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ad-lapidem t1_j6msw78 wrote

Reply to comment by AceDecade in ELI5: Why does the order of adjectives matter? by AbleReporter565

"He will run yesterday" is perfectly grammatically correct, it's just semantically nonsense. For that matter, "he are running" (or "he be running," etc.) may not be acceptable in standard Englishes, but might be preferred or at least unexceptional in certain dialects.

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AceDecade t1_j6nh902 wrote

“He will run yesterday” is grammatically correct? Grammatically speaking then, is this sentence future tense or past tense?

Is it grammatically correct for one clause to have two different tenses?

This isn’t merely semantically incorrect because it suggests the use of time travel, it’s grammatically incorrect because the verb is just conjugated incorrectly for the tense of the sentence.

As for your other examples, certain dialects have different grammar rules, but they’re still rules. Breaking grammar rules doesn’t usually produce sentences that are still grammatically correct but semantically different in this case either.

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FormulaDriven t1_j6nsi13 wrote

"He will run yesterday" is future tense because the verb formation is the one for the future tense (will + INFINITIVE). "Yesterday" is not part of the tense. In meaning, the "yesterday" contradicts the tense but that's not a grammatical observation.

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Teupfleup t1_j6pbpe5 wrote

>This isn’t merely semantically incorrect because it suggests the use of time travel, it’s grammatically incorrect because the verb is just conjugated incorrectly for the tense of the sentence.

No, it's not. The point in "will run yesterday" and "sleep furiously" is actually exactly the same: Grammatically correct, semantically nonsensical. The effect of "yesterday" really isn't any different from "furiously" here, as it does not influence the grammatical tense. They are just adverbs that add meaning that is nonsensical. They're just sitting there in their correct grammatical positions. There really is nothing wrong with the conjugation of the verbs - It would be wrong it if it was "will ran", for example.

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ad-lapidem t1_j6o40pr wrote

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously, more famously.

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AceDecade t1_j6o4l68 wrote

What grammar rule does this sentence break? Isn't it grammatically correct, semantically nonsense?

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ad-lapidem t1_j6o4x00 wrote

It doesn't; that's the point I'm making. You can form a sentence which parses into grammatical English but which doesn't communicate any useful information. Grammar is not the only thing that determines whether something is good English or not.

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AceDecade t1_j6o519k wrote

I've never suggested otherwise. You claimed there were many grammar rules which produce grammatically correct sentences when broken. I'm asking which rules those are.

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ad-lapidem t1_j6ohiva wrote

Where do I claim this? I simply point out that "He will run yesterday" is grammatically correct even if it does not make sense. It follows all the rules of standard English grammar. You would presumably not object to the sentence "She will jog tomorrow" which is identical in grammatical structure and equally grammatically correct in standard English. But grammar, again, is not the sole determiner of what makes something acceptable English.

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AceDecade t1_j6oigxd wrote

Sorry, I was confusing you with the commenter above who made the claim I'm referencing. I was curious about grammar rules that, when you break the rule, you still end up with a grammatically correct sentence that means something different from what you may have intended.

I'm still not sure why you referenced "colorless green ideas sleep furiously". It's a grammatically correct, semantically meaningless sentence but it doesn't appear to break any grammar rules, which is what I was originally asking for.

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