Re: off-topic: grammar

[John Denker <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 06:07 PM 10/28/99 -0600, brian whatcott wrote:
> [Railing against grammatical analysis treated as Latin grammar grafted
> onto English and promoting a sensitive ear for native idiom.]

Hear! Hear!  Well said.  I get rather tired of two-bit pedants who try to
pretend that Latin grammar describes English.

Favorite examples include
 *) Split infinitives: In Latin the infinitive is a single word and simply
cannot be split.  But in English, why shouldn't I split an infinitive if I
want to?

 *) Predicate nominatives:  When answering the question "Who's there?", why
say "It is I" on the theory that English is like Latin, as opposed to
saying "It's me" on the theory that English is like French?

 **) The list goes on and on.


______________________________________________________________
copyright (C) 1999 John S. Denker             jsd@monmouth.com