Re: Aspects of English Grammar

--- Roger Mills <romilly@...> wrote:
> (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 kind of felt it...

> Personally, however, 5 mins. before the alarm goes
> off, I'm still dead to
> the world, and not "about to" do
anything................

That seems to mean that "to be about to" is understood
as "to be ready to". Surely if you sleep you're not
ready to do anything. But is it possible to say "This
guy is about to be awaken by the alarm ?" Or how
should one say ? The idea I think is "this guy is on
the edge of being awaken".

But this problem is not relevant in "being about to
take the train", since normally you are conscious in
such a situation. To take the train is active, to be
awaken by sth is passive.


=====
Philippe Caquant

"He thought he saw a Rattlesnake / That questioned him in Greek: / He looked
again, and found it was / The Middle of Next Week. / "The one thing I regret',
he said, / "Is that it cannot speak !' " (Lewis Carroll)

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