Tuesday, December 21, 2004 07:58:00 PM
MASTERING POLITICAL DISCOURSE
LESSON 15: THE CONDIT-IONAL TENSE
In order to solidify one's mastery of equivocal language, the political student will need to be fully proficient in the Condit-ional* tense. This tense is often used after four months of silence, for unedited thirty-minute interviews broadcast on national television, or when trying to mount a charm offensive on all the media outlets one can.
The Condit-ional tense is frequently chosen by politicians on the defensive in Washington, D.C and/or those representing the citizens of the area around Modesto, California.
Though relatively straightforward, students of American political language often find the Condit-ional tense the most difficult to understand.
In expressing a Condit-ional situation, we must be able to determine what is a factual statement and what is a deliberately evasive statement:
For instance, if we say --
He is better off when he keeps quiet.
-- this represents a statement that, in retrospect, is true. A general truth can be used similar form and may be used over and over:
If I avoid Connieâs questions, she manages to repeat them.
These statements follow a pattern and can be used to describe events in the past:
If I had had an affair with a flight attendant, then I was not a perfect man, am not a perfect man and may not ever be a perfect man...
Or, a Condit-ional statement can be used in reference to a future, though unlikely, event:
The voters of Modesto, California will re-elect me, if there is a sudden outbreak of collective amnesia.
For surreal events in the present, we place the verb in the Condit-ional clause and try to bury it in the past:
If I had admitted this affair at first, I would not be in this mess.
* Beware â the Condit-ional tense may cause the speaker to appear uncertain and shady. And in certain circumstances it may cause him/her to shoot him/herself in the foot or, in extreme cases, both feet.
Now that we have learned the basics, let's practice!
1) I am not going to answer that question on the grounds that it _____ (incriminate) me.
2) I sure wish Connie _____ (change) the subject.
3) If he were my Congressman, I ____ (vote) for someone else.
4) I wonder how Bill Clinton ____ (get out of) this situation.
5) If this scandal continues, Abbe ____ (look) for a huge book deal and perhaps host a talk show.
6) If the network had not received 23.7 million viewers, it ____ (broadcast) some real news.
7) The public may begin to hope that Larry and Geraldo ____ (talk) about something else.
8) I never thought Gary Hart ____ (look) better by comparison.
9) Even James Carville ____ (not be able) to dig me out of this fiasco.
10) Maybe it ____ (help) better, if my lawyer and I were on the same page.
Send this page to a friend
Back to Chortler homepage
|
