Present continuous and trending

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Joey and Gaynor drive Orchard Road.

Joey: Auction. Saturday.

Gaynor: Bet it’ll go.

Joey: Bet it doesn’t, too.

Gaynor: Mainlanders. Some mainlander will grab it. Just like that bank building in Hong Kong last month.

Joey: Hmm. They aren’t snapping up everything.

Gaynor: They’re everywhere. They’re buying properties in Hong Kong and I hear they’re buying properties here in Singapore.

Joey: You’re using the present continuous again. You’re always doing that. Makes it look like a trend.

Gaynor: What should I say?

Joey: You should say, “Some mainlander bought the bank building last month.” Leave it at that. Simple past. One case doesn’t prove a trend.

Gaynor: But it is a trend.

Joey: Got another example?

Gaynor: Well, there’s… umm.

Joey: No trend? Only one case? Rest is hearsay? Simple past is what you use.

Gaynor: Pedant.

______________

Voice-over

Joey has a point. Unattributed source + Verb-ing = unsubstantiated rumor.

But Gaynor also has a point. The unfelt earthquake far away under the sea can arrive suddenly as a tsunami.

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Cyclical argument

Anil wonders if the problem is in the ignition switch.

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Dipak:I don't think so.

Anil: Then what are you thinking the problem could be?

Dipak: These machines are a problem. We are relying on them so much they are ruling our lives and governing our behavior.

Anil: That's all very well but we must be arriving at Chandrapore before dark.

Dipak: You see? If we were not having a machine we would not have been setting out for Chandrapore.

Anil: I am beginning to see what you are saying. And if we did not have to go to Chandrapore we would not have to be relying on this machine.

Dipak: Life was simpler when we walked everywhere.

Voiceover

It is not only Dipak and Anil who becme ensnared by circular reasoning. When Descartes wrote, “I think, therefore I am,” he was employing a circular reasoning because by saying, “I think…” he was already declaring that he existed.

Perhaps life was simpler when we communicated only using the simple present.

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