[Grammar] pasts, presents and futures

[magic dragon]

　Would the following sentence be right?
Do you want to wander through pasts, presents and futures as a time traveller?
(of my own making)

Does the meaning remain the same if I change it to "Do you want to wander through the past, the present and the future as a time traveller?"
Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

It depends on whether you believe (or are trying to explain) that there are multiple different pasts, presents and futures.

 

[teechar]

Would the following sentence be right?

Without further context, that's not natural. Say: "Are the following sentences correct?" or "Is the following sentence correct?"

Here's one example of how you might use your sentence.
Would the following sentence be right if I added a full stop at the end?

Do you want to wander through pasts, presents and futures as a time traveller?

If you're talking about several pasts, presents and futures, then yes.

Does the meaning remain the same if I change it to "Do you want to wander through the past, the present and the future as a time traveller?"

Yes, it does. That's just talking about the past, present and future in general.

[cross-posted]

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you teechar.
One more question please.
I meant by "pasts" in my original sentence pasts everything / everyone has, such as someone's past, someone's family's past, our society' past, a dog's past, a building's past, ---etc. Is my idea wrong or strange?

 

[teechar]

Is my idea wrong or strange?

Given that we're talking about science fiction, it is not wrong or strange.

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you teechar.
I'd like to talk about pasts, presents and futures as real things, not a SF story.

How about pasts, presents and futures' metaphorical versions meaning, say, hardships and expectations and life experiences?
Let me give examples, which I myself have made.

A: Mr. Robinson wouldn't talk about his pasts because they were gloomy ones.

B: Mrs. Robinson hopes her daughter's marriage will bring her a bright future.

C: Everyone has a past, and everyone has a future.

Are these OK?

By the way I'd like to know about the function of an adjective in B (bright).
Can I say its function is to make it possible for you to see, from different angles, different aspects of the future, which is one and only entity?

And can I say it's impossible to say the past means pasts in general, considering our common knowledge?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you, teechar.
I'd like to talk about pasts, presents and futures as real things, not a SF story.

How about pasts', presents' and futures' metaphorical versions meaning, say, hardships and expectations and life experiences?
What do you mean by their "metaphorical versions"?

Let me give examples, which I myself have made.

A: Mr. Robinson wouldn't talk about his [STRIKE]pasts[/STRIKE] past because [STRIKE]they were[/STRIKE] it was gloomy. [STRIKE]ones.[/STRIKE]
A person only has one past.

B: Mrs. Robinson hopes her daughter's marriage will bring her a bright future. :tick:

C: Everyone has a past, and everyone has a future. :tick:

Are these OK?

By the way, I'd like to know about the function of [strike]an[/strike] the adjective in B (bright).
Can I say its function is to make it possible for you to see, from different angles, different aspects of the future, which is the one and only entity?
I'm not really sure what you mean. Mrs Robinson hopes that her daughter's entire future will be bright.

And can I say it's impossible to say the past means pasts in general, considering our common knowledge?
I don't understand the question. What common knowledge?

See above.

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you emsr2d2 for your answer and I'm sorry for my poor writing.

I'm not really sure what you mean.

I meant it seems to me the future presents an individual different picture according to an adjective before it (as in a bright future, a gloomy future, a foreseeable future---).
I wanted to confirm it.

I don't understand the question. What common knowledge?

My writing was poor. I meant if "pasts in general" don't exist, it will be impossible for "the past" to generalize "pasts". I wanted to confirm it.

 

[jutfrank]

Your questions in post #6 still don't make any sense to me.

Try asking just one question at a time.

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you jutfrank.
All right, I'll do so.
What I'd like to know is why "future" is used as a countable noun (as in a bright future and an uncertain future), although "the future" is one and only entity.
My explanation is "future" is seen as countable when seen from different angles.
I just wanted to know my explanation was right.
I should have made clear my question point.

 

[Tarheel]

I could wish somebody a happy life, but that doesn't mean I think they have more than one life.

 

[Tarheel]

Say:

I just want to know if my explanation is right.

(Probably not.)

And:

I should have made my question clearer.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't regard the future as uncountable. I see it as countable.

But anyway, the key difference between a future and the future isn't countability but definiteness.

When using the indefinite article, the idea is of one imagined possibility among the many that could happen. When using the definite article, the idea is of one specific set of events that will happen. That is, there is only one future in mind.

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you Piscean. I see your point. I, too, think "a healthy and prosperous future" and "a miserable future" is OK. However, how about my example C?
C: Everyone has a past, and everyone has a future.
Is C OK?
Here, of course I meant by "a future" his/her possible personal future.
However "a future" here is without any adjective, which I think gives concrete features and adds reality.
Should I change "a future" to "a possible future"?

 

[Tarheel]

Everyone has a past, and everyone has a future.

Yes.

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you, Tarheel.
By the way, Is the following example OK?

"I wish you a bright and successful future." "No, I'm not so optimistic about my future. I'm afraid mine will be a gloomy one."

In this dialogue, the same possible future has 2 different features.
Does this mean the same future is seen from 2 different angles?
That's one of my questions in post 6.

 

[jutfrank]

"I wish you a bright and successful future." "No, I'm not so optimistic about my future. I'm afraid mine will be a gloomy one."

In this dialogue, the same possible future has 2 different features.
Does this mean the same future is seen from 2 different angles?

I'm not too sure what you're getting at with this question.

It makes more sense to think of these as two different imagined possible futures—one bright and one gloomy.

 

[magic dragon]

Thank you jutfrank. Your explanation is good and easy to understand.
Let me ask a little more.

Everyone has different imagined possible futures indeed, but everyone has only one past.
Please see the following dialogue, I have made myself.

"Mr. Robinson won't talk about his past because it was a gloomy one."
"What? A gloomy one? Far from it. He built up an enormous fortune and married a beautiful actress. He has a very glorious past."

In this dialogue 2 different pasts are mentioned.
Considering everyone has only one past, you have to think the reason 2 different pasts are possible is Mr. Robinson's past is seen from 2 different angles, one of which is Mr. Robinson's.

Am I right? Or didn't I explain well enough?

 

[jutfrank]

Your analysis has become more philosophical than linguistic.

1) You could understand your dialogue, as you say, as two people having two different views of the same thing.
2) Alternatively, you could understand that they are two different ideas (or if you prefer—two different pictures). That is, two different things.

There's no right or wrong way to think about this. My personal understanding is more in line with number 2) above. Remember that when we talk about the world, we are only really referring to the contents of our minds. I have an idea (a mental representation) about 'the past' in my mind that is different from the one in your mind. Whether and how these different mental representations correspond to an objective reality is something we can probably never know, and is, I think, irrelevant. The point is that everyone has their own private mental ideas of what we call 'the past'. Again, this is just my own understanding. You are free to understand things in the way that makes most sense to you.

 

[Tarheel]

Thank you Piscean. I see your point. I, too, think "a healthy and prosperous future" and "a miserable future" are OK. However, how about my example C?
C: Everyone has a past, and everyone has a future.
Is C OK?
Here, of course I meant by "a future" his/her possible personal future.
However "a future" here is without any adjective, which I think gives concrete features and adds reality.
Should I change "a future" to "a possible future"?

"Everyone has a past, and everyone has a future."
:up: