Re: V2 (plus Géarthnuns serendipity)

DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
> Well, call me a purist, a prescriptivist, a traditionalist, an old fogey,
> but I'm not into this interpretation at all.
In usage it's pretty similar to auxilliaries.  It's more-or-less a
synonym of "ought", and "not" follows it like auxilliaries.  Of course,
it can't be used in questions, *"better you do that?" is hopelessly
ungramatical, but if it were to evolve a bit further, so that it could
be used in exactly the same way as other auxiliaries, I'd certainly call
it an auxiliary.  Right now, I don't know what you'd call it.  It's not
an adverb, as it is always followed by the base form, it's "He better
go", not *"He better goes".  Usage-wise, it's perhaps a restricted kind
of auxiliary.

--
"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men
believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of
the city of God!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor