Hi, Paul!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:   
      
   ak>  It was the third glass pane I can't carry to my house!"   
      
   PQ>  An interesting story, Alexander. I would normally say   
   PQ>  "couldn't".   
      
      
            Same here.  As for *why* we do what we do... that's not always easy   
   to explain without using technical terms, but I'd say you managed quite well.    
   :-)   
      
      
      
   PQ>  It's probably something to do with tense.   
      
      
            Bingo!  :-))   
      
      
      
   PQ>  "Can't" means to comment on something in progress, I think.   
      
      
            Yes, "can" is present tense...   
      
      
      
   PQ>  "Couldn't" implies that something that has occurred in the   
   PQ>  past.   
      
      
            ... and yes, "could" is the past tense of "can".   
      
      
      
   ak>  I just thought now that maybe I should have used the Present   
   ak>  tense -- the man's speech is direct, in quotes.   
      
      
            Irrelevant.  Here's a direct quotation of a nursery rhyme:   
      
                          I had a little nut tree;   
                          Nothing would it bear,   
                          But a silver nutmeg   
                          And a golden pear.   
      
                          The king of Spain's daughter   
                          Came to visit me,   
                          And all for the sake   
                          Of my little nut tree.   
      
      
   IOW, the quotation marks indicate that you're repeating somebody's exact   
   words. I quoted the above example in the past tense because that's how I heard   
   it as a child.  If the imaginary person in your example used the past tense   
   because the item in question had already been broken, "It *was* the third   
   pane" is correct.   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)