Re: heretic grammar

— In glosalist@yahoogroups.com, sydpidd@… wrote:

u “Plu bovi vora” = could mean “cows eat” or “foods of the cow” “Plu bovi pa vora” must mean= “the cows ate”. I have several times been puzzled by a glosa phrase’s= meaning in the present because writers have not
marked the beginning = of the time/control/verb part. To get round the problem, I used the wor= d “du” with the english “do eat / did eat” in mind. However, there is s= ome confusion with duration etc. Durante/o, dura, du . “Du” seems to
m= ean “am eating” which usually suggests “at this moment” whereas I want “p= ast

• future +present intermitent” - “pa-nu-fu-frakti” ?! i should be= grateful if someone could suggest something to introduce the verb pres= ent clearly and briefly.

I had the same concerns. When I created Glo, a v= ariant of Glosa, I added several helper words, because I couldn’t find anyt= hing within Glosa that could solve the problems. I forget why I chose “ca” = for the verb marker. Here’s an excerpt of my Glo rules:

Glo structures not= in Glosa

* ca - Marks the beginning of the action (verb phrase).     =
    For example: 
         mi ca devora. (I eat.)
* da - Marks = the beginning of the direct object. 
       For example: 
         = mi ca devora da frukti. (I eat fruit.)
* ku - What? or Which? This repl= aces Glosa's qe and qi. 
       For example:
         ku; tu ca des= ira da agua?. (Do you want water?)
         tu ca desira da ku kosa?. (= You want what [thing]?)
* le - Definite article (the/this/that/these/th= ose). 
       For example: 
         mi ca devora da le frukti. (I = eat this fruit.)
* sa - Indicates posession, like the English 's. 
=
   For example:
         mi sa femina parenta ca ridi. (My mother l= aughs).

For me, “ca” solved a serious Glosa problem. The others were minor=

improvements, which I adopted because they seemed more convenient, clear, = or better-sounding. I forget why I chose “ca”…probably because it doesn’t= sound like other words that might appear in that location.

Kevin