Backshift

Merry Christmas (inasmuch as my Christmas backshift can be merry) … .. ❋ Inspector Gadget (2008)

The clutch kit also allows the CVT system to upshift and backshift more effortlessly due to its consistent belt tension. ❋ Unknown (2006)

#41 Errata: “Cor” and “cor” both refer to the cross correlation between two time series; “backup operator” should be “backshift operator”. ❋ Unknown (2006)

The equation for fractional differencing involves the binomial expansion of , where represents the “backshift” operator. ❋ Unknown (2006)

The equation for fractional differencing involves the binomial expansion of latex B / tex represents the “backshift” operator. ❋ Unknown (2006)

He was waiting for the backshift workers to be clear and well on their way home before making a move. ❋ Brookmyre, Christopher, 1968- (2001)

Masochist that he was, he quite liked the Saturday backshift. ❋ Rankin, Ian (1994)

Y. cagnagellus is supportive of a former association with Rosaceae and therefore its present association with Celastraceae might very well be a backshift ❋ Hubert Turner Et Al. (2010)

It's a sad day for EEN threads when they get hijacked by second-rate PR robot backshift wifeys.

Slide 2: • to describe a past situation which is unreal … • to imagine how a past situation might have been different … … backshift the verb in the if-clause ❋ Unknown (2008)

It’s the combination of if + backshift that signals irrealia: If it rained (tomorrow) we would play cards. ❋ Unknown (2010)

To illustrate – in the following examples he would already have been an old man is simply a prediction about the past, but in the first two examples, it’s a real past that is being referred to, while in the third it’s a hypothetical past – signalled by the backshift into the past perfect: ❋ Unknown (2010)

“He said he’s coming”, a learner may ask “well how recent does it have to be before I backshift the tense? ❋ Unknown (2007)