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Re: 'together vs. to gather'

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Sunday, January 18, 2004, 5:36
Philippe Caquant wrote:
> Thinking about dust, I came to the conclusion that if > there is something like "dust gathering" without any > reference to plural (and it looks like it might), then > one had to draw an arrow which would be large at its > beginning and narrow at its end (in that case: not > several arrows). OK, sounds not bad.
Tell me, would you say "The dust was gathered" or "The dust were gathered"? I'd say the first, because it's mass not plural. But, ultimately I think this is a stupid argument. Clearly some people, such as myself, view things like dust as a mass that can come together, becoming a smaller area, while others, such as yourself, view it as an aggregation of small particles that come closer together. Can we not conclude from this that a language is free to gramaticalize either view? -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

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Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...>