Re: Aspects of English Grammar

Mark J. Reed wrote:


> On Sun, Mar 14, 2004 at 06:19:08PM -0500, Mark J. Reed wrote:
> > You should qualify such statements with your reference 'lect.
>
> I then proceeded to ignore my own advice:
I think it's a fair assumption, in these YA....T's, that every participant
is speaking strictly from his/her own cathedra.
>
> 1. The above statement refers to my own 'lect, which is General American
>    English with a fair bit of Southeastern and just a dash of Midwestern.
Well, mine is a ton of Midwestern (with nastier aspects repressed) overlaid
with a half-ton of hoity-toity Eastern, ill-concealed by a later half-ton of
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-- and Southern
Michigan; at least we joke about them......I don't think there's a Madrid,
though there is a Milan, but the train doesn't go there anymore.)
>
> >         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................

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