Where did my Horror go?

[E. Albright]

Originally posted by Arryn:
You do not end a sentence with a verb in English, though it is the common way to do things in many non-English Languages.

Weeell... That depends on whom you ask. A linguist would say that you do in fact end sentences in English. [S]->[VP]->[NP VP]->[N V]. E.g., "He left." Those individuals trying to impose linguistic homogeny, eliminate regional variation, and otherwise quash langauge evolution are more likely to assert that, no, it's like this. Of course, langauge evolution is a Bad Thing in terms of mutual intercomprehensibility. But it's also inevitable, and the standardization of language tends to become political. As do most things. 'Cept if ya reckon that they'uns what ain't in power're the folk who make up all-a these rules. So one ought to be wary, and seek some semblence of balance.

Wow. I've drifted rather far afield, haven't I? Geez. I guess I really don't want to be working on my program, as I should be...

H'm. My Last sentence seems to parse under standard English despite ending its with a verb. Mayhaps the sociolinguistic rant was irrelevant, at that. Or maybe I'm drifting into colloquial English. Arrgh!

[ February 10, 2004, 15:40: Message edited by: E. Albright ]

[Argitoth]

Dang... one little comment about language and this thread has completely gone off subject.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by E. Albright:
intercomprehensibility

This must be an example of that "language evolution" you alluded to.

Another common example of this is "irregardless".

(For those who care, the former should have said "mutual comprehension", and the latter "regardless". The extra prefixes are redundant. Unless one is making a joke by knowingly butchering the language.)

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Argitoth:
Dang... one little comment about language and this thread has completely gone off subject.

Yes, it's all your fault, you miscreant.

Your punishment is to use Microsoft Word for 8 hours a day, for 30 days, with the grammar checker enabled. If you remain sane (assuming you are to begin with), which is highly unlikely, you can come back to civilized chat.

[Argitoth]

Aryyn, I've been feebleminded for as long as I can remember.

[Pocus]

It reminds me of an Online dictionary on the web, which had many descriptions of concatenated words, like for example rejewination, the act of seeing his rabbin.

(nothing about religion here, it was just the example on top of my mind).

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by E. Albright:
A few points:

• The grammar you describe is correct. The terms are not. You're actually refering to two different tenses: emphatic past ("to do") and present perfect ("to have"). Et les deux sont comparable au passé composé...

Which is why I didn't even try to say it in English. I learned half of these rules in French, half of them in English, and don't remember half the technical terms in any case...

• C'est pas grave. Vous écrivez très bien l'anglais, et vous avez bien expliqué les principes, même si vous ne savez pas la vocabulaire technique. La plupart des Américains ne la savent pas non plus. (Désolé pour vous avoir comparé aux Américains...)
• J'ai pensé toujours qu'on n'utilise jamais des majuscules pour commencé les noms des langues en français. Est-ce que je me suis trompé ?

Exact. C'est une mauvaise habitude que j'ai prise, comme d'écrire adresse avec 2 d