he would notice the old Negro pause in his work

Hello,

I have some questions regarding the vocabulary and grammar of the following sentence, but I’m adhering to one question , as not violating the forum’s rule.

I don’t understand the tense of this sentence. Is it in the past or the present? Could you explain more about the word “would”?

With increasing frequency, he would notice the old Negro pause in his work, as though trying to identify something too subtle for his senses, and then shake his head in bewilderment.”

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Excerpt From Dearest, by H. Beam Piper https://books.apple.com/us/book/dearest/id510993757

It's sort of the present in the past. You could replace "would notice" with "noticed".

It's a present tense narrative. "Would" in the context means "is likely to".

... so as not violating to violate the forum’s rule.

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The word 'would' is past tense, not present tense.

The use here is to express a repeated past action. He noticed the old man pause repeatedly.

tedmc said:

If "would" is in the past tense, the second verb "shake" should have been in the past tense as well.

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"Shake", as well as "pause", is a bare infinitive. The structure is "to notice someone do something".

güey said:

"Shake", as well as "pause", is a bare infinitive. The structure is "to notice someone do something".

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...then shake his head in bewilderment.

With "then" stated, I think the action of shaking his head is separate from noticing. Then again, "would shake" is also possible.

tedmc said:

If "would" is in the past tense, the second verb "shake" should have been in the past tense as well.

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The verb 'would' is the past tense form of 'will'. The verb 'shake' is a tenseless infinitive.

tedmc said:

I think the action of shaking his head is separate from noticing. Then again, "would shake" is also possible.

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There are two interpretations here. Who does the head-shaking? The person 'he' or the old Negro? I guess it's the latter. In either case, the verbs 'notice' and 'shake' are both infinitive forms.

Someone should note that "Negro" is not an acceptable term today.

jutfrank said:

I guess it's the latter.

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I think it's obvious. Failing to "identify something too subtle for his senses", he is bewildered.

SoothingDave said:

Someone should note that "Negro" is not an acceptable term today.

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Granted, but the book was written in 1951, so in context that would have been the commonly used term used by both the author and a character set in that era.

I thought at first it was just an attempt to set a character back in history, but it turns out it's a 70 year old book as well.

We ancient ones can remember when "Negro" was the acceptable term. In fact, I am fairly sure that MLK used that word in his speeches.

jutfrank said:

The sentence is from a short story by William Faulkner called A Rose for Emily, first published in April 1930.

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The OP stated a different source. I searched a copy of the Faulkner story and did not the find the sentence in question, just the term under discussion.

jutfrank said:

The sentence is from a short story by William Faulkner called A Rose for Emily, first published in April 1930.

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@Flogger gave the correct source in post number 1.

Ah, okay, my error. Sorry.