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>>[Elsa wrote:] My favorite example for explaining this difference in my
editing to authors is the phrase "I loved her since she kissed me."
Did love blossom at just
that moment?<<
>No, it didn't. [says Joanna]. I hope your authors have the sense to argue
with you on this one. "I loved her since she kissed me" means I loved
her because she kissed
me, and it's clear that's what it means. <
Ooooh! I disagree [says Diane--that's me!]. It's not clear until you
explain it with "because"! So why not use "because" in the first place?
The reader shouldn't have to translate the meaning of the statement. It
would be clear in the first place with "because."
>If you wanted to say love blossomed at the moment she kissed me and I've
loved her ever since, you'd have to use the Present Perfect tense: "I
have loved her since she kissed me." The other phase "I loved her
since..." would be grammatically incorrect to indicate the passage of
time from that point to this. <
I agree with using the present perfect tense for this meaning to
reference a point in time. The sentence "I loved her since she kissed
me" is not clear at all.
