Quote:
Say It Ain't So
by Stanley Fish
People don't think naturally in the future perfect or in parallel constructions or in the subjunctive mood; rather these grammatical alternatives are learned, and learned with them are the ways of thinking they make possible -- relating to one another on a time-line events or states of being that have not yet happened; lining up persons, objects, and actions in relationships of similarity and opposition; reasoning from contrary-to-fact assertions to assertions about what was or could be done in the past, present, or future.
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2002/06/2002062101c.htm
Have you ever heard such meretricious claptrap. And this guy teaches English? Children as young as five or six routinely and correctly use the subjunctive mood.
What they don't do is limit themselves to the few forms of the subjunctive left in our language.
Children of that age pretty much have all the necessary structure of language. But Professor Fish believes that these types of language structure don't come until people are taught these things in college.
Does Professor Fish think children use the subjunctive, the future perfect, to mouth empty ideas? If so, who would they be doing this for and why?
This fella really needs to head on back to Grammar 101. This time though, he needs a reality based Grammar 101.
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