normal present. The
only relevant difference is context: the present tense is
about the actual present, whereas the historic present is
about the past. 

The main purpose of the historic present is to convey a

sense of immediacy, or to talk about events as if they were
just happening right now. 
EXAMPLE:

"I can remember it like it was just yesterday: I say

to the woman that I want to marry her, and she
says yes." 

In this sentence, the speaker is using the historic

present in order to talk about a past event as if it
were present, thereby heightening the level of
emotional impact. 
"He was sitting there drinking his coffee, and
he says what is this? It was a tooth! "

In the example, the speaker uses the present tense

– she said says instead of said. This is the "historic
present tense." Speakers use this form because it
makes the story sound more immediate, more
exciting, and less formal.
Hypothetical condition - This refers to a possible
future situation which depends on another
possible future situation
 
Examples:

If it were fine tomorrow, we would have a

barbecue.

If you were getting bored, you could do

something else.
Example:
Obviously, he didn't seem happy.

Disjuncts are used to evaluate the form or the content of what is

said.  They occur outside the clause structure itself.  Removing them
leaves a well-formed sentence or clause but we lose the speaker's
viewpoint.  In this case, compare:
    He didn't seem obviously happy
where we have an adjunct giving us some extra information about
the adjective.  That is to say, it is the adverb acting to modify the
adjective in the usual way, as an adjunct.
However, in:
    He obviously didn't seem happy
we have a disjunct expressing the speaker's attitude to the
proposition that he didn't seem happy.
Disjuncts frequently come in the initial position before the clause to
which they refer but, as we see above, they don't have to.
Thank You!