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Re: R: Re: Degrees of volition in active languages(wasRe:Chevraqis: asketch)

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Saturday, August 19, 2000, 20:46
"Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> True. But analogies based on Shakespeare shouldn't be taken too far. > He had no qualms at all about bending English syntax to fit the needs > of meter at times.
But, surely the presence or absence of an /m/ wouldn't alter the meter? So, wouldn't the variation reflect speech? But, another example from early on is from Locke, "We are still at a loss, who civil power belongs to", one of Robert Lowthe (an early prescriptivist)'s examples of "bad English" in his rule about prepositions not being separated from the relative pronoun. He also criticized the use of "who" rather than "whom" in those examples. This was in 1762.
> There's this one truly wretched line in _Much ado > about Nothing_ during the trial scene where the Judge goes "What > heard you him say else?"
That's English? ;-) -- "Their bodies did not age, but they became afeared of everything and anything. For partaking in any activity at all could threaten their precious and ageless bodies! ... Their victory over death was a hollow one." ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor