Re: OT: contractions (Was Re: OT: Re: What? [...]) Mug," etc.
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, May 27, 2003, 22:30 |
|---|
On Tue, May 27, 2003 at 10:52:59PM +0100, Tim May wrote:
> Andreas Johansson wrote at 2003-05-27 19:37:48 (+0200)
>
> > They're, usually. I don't remember the exact wording I responded
>
> Incidentally, Andreas, your first sentence there is rather weird
> English. You can't contract an operator in an elliptical sentence
> like that.
That's rather strongly put. I wouldn't say "can't" - clearly,
you can, because he did it :) - but it's definitely unusual.
In spoken English, it would probably never even occur to someone
that you might have meant "They're, usually"; they would assume
you meant "There, usually". Contractions of subject and verb are
generally only made when the verb is not the entire predicate.
-Mark
Reply