Re: USAGE: Survey

On Jul 6, 2005, at 3:59 PM, caeruleancentaur wrote:
> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Thomas Wier <trwier@u...> wrote:
>> Okay, I know I'm not supposed to do this, but need some
>> data.  I was attending Richie Kayne's class today at the LSA
>> institute on comparative syntax.  A question arose as to
>> whether in English there are any present participles that
>> are irregular.  I mentioned the verb "to lightning", which
>> in my dialect can only have the participle "lightning",
>> not "lightninging".  So which is better:
>
>>  (1)  It was lightning out last night.  OR
>>  (2)  It was lightninging out last night.
>
>> In my dialect, I can only get (1).
>
> AHD does give "lightning" as a verb form: "To discharge a flash or
> flashes of lightning."  Unfortunately, I can't understand the parts as
> given: lightninged, -ning, -nings.  Does this mean the -ning replaces
> the -ed?  Or is the participle "lightning" and the 3rd person
> plural "lightnings"?  Comparisons with other verb entries doesn't help
> (doesn't help me, anyway).  I think choice (2) above is awkward, but
> it does follow the pattern of sing, singing.  Are there any other
> verbs of 2 or more syllables that end in -ing in the infinitive?
> Choice (1) doesn't sound quite right.  I avoid the construction and
> say, "There was lightning last night"!
As others have said, i think i'd generally avoid the issue by using
"lightning" as a noun, but #2 sounds definitely better to me than #1.
"It was thundering and lightning out last night" sounds like a
violation of parallelism, using _thundering_ (a verb) and _lightning_
(a noun) together like that.  It'd *have* to be "thundering and
lightninging" in my dialect.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that
   you touch perfect speed.  And that isn't flying a thousand
   miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light.
   Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have
   limits.  Perfect speed, my son, is being there."
      ~ _jonathan livingston seagull_ by richard bach

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