Re: USAGE: Singular <y'all>? (was Re: Californian vowels [was Re: Liking German])
| From: | Tristan Alexander McLeay <zsau@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, October 2, 2001, 9:14 |
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At 03.52 p.m. 2.10.2001, you wrote:
>Ah, if only Nik were not on vacation! :)
For me, and usage appears to rattify this,
'If Nik wasn't on vacation!'
and
'If Nik were not on vacation!'
and
'If they weren't on vacation!'
and
'If they were not on vacation!'
are all gramatical (although the latter two don't mean exactly the same
thing; the latter is subjunctive, the former either), but
??'If Nik was not on vacation!'
is highly marked and just barely gramatical and
*'If Nik weren't on vacation!'
is ungramatical.
Can anyone suggest why?
Tristan
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