Re: OT: sorta OT: cases: please help...

On Wed, 5 Dec 2001, Christopher Wright wrote:

> Hey, I might not know the fancy notation, but I know a lot more about the
> workings of language than some of you do. I'm fresh into high school; I
> haven't had an opportunity to forget. For instance, all of you had a
> discussion about linking verbs and whether their adjectival objects were
> adjectives or adverbs. They're adjectives, by the way, because in most
> languages you can remove the copula (isn't that what "to be" is called?)
> and still be understood. "The rag bloody" could be understood, even in
> English, though it isn't proper; in Chinese (I think), it is proper.
Erm... I'd undestand it as `The bloody rag', which has a rather different
meaning to the one you intended, I imagine. But I get the point; it was
just a dodgy example.


Tristan

anstouh@yahoo.com.au

War doesn't prove who's right, just who's left.
                       - BSD Games' Fortune