Re: THEORY: Re : THEORY: Connolly: Interpreting ergative sentences

Irina Rempt-Drijfhout wrote:
> I have no trouble with "the fabric tears". How is it ungrammatical?
> "I caught my sleeve on a nail, and it tore".
I have no problem with that either.  But, I think it's
prescriptivistically incorrect.  I remember having a debate with my
English teacher about a similar situation, "my pencil broke" - I said it
made perfect sense, no problem, she said it made no sense, and that it
should be "I broke my pencil".  I'd consider "my pencil broke" to be
acceptable if it were accident, like "I sat on my pencil, and it
broke".  "I broke my pencil" sounds deliberate, or at least snapping it
in anger.

--
"[H]e axed after eggys: And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude not
speke no Frenshe ... And then at last a nother sayd that he woulde haue
hadde eyren: then the goode wyf sayd that she vnderstood hym wel." --
William Caxton
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