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Re: USAGE: Garden paths

From:The Gray Wizard <dbell@...>
Date:Friday, August 18, 2000, 22:08
> From: J Matthew Pearson > Subject: Re: USAGE: Garden paths > > > >J Matthew Pearson wrote: > > > > > > Again, I think > > > you're missing my point: Garden path sentences demonstrate
that *acceptability*
> > > and *grammaticality* are two entirely different things! A
sentence can be
> > > unacceptable without being ungrammatical. > > > > John Cowan wrote: > > > > And sentences can be acceptable while ungrammatical, too. > > Hmm. I thought about that when I made my original comment, but > when it came down to > it I couldn't actually think of any examples of acceptable but > ungrammatical > constructions. I suppose one example might be resumptive > pronouns in relative > clauses, which English speakers routinely turn their noses up at, > but which get > produced all the time: > > "I just talked to that man who I was wondering if you've ever met him." > "That's the man who I just asked you why he wasn't at the party."
Arrgh!! [nose turned toward the zenith]
> It's easier to come up with sentences which are grammatically > well-formed but appear > to be semantically vacuous. A favourite example of mine is: > > "More people have been to Berlin than I have."
ROTFLOL!! :-) David David E. Bell The Gray Wizard dbell@graywizard.net www.graywizard.net "Wisdom begins in wonder." - Socrates