Processes Objectively Belonging to Past Time

The Present Static is also ccmmon (about 3% of its uses) with ob­jectively past verbal processes in dialogues, narrations, and references to the contents of a book.

Dialogues. The Present Static is often used to refer to an utterance which has just been completed by one speaker and is so close to the actual "now" that it is still part of the m e n t a 1 present of the other who is now speaking. Examples:

1. "Archie, Julian and I are going to have a look at the papers. You'll be all right here, won't you?"—"What do you say, Dot?"—"The papers, Archie. Julian and I are going to have a look at them" (A. Kings-ley); 2. "It's the only thing we know, the only thing we know." — "What do you say, sir?" (W. Faulkner); 3. "Has George taught her to hate me?" She faltered.— "Why do you ask that?" said Lady Helena coldly (E. Delafield); 4. "You are too young and too innocent to realize how infinitely attractive you are." — "Monsieur, you jest! I attractive! Impossible!" (M. Mitchell); 5. "Come out, Jean," he called.— "Jean is not here."—"You lie!" (G. Gordon); 6. "You can't play fast and loose with the rules like that."—"To what rules do you refer?" (P. Wode house).

A past tense is also common in such situations, and not only in-English but also in Russian (Cf.: Что ты сказал? // Что ты говоришь?).

Frequently, one speaker uses the Present Static, while the other, referring to the same process, a past tense, for example:

1. "You know what the governor of North Carolina said to the gov-erner of West Virginia." — "You mean the governor of South Carolina," said Emily.— "No. I meant North Dakota," said Luke (J. O'Hara); 2. Lanser stood up slowly and spoke as though to himself. "So it starts again. We will shoot this man and make twenty new enemies." — Prackle said. "What do you say, sir?" — Lanser answered, "Nothing, nothing at all. I was just thinking" (W. Faulkner); 3. "Who owns this place?" — "Why do you ask?" — "I just wondered" (J. Braine).

Narrations. While narrating about the past, the speaker often re­presents some of its processes as if they were taking place just before his and his listener's eyes. By doing so, he makes the objective past be his m e n t a 1 present and uses present tenses accordingly. Examples:

1."You didn't see the look in her eyes when she saw me!" — "Well, what did you do?" — "I just give her the old sweet smile and keep going" (J. Updike); 2. "I was walking through the hall ten minutes ago and Zimmerman's door bumps open and who the hell pops out but Mrs. Her-zog" (J. Updike); 3. "And then on the night of the banquet she appears

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in her emeralds, and throughout the evening Max pays attention to no one else" (M. Mitchell).

References to the Contents of a Book: 1. Then Soames dies as a result of an accident at a fire at his home, and Fleur, seized with artificial remorse, returns to husband and child (R. Fox); 2. "Do they get married in the end?" Mrs. Roby interposed (E. Wharton); 3. We shall start, then, from what Aristotle tells us about the numbers (J. Burnot).