*was currently*

Question

Dear friends,Today I read a eulogy that had this sentence:He was currently working at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.Is the was currently usage justified by the fact that he died only a couple of days ago?Personally I think it's wrong grammatically. If you also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?Another question I have is about the leaflet we usually get on the occasion of a funeral service. Is there a noun for the leaflet in English? The leaflet usually contains a photo and a brief biography of the dead, and the venue with the date and time of burial service. Thanks,Shine.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Dear friends, Today I read a eulogy that had this sentence: He was currently working at the Southwest Research Institute ... days ago? Personally I think it's wrong grammatically. If you also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
It sounds wrong to me.
"Until his death, he worked at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas."

Mike Nitabach

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Dear friends, Today I read a eulogy that had this ... also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
[nq:1]It sounds wrong to me. "Until his death, he worked at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas."[/nq]
It sounds like he was working all his life at the SRISA, unless the entire resume of the beloved departed is recited and the above is the last part.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Dear friends, Today I read a eulogy that had this sentence: He was currently working at the Southwest Research Institute ... of days ago? Personally I think it's wrong grammatically. If you also thinkso, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
"He had been working" might work, though I think Michael N's rewrite is better.
[nq:1]Another question I have is about the leaflet we usually get on the occasion of a funeral service. Is there ... a photo and a briefbiography of the dead, and the venue with the date and time of burialservice. Thanks, Shine.[/nq]
If it's a leaflet, I'd probably call it a "funeral remembrance." If it also has program for the funeral service, it would be a "funeral program." If it's a small card say 3" x 5", personalized on one side and having a religious picture or stock photo/logo on the other the term here seems to be "funeral card."

We tend to save funeral cards, remembrances, and programs. My maternal grandmother put them in her Bible, and this was/is a fairly common custom among Protestants (who are more likely to have and carry Bibles than Catholics). After my parents died, I came into possession of my maternal grandmother's Bible; I had given it to her and my grandfather many years ago. The collection of funeral cards, obituary clippings from newspapers, and the like, were a treasure. I passed them along to a family member who is researching that branch of the "Family Tree." I kept the Bible, in which Grandma had also placed a four-leaf clover and other small items.
Maria Conlon

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Dear friends, Today I read a eulogy that had this sentence: He was currently working at the Southwest Research Institute ... days ago? Personally I think it's wrong grammatically. If you also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
It is wrong syntactically but not grammatically
(so far as "currently working" implies someone may in future work elsewhere.)
Better: At the time of his death, he was working at SRI etc.
[nq:1]Another question I have is about the leaflet we usually get on the occasion of a funeral service. Is there ... a photo and a brief biography of the dead, and the venue with the date and time of burial service.[/nq]
English has no special word for this leaflet, which must be a local practice (rare or unknown in NE USA, Britain, etc.) Newspaper announcements and eulogies are usually called death notices.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Dear friends, Today I read a eulogy that had this ... also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
[nq:1]It sounds wrong to me. "Until his death, he worked at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas."[/nq]
At the time of his death he was working ...
He had been working ...

dg

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]We tend to save funeral cards, remembrances, and programs. My maternal grandmother put them in her Bible, and this was/is ... the "Family Tree." I kept the Bible, in which Grandma had also placed a four-leaf clover and other small items.[/nq]
You don't call them "prayer cards"? Any good Catholic has a mirror somewhere in the house with prayer cards stuck in the frame. The older you get, the less reflective area remains. Sometimes this is the same mirror where the palm fronds are draped.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It sounds wrong to me. "Until his death, he worked at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas."[/nq]
[nq:1]At the time of his death he was working ...[/nq]
These suggestions sound to me as if he dropped dead in the workplace. Quite likely "he was employed by" or "was an employee of" would be truer.

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

Don Phillipson wrote on 05 Sep 2004:
[nq:2]Today I read a eulogy that had this sentence: He ... also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
[nq:1]It is wrong syntactically[/nq]
Because "syntax" refers to the order of words in a sentence, I have to disagree with this judgment. "Currently" is not in the wrong order; it just doesn't belong there at all.
[nq:1]but not grammatically (so far as "currently working" implies someone may in future work elsewhere.)[/nq]
Don't you think that using "currently" with the past tense is ungrammatical? I do. I can't say *"I was currently living in New York City, but planned to move to Boston after retiring." I'd have to delete the "currently" or else put the verbs into the present tense to make it grammatical.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Dear friends, Today I read a eulogy that had this sentence: He was currently working at the Southwest Research Institute ... days ago? Personally I think it's wrong grammatically. If you also think so, can you please rewrite the sentence correctly?[/nq]
This threw me for a minute. Logically, "he was currently" is appalling - the past tense "was" is in direct contradiction to the word "currently" which is specifying the immediate present, and yet... and yet... it's not quite impossible, is it?
The reason, I realised, is that the past simple tense doesn't necessarily have anything to do with time. It has other uses, such as in reported speech:
- He said that he was currently unemployed.
I think that your sample sentence might be improved by the substitution of the past-focused "at that time" for the present-focused "currently", but it might also be that an examination of the overall context would justify the apparent contradiction.

Regards,
Mark Barratt

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Maria Conlon:[/nq]
[nq:2]We tend to save funeral cards, remembrances, and programs. My ... had also placed a four-leaf clover and other small items.[/nq]
[nq:1]You don't call them "prayer cards"? Any good Catholic has amirror somewhere in the house with prayer cards stuck in the frame. The older you get, the less reflective area remains. Sometimes thisis the same mirror where the palm fronds are draped.[/nq]
We don't call them "prayer cards," though some might. ( Btw, not all of them have prayers on them.) And we don't keep them on a mirror necessarily. For the first little while afterward, we stick them on the fridge door with one of the many refrigerator magnets we have. Then I put them in a drawer by the fridge. Eventually, my husband will put them somewhere among his things if they are for family/friends of his. Likewise for me and the ones that are for my family/friends.
The palm fronds are draped over the wall clock in the kitchen (which is a fairly big open room where we spend a lot of our time). Sometimes, two years' worth of fronds end up on the clock. When we lived elsewhere and had a fancy mirror on the wall, then we put the fronds there.
Maria Conlon
OBediting: I've edited this post a few times for clarity. It may now contain some inexplicable errors.

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