Re: THEORY: Re : THEORY: Natural language change (was Re: Charlie and I)
| From: | Irina Rempt-Drijfhout <ira@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Wednesday, September 22, 1999, 17:05 |
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On Tue, 21 Sep 1999, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> Charles wrote:
>
> > "the guy who i usedta date his sister comma is angry now"
> > ^^^ ............. ^^^ ...... ^^^^^
> >
> > This is illegal in American, we use something more complicated.
>
> No, it's actually probably quite common in colloquial American
> English. But the more common way of fixing that problem is to
> use the "genitive" cliticized suffix attached to the end of the noun
> phrase:
>
> "The guy who(m) I used to date's sister is angry now".
But that means something different! Charles' version has you dating
the sister and the guy angry:
the guy [who [i usedta date his sister]] (comma) is angry now
Yours has you dating the guy and the sister angry:
The guy [who(m) I used to date]'s sister is angry now
Mind the comma! I understand that Mathias is confused; you had me
convinced for a moment.
Irina
Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/index.html (English)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)