If these problems occur, those who thought snow removal was problematic will have see

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vectra

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Hello,

Could you pls explain why the author uses the Present Perfect tense in the following sentence:
“It could mean too much garbage will end up being on our streets for too long, and the likelihood of rat and health issues arising will increase with each passing day,” City Councilman James Vacca, a Bronx Democrat, said in an e-mail. “If these problems occur, those who thought snow removal was problematic will have seen nothing yet.”

Thank you in advance.
 

opa6x57

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“If these problems occur, those who thought snow removal was problematic will have seen nothing yet.”
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Not a teacher, 53-year-old American.
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There is an American song which contains the line, "You ain't seen nothing, yet." The point of this line is that what has already happened is merely the beginning (the tip of the iceberg) - there is much more (bad/good) to come.

I think he was specifically trying to work this line into his statement - and chose the tense of his statement to match the "seen nothing yet" portion.

That's my opinion.
 

vectra

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Hello,
Thank you very much!
To tell you the truth, your reply has revived my dream. I have always had a soft spot for using American or British songs in teaching English.
There was a time I wanted to compose a short course in English Grammar based on the songs by the Beatles - the lyrics are simple, easy to remember.
But the sticking point turned out to be my students' lack of knowledge about the Beatles. They are more interested in modern performers.
The other day one of my students, who is the drummer in a band, could not remember who Ringo Starr is.
But I will keep this idea in mind.

Thank you very much again!
 

opa6x57

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Song lyrics and poems often take poetic license with grammar and spelling rules. Using them to teach grammar and/or spelling is probably a bad idea.


In fact - this particular song "You ain't seen nothing yet" - the lyrics are replete with bad grammar - starting with the non-standard "ain't" in the song title and chorus.



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Not a teacher, 53-year-old American.
=============================
 

vectra

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You are right, but songs should be screened before being selected.
There are a lot of them with good grammar. Besides, songs often contain great catch phrases which my students could learn to make their speech more interesting to listen to.
But it is simply a desire put on hold. And usually it takes some time for such things to come true.

P.S. What does - Song lyrics and poems often take poetic license with grammar and spelling rules. mean?
Is it OK to say - Song lyrics and poems often break grammar and spelling rules?
 
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opa6x57

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P.S. What does - Song lyrics and poems often take poetic license with grammar and spelling rules. mean?
Is it OK to say - Song lyrics and poems often break grammar and spelling rules?

Yes - in short that's what it means. Here's a more complete explanation from the wikipedia article:
Artistic license (also known as dramatic license, historical license, poetic license, narrative license, licentia poetica, or simply license) is a colloquial term, sometime euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of art. An example of artistic license is if a visual artist decided it was more artistically desirable to portray St. Paul's Cathedral next to the Houses of Parliament in a scene of London even though in reality they are not close together.

... probably explains it better than I could.
 

vectra

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Great! Another good expression to remember!

Thanks!
 
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