Re: USAGE : English past tense and participle in -et

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003, Tim May wrote:

> Andreas Johansson wrote at 2003-12-28 01:14:50 (+0100)
>  > Quoting Tim May <butsuri@...>:
>  >
>  > > It occurs to me that in at least some dialects there is at least one
>  > > word which may fall between "a" and "lot of".  While the phrase "a
>  > > whole lot of" may not be standard English, exactly, it is well known
>  > > and generally understood.  I would be interested to hear how this is
>  > > accounted for by those who consider "alot" to be a single word.
>  >
>  > Presumably by "alot" not occuring in that phrase.
>  >
>
> But "lot" in "a whole lot of" is clearly the same lexical item as in
> "a lot of", whether or not it's the same as any other use of "lot".
And 'other' (or 'nother') in 'a whole (n)other story' is clearly the same
lexical item as in 'another'.

--
Tristan

Replies