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Some of the language of history writing needs careful handling
ROLE AND NATURE OF HISTORY WRITING
It is not just historians who write about history. Every academic subject and every business decision is based on a history that sometimes needs to be told for such reasons as assisting understanding or winning over sceptics.
Most of the language of history writing is also common in at least some other types of writing. For example, one of the most obvious linguistic features, past tense verbs, occurs widely in written fiction, jokes, journalism and academic literature surveys (see 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs). Sequence connectors like afterwards, next, then and eventually are also common in descriptions of future sequences and of timeless ones like instructions and processes (see 210. Process Descriptions).
Nevertheless, there are items of grammar and vocabulary that seem to be more associated with history writing than any other type. In this post I wish to identify some of these, and also to highlight some of the less history-specific items that I think can prove troublesome in history writing.
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VERB USE
1. Past Perfect Tense
This tense (with had) is no more specific to history writing than the past simple is, but I mention it here because its function is often incorrectly believed to be just to indicate a very distant past time. Its primary role is actually to indicate an earlier past time than the one that a description is focussed on (see 171. Aspects of the Past Perfect Tense).
One other notable use of this tense in history writing is with event verbs accompanying already. These need the past perfect tense instead of the past simple as a reflection of their need in present-time descriptions (outside American English) for the present perfect has/have tense.
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2. Future in the Past
This kind of future resembles the past perfect in indicating an event or situation outside the focus period – but later rather than earlier. Two major types are destinies and arrangements. A destiny is someone’s definite future, arranged or not; an arrangement is someone’s planned future, and may not actually have occurred.
Both of these types are expressed with a base-form verb after either would or was/were to (see 119. BE before a “to” Verb, #4 and #8). The correct interpretation is usually indicated by the surrounding text. Without this, the meaning can be unclear:
(a) Octavian was to become the Emperor Augustus.
One way of unambiguously indicating a destiny is by adding about between was/were and to, though this only indicates imminent destinies, and with a later when it can imply non-fulfilment (see 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #6). Negative destinies are also shown with never to after either BE or a possible complete about to sentence (see 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #2).
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3. “to” and “when” + Subsequent Event
Like other types of multi-event description, the historical kind has numerous ways of introducing a new event without overusing and. Here is how to and when can achieve this:
(b) The police arrived at the scene to find a shocking sight.
(c) The ship was running out of supplies, when land was spotted.
There are restrictions on both of these uses. For details see 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #5 and 271. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 3, #4.
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4. “Seems / Appears to Have”
Because the past is not always fully documented, histories are often forced to describe it with uncertainty language. Very useful in this respect are the verbs SEEM and APPEAR. Past-time verbs typically follow them in the have infinitive form, e.g. …seems to have failed (see the discussion of sentence #f in 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). An alternative is may have.
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CONNECTORS
Connectors are adverb-like expressions that show how the meaning of their sentence is related to that of one normally occurring before (see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors). Connectors in historical writing resemble those in process descriptions, but are not completely the same.
5. Sequence Connectors
Sequence connectors indicate the timing of an event or situation relative to one mentioned in the sentence(s) before. They can mark the timing of their own event as earlier, simultaneous or later. This blog has fairly comprehensive lists of sequence connectors in 227. Time Adverbs and 259. Multi-Word Connectors.
Two observations in the latter post are the frequency with which this appears in multi-word connectors, and its ability to be replaced by that. The usual reason for preferring that is to highlight distance (see 234. Adjective and Pronoun Uses of “that”). History writers are often motivated to use that because they see past events as distant in time. Common sequence connectors containing it include after that, at that point, at that time, before that and following that. One expression where that is perhaps less likely is during this time.
There is also a fairly typical historical sequence connector – with that – that has no this alternative. It indicates abruptness of a final event in a sequence:
(d) Caesar announced the new procedures. With that, he turned and strode out.
Another connector with a similar use is Thereupon.
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6. Result Connectors
Connectors of this kind mark the event or situation in their sentence as not just later than one mentioned in the sentence(s) before, but also caused by it. Their frequency in history writing is not surprising given the interest of historians in causal connections.
Common result connecters in history writing include as a result, at that, consequently, in consequence, in turn and thus (see 32. Expressing Consequences). Resultant events and situations seem less likely to be signalled with hence, therefore or that is why, as these are more indicative of logical conclusions (see 20. Problem Connectors, #4 and #5).
In turn introduces a logical consequence:
(e) Women gained greater financial independence. This in turn increased the importance of companionship within marriage.
