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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0001317Core InformRelationspublic2014-05-27 08:052015-05-10 17:46
Reportermattweiner 
Assigned Tograham 
PrioritynormalSeveritymildReproducibilityalways
StatusclosedResolutionwon't fix 
Platformx86OSMac OS XOS Version10.7
Product Version6L02 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0001317: the built-in conjugation of "lie" is wrong
DescriptionIf we define "to lie" as a verb, the past tense and past participle are conjugated as "lied"; they should be "lay" and "lain," respectively.
Minimal Source Text To Reproduce
Lab is a room. A rock is in the lab. "[A rock] [lie] on the floor."

To lie is a verb.

[To lie (he lies, they lie, he lay, it is lain, he is lying, he had lain) is a verb.] [If we use this 
instead, the conjugation works correctly, but there's another bug]

When play begins: 
	now the story tense is past tense.

Carry out waiting: 
	now the story tense is the grammatical tense after the story tense.
	
Test me with "z/l/z/l/z/l/z/l".
Additional InformationOutput:

Lab
A rock lied on the floor.

>test me
(Testing.)

>[1] z
Time has passed.

>[2] l
Lab
A rock has lied on the floor.

>[3] z
Time had passed.

>[4] l
Lab
A rock had lied on the floor.

>[5] z
Time will pass.

>[6] l
Lab
A rock will lie on the floor.

>[7] z
Time passes.

>[8] l
Lab
A rock lies on the floor.

If we use "To lie (he lies, they lie, he lay, it is lain, he is lying, he had lain) is a verb" instead, then we run afoul of bug 1315 (http://inform7.com/mantis/view.php?id=1315 [^])

Also, Inform seems to draw the past participle from the passive formulation "it is lain" rather than the past perfect "he had lain" (omitting "it is lain" sends us back to "lied"), which is mildly unfortunate, as "lie" is an intransitive verb and has no passive form. This would not have been a problem in earlier builds, when all verbs expressed relations and so would have been transitive verbs.

Apologies for the probable misfiling of the bug; I'm filing bugs to do with verbs under "Relations," as verbs used to be relation verbs exclusively.
TagsNo tags attached.
Effect(serious/mild) Game compiles but misbehaves
Attached Files

- Relationships

-  Notes
(0002902)
Zahariel (reporter)
2014-06-26 11:27
edited on: 2014-06-26 11:29

 The default conjugation is actually correct, except that Inform assumes the verb you wanted was "to tell a falsehood", rather than "to relax or recline". It's unfortunate that these words are spelled the same in the infinitive and the present tense, but there you have it.
(0002903)
mattweiner (reporter)
2014-06-26 13:23

 That's going to create a problem if we need to use both senses of "lie" in one game.
(0002904)
zarf (developer)
2014-06-26 16:30

 Good point. A possible argument for being able to define verbs with custom conjugations (c.f. http://inform7.com/mantis/view.php?id=1316 [^]).

I suppose you'd want to write (in a particular game):

To lie-falsehood (he lies, they lie, it is lied, he is lying, he had lied) is a verb.
To lie-recline (he lies, they lie, it is lain, he is lying, he had lain) is a verb.


However, this doesn't help you with the current compiler. You can't refer to such a verb using the "internal" name lie-falsehood or lie-recline; you have to say [lie], so it's still ambiguous. You can't even say [adapt the verb lie-recline], which I was hoping would solve the problem.
(0002905)
mattweiner (reporter)
2014-06-27 00:15
edited on: 2014-06-27 00:16

 Besides "lie" there will be other cases where an author may want to have two homonymous verbs with different conjugations. For instance, if they're using "fly" in the baseball sense it's "He flied out to left."
(0002940)
zarf (developer)
2014-07-13 10:14

 (See comments in http://inform7.com/mantis/view.php?id=1315 [^] about the correct way to specify conjugation.)
(0003081)
graham (administrator)
2014-08-16 15:34

 For now I think I'm going to have to close this as "won't fix". Inform's verb system can only be an approximation to the full irregular messiness of natural language, and it's going to have a few defects. I hope to come back to this; I think we can live without the baseball verb "to fly", but I agree that the two differently-conjugated verbs "to lie" might both be needed. Still, this will have to wait for another day.
(0003502)
jmcgrew (administrator)
2015-05-10 17:46

 Closing all resolved issues from 2014 and earlier.

- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2014-05-27 08:05 mattweiner New Issue
2014-06-26 11:27 Zahariel Note Added: 0002902
2014-06-26 11:29 Zahariel Note Edited: 0002902 View Revisions
2014-06-26 13:23 mattweiner Note Added: 0002903
2014-06-26 16:30 zarf Note Added: 0002904
2014-06-27 00:15 mattweiner Note Added: 0002905
2014-06-27 00:16 mattweiner Note Edited: 0002905 View Revisions
2014-07-13 10:14 zarf Note Added: 0002940
2014-08-16 15:34 graham Note Added: 0003081
2014-08-16 15:34 graham Status new => resolved
2014-08-16 15:34 graham Resolution open => won't fix
2014-08-16 15:34 graham Assigned To => graham
2015-05-10 17:46 jmcgrew Note Added: 0003502
2015-05-10 17:46 jmcgrew Status resolved => closed

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