FOR GREGORY. He was not a VICTIM of ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, he was a HERO!

PLEASE NOTE: Even though this blog is now dormant there are many useful, insightful posts. Scroll back from the end or forward from the beginning. Also, check out my writer's blog. Periodically I will add posts here if they provide additional information about living well with Dementia / Alzheimer's Disease.

Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts

Monday, June 3, 2013

I'm Good, I'm Good, I'm Good

After reading my BLOG of a few days ago on having to support Gregory in the morning, our niece Colleen replied: "Have you ever tried telling yourself you are good in the morning?  Maybe try it just one morning each week.   Sorry it's been a tough couple of weeks.  We love you."

Click to see BLOG in a new window.

Knowing that she was correct and that by telling myself I am "bad," I bring more "bad" on myself, I wrote back, "Good suggestion. From BAD to I AM GOOD IN THE MORNINGS! Will let you know the results. Tough couple of weeks but not too BAD. OOPS. Tough couple of weeks that were almost GOOD. Love ya too."

When he woke up this morning, I told myself "I am good" and offered Gregory a very simple, "Sleep or Up?" I discovered, however, a new level of Gregory's difficulties getting started in the morning. It dawned on me that he opens his eyes and then doesn't know comes next.

Even that simple "Up or Sleep" didn't work this time. He fumbled with the cover, hemmed and hawed, sat up, lay down. As you can imagine I was frustrated because that meant the end of my sleep but the realization of his state of being was even more frustrating and sad.

I asked myself, "I thought you were good?" I guess I was better, not disrespectful, just banged around a little, didn't say anything negative ... but still felt BAD. I wasn't bad, I felt badly.

Wonder where tomorrow will take us with engines running.

P.S. Learned something interesting for this blog: 

Firstly, there is no such word as 'layed'. It doesn't exist.

Secondly, the confusion comes between the verbs 'lie' and 'lay' and their tenses.

'To lie' (not 'tell a fib') means to lie down: "Lie down on the bed if you're tired."


'To lay' means to set something down: "Lay the parcels on the bed, please."

Now, the confusion:

The past tense of 'lie' is 'lay': "I lay on the bed when I was tired."

The past tense of 'lay' is 'laid': "I laid the parcels on the bed."

That's why neither of your sentences are correct (especially 'layed', which doesn't exist). 

The correct word is:

I LAY DOWN in the middle of the road. (This refers to the one-time action of lying 

down.)

or

I LAY in the middle of the road for two hours. (Refers to an extended period of time.)

ALSO: One does not feel BAD, one feels BADLY.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Conjugation


Grammatical conjugation is the  the variation of the form of a verb in an inflected language such as Latin, by which are identified the voice, mood, tense, number, and person. In Spanish an example of conjugation of the verb hablar (to speak) is hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, hablais, hablan. Translated into English it is present tense I speak; you (informal speak;) you (formal) speak; he, she, or it speaks; we speak, you (plural informal) speak; they (you plural formal) speak. 

One can do the same for past tense (hable,) I spoke; imperfect tense (hablaba,) I speak (over time;) future tense (hablare,) I will speak; subjective (hablara,) I will have spoken; etc.

In English, we are not as aware of verb conjugation because the verb changes very little and we use the pronoun to help. For example: to run: I run; you run; he, she, it runs; you (singular) run, we run, they run, they (plural) run. The verb form keeps to "run" or "runs." Much easier in English.

Sometimes I enjoy the nonsense of conjugating English words because you can conjugate them and it doesn't really matter to their use. This whole treatise  lead me to a poem dealing with Gregory's Alzhiemer's. A long trip but here we are:

I walk
You walk
He walks
We walk
The path together.