Talk:Forward-looking statement

Nominating for speedy deletion
The assertions in this article are complete nonsense. Google results for "forward-looking statement" plus "linguistics" are incidental references to modern finance and computing. Google hits for "forward-looking statement" and "gerund" are virtually nonexistent. 

User:Dzonatas created this page after I explained on Talk:Joan of Arc that the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 is not a style manual for copyediting French medieval history. Durova 18:09, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

"Essay"
The following piece is deleted.
 * In English essays, a single instance of a forward-looking statement in the conclusion is sometimes useful to indicate a closure to the essay. If the writer intended for the entire essay as his or her forward-looking statement, it is about one's intentions, outlooks, expectations, and reflections.

Even ignoring the fact that this text is of rather strange grammar, I fail to find out how this phrase is related to the text in the external link. The only relevant place in the link is the phrase "A closing thought, a goodbye bow, a forward-looking statement beyond the boundaries of your paper.", which in no way can be a source of the definition of the term. mikka (t) 03:16, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

I understand. It is hard to dig through sources when most searches result in disclaimer content. I've known about such statements for quite awhile with a study of NLP and later politics. &mdash;  Dz on at as  03:26, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

"Gerund"
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 * The use of gerunds may make a forward-looking statement, as the statement with a gerund usually has a state, or condition, that always exists. In such instances, the state of the related phrase may have existed in the past, but it is uncertain if it always exist in the future, and conversely.

It is a clearwater original research, and of dubious merit, too. What the heck this can mean: "the statement... has a state... that always exists" mikka (t) 03:20, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

Not original research -- the word "gerund" is not common unless one includes foreign context.

Generally, English classes, at least the one's that I have known, do not get into technical details of gerunds. They (without foreign context), instead, point out "infinitives," which may subtly imply an "infinite" tense by its lack of tense (or actually inflection). Discretely, some parts of an "infinite" tense refer anywhere from the present to the future. &mdash;  Dz on at as  03:43, 24 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I might as well add that I studied writing in graduate school, and that User:Dzonatas's edits elsewhere in Wikipedia claim that his formal education is in computer science. His linguistic proposals are - to say the least - peculiar.  Durova  17:24, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Deleted section
The section that relates this to general essay writing is poorly sourced and non-notable. Among prominent Google returns, Wikipedia is the only entry that extends the use of "forward-looking statement" beyond business law.  Durova  18:14, 20 September 2006 (UTC)