Re: Story - TCOAIW

Nik Taylor wrote:

> -'d've (I'd've, you'd've, etc.)
> -n't've (Wouldn't've, etc.)
> -ll've
>
> Hmm ... it appears that only -'ve can be added to another contraction in
> my dialect.
I can't think of an others off the top of my head. You'dn't comes to mind,
but I don't think I've heard many people say it and I'm not sure if it would
sound natural to most people.

> > Anyway,  I think the he'd vs. he had thing needs a happy medium; writing
"he
> > had" all the time would be repetetive
>
> I don't use any contraction when writing something of a fair degree of
> formality, like a story outside of dialogue.  E-mail is informal, which
> is why I just said "don't".  :-)
I tend to be too informal in everything, so I may be a step below the
accepted   level of formality. Even when I'm trying to write formally,
though, I think I'd rarely use (I just wrote youse. agh!) "do not;"
actualyl, I think "does not" is more likely than "do not," but then again,
that may be because Iwould rarely even say "don't" because one should always
avoid personal pronouns in essays, or so say my teachers. :)

> > especially things like "I'd've" or "you'dn't've."
>
> Eek!  A *triple* contraction?
Yep. :) I'm not sure how often triple contractions occur. you'dn't've is
probably more like... I don't know how to transliterate
j@.Vd@nth@v , wutthan jud@nth@v
though the last @ is more like the vowel in look/cook/put, though I don't
even have a clue which vowel that is. I hope that made SOME sense. Anyway,
the latter sounds more like "you had not have" which does not make sense.
I speak really fast English; a lot of my words run together. So I'm probably
not representative of my dialect in general. It's still funny to realize
that I do say that. :)

> > This is a random thought, but are there any contractions with "one?"
>
> "One's" in the sense of "one is", but I can't think of any examples
> right now.
I don't think I've ever seen that used, which is why I asked.

> > I don't think I'd make don't
> > into do not or it's into it is, unless I was going for emphasis... THAT
> > would be the line of "too formal" for me.
>
> Which is, of course, why Data on ST:TNG never uses contractions.  :-)
>
Christophe wrote:

>> >It's all equivalent to the use of 'ne' (the first part of any negation
>> in
>> >standard French) in French. In spoken French, it's just never used.
>>
>> It's not?! /dies
>LOL
You laugh at my pain! /cry ;)

>> I like the 'ne' because it ensures that I will catch what's going on.
>Well, I'd advise you not to use it when speaking to French people. It's
>exceedingly irritating (in a "can't you hurry up with what you're saying?!
>Don't lose time using words that are useless!" way :)) ).
Hehe, much in the same way that saing "you would not have" instead of
"you'd'n't've" would bother me in English. Understandable..but sassy...like
the night!

> In spoken
>French, "ne", which was completely unstressed and thus difficult to hear,
>completely disappeared. Since negation was always made out of two parts
anyway,
>with a stressed part, this stressed part took over the whole negation.
I've never heard that mentioned before, though I must have noticed, because
every so often I go to say je something pas and then get mad at myself for
forgetting the ne.

>Well, you'll just have to be more careful for the stressed negation :)) ,
>the "pas", "plus" (not to confuse with the "plus of
>comparative :)) ), "rien", "personne", "jamais", "nulle part", etc...
I think it's probably just with "ne," I'm waiting for the part before the
verb, which is what usually happens in English, so it's just laziness on my
part. I need more speaking practice. :)

Would "ne" ever be used, in  casual conversation, for emphasis or something?

-Kendra
http://www.refrigeratedcake.com
http://www.refrigeratedcake.com/comics/theatre -- Vade Mecum (comic)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nik Taylor" <yonjuuni@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 9:43 PM
Subject: Re: Story - TCOAIW

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