For an explanation of at that, see 234. Adjective and Pronoun Uses of “that”, #1.
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FURTHER ADVERB USES
7. “Once”
This multi-use word is sometimes a conjunction like when and sometimes an adverb with various meanings. One familiar adverb meaning emphasises non-repetition, contrasting with twice, three times etc. Alternatively, adverbial once may just mean in the past, without confirming repetition, or one time or on one occasion, definitely indicating repetition. To guard against misunderstanding, the alternative expressions may sometimes be advisable. This meaning variability of once reflects that of one (see 263. Uses of “One” and “Ones”, #3).
The word occasion sometimes replaces other numerical frequency words (twice, three times etc.), even though they are not ambiguous in the same way. The typical use is after on and a number word, e.g. on two occasions (see 236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #3).
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8. “Then”
This word can indicate not just a later occurrence but also a concurrent one. To do so, its partner verb must usually express either a situation or an extended occurrence (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence, #3). In these circumstances, then is less likely to start its sentence:
(f) Faraday obsessively studied electromagnetism. He was then (= at that time) employed at the Royal Institution.
Quite often in history writing, then with this meaning goes between two noun expressions, the second of which is a description of the first see 77. Apposition (Pairing of Same-Meaning Nouns), #1). For example, (f) could begin Faraday, then an employee… .
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9. Relative Past Times
Time expressions relating to the present, such as last year or in three days’ time, are of course not usable in descriptions of the past. Here are some key correspondences:
yesterday = the day before, the previous day
today = that day
tomorrow = the day after, the following day
this Monday/ week etc. = that… etc.
last Monday/ week etc. = the previous…, the…before
next Monday/ week etc. = the next/ the following…, the…after
The coming Monday etc. = the following…
in …s’ time = …later (see 293. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 4, #1).
…ago = …previously
since… = from… (see 258. Saying How Long Something Lasts, #2)
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10. “Ever”
Ever after a superlative adjective or adverb means “compared to all other times” (see 272. Uses of “Ever”, #3):
(g) Airlines this year report the most flights ever.
Care is needed with past tense verbs (Airlines reported…) because ever would include times after their action as well as before. To make a comparison only with preceding times, past tense verbs need something like so far, up to that point or in living memory.
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11. Judgement Adverbs
Historians like to comment on behaviour they are reporting, often because they have insight from knowing what happened afterwards. One useful tool is a starting “judgement” adverb, especially the “subject-focussed” kind (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs, #3):
(h) Cunningly, Caesar held his soldiers back.
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12. “If only…”
This typical indicator of personal wishes is sometimes used by historians to express a widely-shared regret about something in the past (see 251. The Grammar of “Only”, #1).
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OTHER OPTIONS
13. Indirect Speech
Speech by characters in a historical text is probably less able than that in fictional narrative and even journalism to have direct form. This is partly because historians are not as free as fiction writers to invent “actual” words, and are less likely than journalists to have heard and remembered the speech they report.
Even when historians do know the actual wording that they are reporting, they still need to consider the general convention within expository writing of not using direct speech unless there is something striking about it (see 127. When to Use Indirect Speech). Direct speech that does appear in historical writing will often have been copied from a historical source.
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14. Statement-Referring “which”
This kind of which is another useful means of avoiding and:
(i) Octavian defeated his enemies in battle, which enabled him to become Roman Emperor.
Which here refers to what Octavian did, not battle. For a full analysis, see 200. Special Uses of Relative Clauses, #2.
Like relative pronouns in general, which in this use often follows a preposition instead of being the subject or object of the subsequent verb (enabled above). In historical writing, typical combinations include after which, as a result of which, at which, before which, despite which and upon which. An alternative to the last is whereupon.
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15. Dates
Historical dates can be tricky:
– British English usually names the date of a single day differently in speech and writing. Speech typically includes the…of… (the 15th of March), while writing typically excludes it (15th March). American English reverses the order (March 15th), sometimes with the in between. For more, see 67. Numbers in Spoken English.
– Decade names often have the first year inside the…s (e.g. the 1990s). It is important to include the (see 165. Confusions of Similar Structures 2, #1).
– In recent years, some historians have abandoned the abbreviations BC and AD when distinguishing years before and after the time of Christ, replacing them with BCE and CE (see 130. Formal Abbreviations, final section).
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16. Historical Division Nouns
Historians commonly create past time divisions through names like Roman times and The Medieval Period. The nouns – typically countable – include age(s), epoch, era, period and time(s) (see the end of 196. Saying What is inside Things).
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