The past dynamic to refer to processes correlated with a situation existing or a process occurring at the moment of speaking

In about 10% of all its uses the Past Dynamic refers to processes which are correlated only with some situation existing or process occur­ring at the moment of speaking. Examples:

1. The barman came in."Count Greffі was asking for you," he said.— "Who?" (E. Hemingway); 2. She sailed toward McGavity, twittering: "We just drop in for a minute, to show them how to onestep. Joe was coming for me, but I guess the poor lamb must have fallen asleep" (S. Lewis); 3. Lady Mont said suddenly: "The baby, Dinny?" — "Fright­fully well, thank you, Aunt Em. He walks." — "I was counting up the pedigree, and he makes the twenty-fourth Cherrel of Condaford" (J. Gals-

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worthy); 4. I said, "Perhaps after all I'll have a sandwich."—"Oh, of course," Pyle said,"of course." He paused before turning to the bas­ket in the back.—"No, no," I said, "I was only joking" (G. Greene);

5. Michael drained his drink, and put the glass down. "Who's the mus­tache?" he asked.— "Oh, Harry?" —"The one you were kissing" (I. Shaw);

6. At that moment the head barman came back from his supper. He caught sight of Syd. "Oh, Mr. Gotman, Mr. Espinel was looking for you." —"Oh, where is he?" (W. S. Maugham); 7. (The head nurse finds some brandy bottles in the cupboard of a patient): "Those are all the «mpty bottles you have?" —"For the moment." —"And I was pitying you having jaundice. Pity is something that is wasted on you" (E. Hem­ingway); 8. "What gulf is that?" — "Mexico, dear." —"The eels come from there, I was reading" (J. Galsworthy); 9. "Alan's the most gener­ous person in the world. He's taken a toss over you." —"So he was telling me" (J. Galsworthy).

Characteristic are instances where the Past Dynamic is used in a subordinate clause after a verb in the Present Static in the principal clause, for example:

1. "That brings me to what I was going to say," continued James ^J. Galsworthy); 2. "That's Carter Davis with him?" said Frannie. "And there comes Whitney Hoffmann. I guess he was parking the car".— "Yeah. I guess he was parking the car." (J. O'Hara); 3. "Don't you love me?" I asked her.—"Of course I do, you fool." What do you think I was crying for?" (J. Braine).

In such cases the verb of the principal clause is most commonly to know, be, remember, or suppose. Examples:

l."I had no idea you had kept up your water-colours. The drawing has considerable merit, though the subject is not clear to me. The fruit looks too soft and too rich for apples. Still I suppose you know what you were driving at" (J. Galsworthy); 2." I can't help it, but I still feel you incline that way."—"Bless me," Martin thought to himself, "he doesn't know what I was talking about" (J. London); 3. "That is precisely what I was driving at" (P.Wodehouse); 4. "What about tomorrow?" — "Yes, that's what I was thinking" (J. Lindsay); 5. "I tell you I don't remember what I was going to say" (D. Parker); 6. "And you remember what we were talking about — about mother!" (S. Lewis); 7. "What was God doing in the Noah's Ark. Elsie?" —"How should I know? I suppose he was counting the animals, two by two, or may be he was just raining like Sunday afternoon" (J. Lindsay); 8. "It's a secret between us, Mas­ter Philip, that I know all about them. I suppose she was having tea with him," she speculated (G. Greene).

Paranthetic clauses "As I was saying," "As I was telling" are also typical, for example:

l."As I was saying, I'm not sure" (G. Meredith); 2. "Well, as I was saying, dear, please, listen" (J. O'Hara); 3. "But, as I was telling you, the first thing we did was to build this shanty" (B. Botkin).