As grammar is systematic rules governing the use of language, it tends to take much notice of the objective phases of language. Language, however, is alive and has various subjective phases which can not be definitely explained. We have tried to find some common rules in such subjective expressions. As an introduction, we have pointed out some problems of subjective expressions which are difficult to explain. Chapter I treats of the use of the past perfect form with special reference to its subjectiveness. When we consider the use of the past perfect, the most important is the distinction between the primary and the secondary functions. The former, the sequence of time in the past, is applicable to all the past perfect forms. The letter concerns the meaning of a past perfect form, that is, completion, continuance and experience. We have remarked that the past perfect is sometimes used where the past would do just as well and we have considered the difference in meaning between the simple past and the past perfect. The reason why the past perfect sometimes expresses subjective color is that the viewpoint of the speaker is considered as being at a point in the past and he recollects the fact from that point. The indirectness of the past perfect causes a sentence to have various kinds of subjective coloring. In the process of considering the use and meaning of the past perfect, we have also dealt with the relation between the aspects of verbs and the past perfect.
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