What does " I haven’t offered it in quite a while now "mean? He said he IS teaching that course .
Student
Exactly. Professor Johnson is going to be taking a sabbatical to do research in France during the second half of the year. So without him around, I am not sure how I could do a senior thesis on The Canterbury Tales. I mean, the focus of his teaching and research is unique around here.

Professor
Yes. I understand. It would be difficult to do your paper without professor Johnson around. Hmmm… would you allow me to try to sell you on an alternate plan?

Student
Well, you can try. But Chaucer is sort of my hero, if you know what I mean.

Professor
Well, I am teaching a course on the literature of the Renaissance in the first half of the year. It’ll meet late in the day, so it won’t interfere with your teaching. And I haven’t offered it in quite a while now, so I doubt you ever studied that period on the college level.

Student
No. I haven’t.

Professor
If you would be interested in taking the course, I’d be happy to give you supplemental readings, and I’d also be happy to

Question

What does " I haven’t offered it in quite a while now "mean? He said he IS teaching that course .
Student
Exactly. Professor Johnson is going to be taking a sabbatical to do research in France during the second half of the year. So without him around, I am not sure how I could do a senior thesis on The Canterbury Tales. I mean, the focus of his teaching and research is unique around here.

Professor
Yes. I understand. It would be difficult to do your paper without professor Johnson around. Hmmm… would you allow me to try to sell you on an alternate plan?

Student
Well, you can try. But Chaucer is sort of my hero, if you know what I mean.

Professor
Well, I am teaching a course on the literature of the Renaissance in the first half of the year. It’ll meet late in the day, so it won’t interfere with your teaching. And I haven’t offered it in quite a while now, so I doubt you ever studied that period on the college level.

Student
No. I haven’t.

Professor
If you would be interested in taking the course, I’d be happy to give you supplemental readings, and I’d also be happy to

Answer

"I have not offered it..." is a past-perfect verb tense, meaning I offered it, then I stopped offering it." The action of the verb stopped in the past, before another action occurred.

Answer

I understand your confusion. The professor has stated in the present tense that he is giving the course. but then he states that he has not given the course for some time. We often do this within specific time-frames, e.g. I am making a speech today (implies that the speech has not occurred, and obviously is not occurring at that moment, in the context)

His statement is in this tense because he is speaking of the current year or current schedule. He is currently contracted to provide the course, even though is has not commenced yet.

He then notes that he has not delivered the course for some time, meaning that the last time he gave the course was years ago, certainly not in the previous years schedule.

Answer

In this context it means that the professor has not taught that specific course (literature of the Renaissance) for a long time.

Answers · 6

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