Re: Aspects of English Grammar
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, March 15, 2004, 13:31 |
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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:
> The phrase "to be about to happen" means only that the happening is
> imminent. The future tence "will be about to happen" is just as
> legitimate as the present or past.
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.
2. Obviously, I meant to type "tense". Sheesh. how am I supposed to
make a convincing argument when I can't even type? :)
> 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.
-Mark
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