Re: "Is exceeded" acceptable grammar?

[<neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

> What is your opinion of the following sentence: "The application stops
> the Windows Installer service when the spool limit is exceeded."
>
> The PM believes I should have said "was exceeded".

Does the PM also correct the programmers' C code, for instance suggesting that malloc() is sufficient, and that free() is just wasted code? Methinks there is an underlying issue of trust or resentment.

On the other hand, misunderstanding of the use of tenses in English is common. The PM may simply have a sincere belief of the usage, wrong though it is. When in high school, I always felt that the past perfect tense implied a more intense or "greater" past, rather than a past relative to another past, and would use it even though Mr. Murphy the English teacher disagreed with me. I was positive that he was wrong. It didn't help that I already realized my science teachers' science "facts" were occasionally very wrong. 

Perhaps your PM has a similar lack of trust in experts. You might repair to authority. Find a reference in Chicago or somewhere.

-Peter Neilson
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