Calling Paul Thomas, scottielvr, gonzo914, et al

[Walden]

Oh, joy! We get an extra Whitsunday this year!

[scottielvr]

Great! For once, tardiness has served me well... gonzo /Language Guy, Congrats, and Cynth have done all the work. I concur with their well-reasoned findings; will add, though, that I did hit The Transitive Vampire in search of grins, and was, as usual, not disappointed:

"Sophie sulked by the spittoon.
....
...by the spittoon [is an] adverbial prepositional phrase."

having long since eschewed real smartness....

Which, inexplicably, recalled to mind the following, from "In Old Chinatown" by the divine S.J. Perelman:
"....he must eschew arch glances. For this he was given a small pocket eschewer and ordered to eschew each arch glance thirty-two times."

[carrie]

Thanks, everybody!

Some good news, too. My mom says the grammar club can meet in our basement this week! Oh, and here's a picture from our Fun Night last month. What a blast. Thanks to Mrs. Veech for the theme: Participles, Prepositions, and Punctuation. It's going to be hard to top that!



Prepositionally yours,
Carol

[scottielvr]

That was some kinda fun, you betcha. Hey, do you think your mom would mind if we had another cask of that home-made cider next time? It was so...unusual. It's my turn to pick the next meeting's theme: I've chosen "Copulative Verbs and Subjective Complements." I am a little worried that Mrs Veech might not approve it, though; she can be so tedious, sometimes.

[carrie]

Hey, do you think your mom would mind if we had another cask of that home-made cider next time? It was so...unusual. It's my turn to pick the next meeting's theme: I've chosen "Copulative Verbs and Subjective Complements."

You must be thinking of the French Club, scottie.

Carol

[scottielvr]

Oh, darn, I do get mixed up, sometimes. Thanks for straightening me out. I found the term in that awful Transitive Vampire book; it must be why Mrs Veech told me to throw it away at once.

[gonzo914]

Dear Language Guy,

I'm having a problem with my son. He is 13 years old, and he's always locking himself in the bathroom with his grammar books. He stays in there for hours, which needless to say, is something of a strain on my husband who has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I ask him what's taking him so long in the bathroom, and he just says "Nothing." I'm beginning to worry about the possibility of early onset prostate problems, but the other day, I found his grammar book on the hamper, propped up and open to the page on copulative verbs. What the dickens is going on?

Concerned Mother in Poughkeepsie

Dear Concerned,

I wouldn't worry if I were you. You son is going through a normal adolescent fascination with grammar and things that copulate. All 13-year-old boys go through this stage, and he'll grow out of it when he's . . . oh . . . 65 or 70. His prostate is probably working fine, if a tad shagged out. But for your own peace of mind, you might want to put a lock on that bathroom door and turn the TV up.

Just be thankful he's not using 'hopefully' as a sentence adverb.

[Walden]

Ann Landers would be proudfully.

[Jack]

I'd rather humiliate myself here by asking than by screwing up with the client who is paying me to develop a grammar program.

They wasting they time. Grammar and Pap-paw don't even got a computer.

Specially since they been dead twenny yers.

[fearfaoin]

Isn't an intransitive verb an action verb that doesn't take a direct object?
Is is an action verb here? This, you see, was the very heart of the question.

I think this is what Mr. Clinton was getting at.

[burnsbyrne]

I will state the obvious since no one else has had the courage.
The cat is on the radiator.
The cat was cooked.
The cat is delicious.

I have a bachelor's degree in English but I got that degree in 1972 and, what with the chemicals and the loud Rock-n-Roll music I don't remember much about no grammar. So there it is. Put that in your pipe and parse it.
Mike

[Bloomfield]

I don't vant to introod into ze hallowed diskourse of ze natifs but it seems to me zat ze root kause of ze konfusion is ze defelopment of ze Enklish langwich itself: Ze grammatikal konzept of ze werb "to be" has changed over time and ze movement has been avay from ze adverbial konstruktion of "to be." Konsider ze archaische usage: "It is well, Madam, that thee you should pledge thy troth unto Sir Gaheris."

Adjektif.

But nevver mind. Karry on zere, Natifs.

[Congratulations]

I don't vant to introod into ze hallowed diskourse of ze natifs but it seems to me zat ze root kause of ze konfusion is ze defelopment of ze Enklish langwich itself: Ze grammatikal konzept of ze werb "to be" has changed over time and ze movement has been avay from ze adverbial konstruktion of "to be." Konsider ze archaische usage: "It is well, Madam, that thee you should pledge thy troth unto Sir Gaheris."

Adjektif.

Well, yes, that is interesting. That is now incorrect grammar. As are double positives (which Shakespeare used rather often to express a more stronger emotion).

I also take it that your beautiful spelling is a poke at the Germanic roots of the English language?

[Bloomfield]

I also take it that your beautiful spelling is a poke at the Germanic roots of the English language?

That must be it.

Incidentally: I wonder at this usage "that is now incorrect grammar." Grammar by definition is correct, since it encompasses the rules of correct English. Sentences may well be incorrect, or ungrammatical. But grammar is grammar is grammar.

[Congratulations]

I also take it that your beautiful spelling is a poke at the Germanic roots of the English language?

That must be it.

Incidentally: I wonder at this usage "that is not incorrect grammar." Grammar by definition is correct, since it encompasses the rules of correct English. Sentences may well be incorrect, or ungrammatical. But grammar is grammar is grammar.

Well, I disagree. Each language has a different grammar, and even different time periods may have different grammars. So, your example sentence ("It is well, Madam, that thee you should pledge thy troth unto Sir Gaheris.") would have correct grammar for its time and location, but incorrect grammar for our own time.

Or, perhaps all sentences have a "grammar." If one were to construct a sentence in another style than the commonly-accepted modern English grammar, wouldn't it have it's own grammar?

I think it's reasonable, either way.