Adding to the stress is the complexity of the grammar, especially the far-from-perfect spelling system hellish past tense riddled with irregularities.

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It was a decent chance but Kevin Thomson's effort failed to make it past a wall of white jerseys after a tense build-up to the shot.

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Rather, it "does something" -- conveying an attitude -- just as the ending "-ed" doesn't "mean" anything but conveys past tense.

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In the past year, Facebook held occasionally tense negotiations with the biggest social game developers like Zynga to bring them on-board with the program.

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