Re: Aspects of English Grammar

On Mon, Mar 15, 2004 at 01:03:28PM -0500, Roger Mills wrote:
> Michigan (where, I now realize, I've spent 4/7 of my life).
> (And yes, Philippe C., there are said to be big differences between
> Northern-- especially the Upper Peninsula, as we call it--
That'd be "the U.P." :)

> and Southern Michigan; at least we joke about them......
You're just bitter because you can't point out your location on your
hand. :)

> I don't think there's a Madrid,
Indeed there's not, at least not that my gazeteer (or MapQuest) knows about.

> though there is a Milan, but the train doesn't go there anymore.)
Milan, Michigan, besides being a marvelously alliterative name, is close
to the city with one of my favorite names of all time, Ypsilanti (IME
pronounced /,Ip.s@'l&ni/).  About halfway between there and
Tecumseh (named after the Red Prophet), in fact, at least as the Nazgul
flies.


> > >         Tomorrow at 5:55 I will be about to get out of bed.
> >
> > You may add a Wisconsin native and a DC-area native to the list of my
> > acquaintances who agree that this sentence is just hunky-dory.
>
> I also find it OK, since it refers somehow to a regularly occurring event.
> Personally, however, 5 mins. before the alarm goes off, I'm still dead to
> the world, and not "about to" do anything.
Again, in my 'lect, "about to" implies nothing of intentionality, or
even awareness, or state of mind at all.  Only imminence.  "Little did
he know he was about to be run over by a train" says nothing about his
awareness of the fact.

-Mark

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