Re: Common Errors in English

Subject: Re: Common Errors in English
From: Dick Margulis <margulis -at- fiam -dot- net>
To: Mark Baker <listsub -at- analecta -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 10:32:25 -0500

Mark Baker wrote:



I tried to make myself stay out of this one, but this has been bugging me
for two days so I will comment as a means of exorcising it from my mind.


Mark,

Yeah, you're right (mostly). I fell into the trap of trying to correct Bonnie on her own terms.

I think, though, that there is an isomorphism between "the practice of saying that one sentence is really another sentence for the purpose of imposing a grammatical construction on it" and transformational grammar--applying a rule to one grammatical form to generate another grammatical form, such as turning a declarative sentence into a question. Applying a transformation to turn a verbose description of a possessive relationship (the ball belonging to John; the experience of nine years) into a compact statement of possession (John's ball; nine years' experience) is perfectly valid.

You can argue, as you have, that the years don't possess the experience and that "the experience of nine years" makes no sense. I think that's a matter of one's point of view; it makes as much sense to me as, say, "the lessons of life." So let's just agree to disagree on that point.

Dick






Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: Common Errors in English: From: John Posada
Re: Common Errors in English: From: Dick Margulis
Re: Common Errors in English: From: Mark Baker

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