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Re: 'together vs. to gather'

From:Muke Tever <hotblack@...>
Date:Monday, January 19, 2004, 1:31
E fésto Doug Dee <AmateurLinguist@...>:
> In a message dated 1/18/2004 6:01:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, > hotblack@FRATH.NET writes: > >> I dont see anything in the semantics of "massacre" that require a plural >> anywhere... > > This may vary by dialect/idiolect. Many people find "General Custer > massacred an Indian here" to be strange to the point of > ungrammaticality, on the grounds that it isn't a "massacre" unless a > whole bunch of victims are involved. So, he could massacre "a hundred > Indians", or "a tribe", but not "an Indian." Your judgments may vary. > > I hope I haven't started an English dialect thread . . .
:x) Probably. Google does list results for massacre with a singular object, though (e.g. "Even if I had survived the precarious climb, the Natives would have massacred me had I come without the mandatory guide.") *Muke! -- http://frath.net/ E jer savne zarjé mas ne http://kohath.livejournal.com/ Se imné koone'f metha http://kohath.deviantart.com/ Brissve mé kolé adâ.