Re: Adpositions gaining new uses

--- On Mon, 11/17/08, Eugene Oh <un.doing@...> wrote:

> >
> > I find that a perfectly acceptable English sentence,
> along with the common
> > "I want out".
...
>
> But "I want out" omits "to be", which
> generally is a more common and more
> accepted omission than other verbs because of its duh-ness.
Off hand, I can't think of any English sentence which omits "to be". Are there any
instances you can think of? In fact, omitting "to be" makes an English sentence
sound "foreign"; either a strong hint of an Eastern European accent, or an
obvious parody of a Native American speaker from a bad wild west movie. "Me
brave chief."

Also, it can be argued that to "BE" out one must, at some point "GO" out, so I think
the case for the omitted verb being "to go" seems strong. Also the most
frequent context in which I have heard the phrase is where the dog is at the
door whining and the master says "You want out boy?"

--gary

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