This text appears to be labeling V-し・V-せず・Adj-なく・N-に as present, V-して・V-しないで・Adj-なくて・N-で as past. Why?


I found a table at [this
page](http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/grammar/jgr_part.htm) that seems to
be labeling Vし・Vせず・Adjなく・Nに as present tense, and Vして・Vしないで・Adjなくて・Nで as past
tense. Please teach me about this distinction in the above words.




They seem to be attempting to draw a distinction between _sequential
coordination_ forms and _simultaneous coordination_ forms.

し・せず・なく・に are (theoretically) _simultaneous_ coordination. The state/action
they describe is true/occurring _while_ whatever next thing is true/occurring:

> 本を読み、テレビを見た。
>
> He read a book and watched television (at the same time).

して・しないで・なくて・で are (theoretically) _sequential_ coordination. The state/action
they describe is true/occurring _before_ whatever next thing is
true/occurring:

> 本を読んで、テレビを見た。
>
> He read a book and (then) watched television.

In modern Japanese the distinction mostly isn't bothered with, though, and
instead the differences work out something like this:

し is literary (書き言葉) / して is colloquial (話し言葉)

せず (/しなくて) is 'without doing' / しないで is 'instead of doing'

なく is literary / なくて is colloquial

「Xに、」 isn't really used as 'is X, and' in modern Japanese / 「Xで、」 is

(though correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not as sure on the last two)




They seem to be attempting to draw a distinction between _sequential
coordination_ forms and _simultaneous coordination_ forms.

し・せず・なく・に are (theoretically) _simultaneous_ coordination. The state/action
they describe is true/occurring _while_ whatever next thing is true/occurring:

> 本を読み、テレビを見た。
>
> He read a book and watched television (at the same time).

して・しないで・なくて・で are (theoretically) _sequential_ coordination. The state/action
they describe is true/occurring _before_ whatever next thing is
true/occurring:

> 本を読んで、テレビを見た。
>
> He read a book and (then) watched television.

In modern Japanese the distinction mostly isn't bothered with, though, and
instead the differences work out something like this:

し is literary (書き言葉) / して is colloquial (話し言葉)

せず (/しなくて) is 'without doing' / しないで is 'instead of doing'

なく is literary / なくて is colloquial

「Xに、」 isn't really used as 'is X, and' in modern Japanese / 「Xで、」 is

(though correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not as sure on the last two)

