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Re: R: Re: Degrees of volition in activelanguages(wasRe:Chevraqis: asketch)

From:Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>
Date:Sunday, August 13, 2000, 23:08
J Matthew Pearson wrote:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote: > > > True. But analogies based on Shakespeare shouldn't be taken too far. > > He had no qualms at all about bending English syntax to fit the needs > > of meter at times. There's this one truly wretched line in _Much ado > > about Nothing_ during the trial scene where the Judge goes "What > > heard you him say else?" Agggg! No wonder Pepys thought so lowly > > of him. > > What's wrong with "What heard you him say else"? Seems perfectly fine to me. > If you abstract away from the absence of "do"-support, it's no different in > structure from modern English "What did you hear him say besides (that)?", a > completely normal sentence.
Well, I had been under the impression that lack of do-support was a somewhat artificial, archaic usage that still then obtained only in some parts of Britain. Maybe I'm wrong; I'm no Shakespeare expert (nor Anglicist, for that matter). I have read, though, that those who do consider themselves experts have made the same observation about him. ====================================== Tom Wier | "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero." ======================================