Username
Warsaw Will
Member Since
December 3, 2010
Total number of comments
1371
Total number of votes received
2083
Bio
I'm a TEFL teacher working in Poland. I have a blog - Random Idea English - where I do some grammar stuff for advanced students and have the occasional rant against pedantry.
Latest Comments
Misplaced clauses?
- January 1, 2013, 2:32pm
I wouldn't say this is about misplaced clauses in the sense of misplaced or dangling or misplaced modifiers, but rather about the organisation of information.
Linguists suggest that in English we like to start sentences (or clauses) with known or given information, and put new in formation to the end. We find this easier to process. Steven Pinker gives this as one reason why the passive is sometimes the way to go (as here).
In this case "she" is the given, known information, while "the university" is new information, so it makes sense to start the new clause with the person or thing we are already talking about, "she". On the other hand, if this had come from a discussion on the university's admissions policy, choice (A) might well have been the best. It rather depends on context.
They talk about the best answer, not the correct answer and the others aren't grammatically incorrect, and I wouldn't say that "she" 'needs' to come after this clause. It's nonsense to say that clauses 'always' need to be followed by the name of the person or thing they are describing, otherwise we couldn't say something like - "Although the weather was awful, we had a really good time". I think they've maybe got a bit confused with participle clauses or elliptical clauses without an explicit subject, such as:
Although being only sixteen years old, ...
Although only sixteen years old, ...
Then it is best to follow them with "she", unless you want to annoy the dangler hunters.
Incidentally, I did the next eleven language and comprehension questions, and they are rather more straightforward.
The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
- January 1, 2013, 1:48pm
@Percy, with a famous Northumbrian name like yours, I'm surprised at you! We had a French queen consort, Mary de Guise,whose daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, spent much of her childhood in France and as result there was a very strong French influence on the Scottish court in the middle of the Sixteenth century.
"From 1554, Marie de Guise, took over the regency, and continued to advance French interests in Scotland. French cultural influence resulted in a large influx of French vocabulary into Scots." Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
@Skeeter Lewis - I was so disappointed when I discovered that that "POSH" story was a myth; it used to be one of my 'not many people know' stories.
But '"gardyloo" doesn't seem to fall into that category. It's well attested to, and in several dictionaries as -" An old cry in throwing water, slops, etc., from the windows in Edinburgh." or some such like. But I got the French etymology slightly wrong, it was apparently "Gare de l'eau!". The interesting thing is that the use seems to have been confined to Edinburgh.
Preferred forms
- January 1, 2013, 1:16pm
While we're on the subject, can some of you Americans tell us which is more popular in the States, "Happy New Year's" or "Happy New Year". In BrE, we only use the latter, and I though Americans mainly used the former, but I heard on the radio today that you use the non-possessive form too.
Preferred forms
- January 1, 2013, 1:11pm
Three of these seem to be simply a difference between British and North American usage.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, as Skeeter Lewis says, "envision" is mainly used in AmE, "envisage" is used more in BrE.
And the same with the idiom - "in the hope of something, in the hope that…(North American English also in hopes that…)".
"A change in plans" is an interesting one. According to Ngram, a "change of plan" is much more commom in BrE, and used to be in AmE as well. But since about 1980 "a change in plans" has taken the lead in AmE.
According to both the OALD (BrE) and Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary (AmE) "apprise" is formal, so probably seen as a bit pretentious in both.
Incidentally, the reason I prefer learner's dictionaries is that they tend to tell you more about usage than standard online dictionaries.
Correct preposition following different? Redux
- January 1, 2013, 3:15am
WRT - another one I had to look up! Happy New Year :)
The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
- January 1, 2013, 3:11am
Hi jayles, you're quite possibly right, according to Etymology Online. You mean it's like Cockney rhyming slang in reverse (without the rhyme)?
Your other two examples play on the rhyme of the missing word at the end - tat = hat, and hook = look - whereas with (water)loo from water closet, we need to know the missing word at the beginning, but there's no rhyme involved.
intend on doing?
- January 1, 2013, 2:52am
And Happy New Year, everyone.
intend on doing?
- January 1, 2013, 2:51am
Seconded, or rather, thirded (sic)
intend on doing?
- December 31, 2012, 1:42am
New Fowler's calls it non-standard informal American usage. As well as "intend" + to-infinitive, both Fowlers and MWDEU give "intend" + gerund as a standard usage - "I intend taking my holiday at home this year". I would have thought this probably just started as a crossover between "intend doing" and "be intent on doing".
Questions
When “one of” many things is itself plural | November 27, 2011 |
You’ve got another think/thing coming | September 29, 2012 |
Fit as a butcher’s dog | May 22, 2013 |
“reach out” | May 25, 2013 |
Tell About | October 18, 2013 |
tonne vs ton | January 25, 2014 |
apostrophe with expressions of distance or time | February 2, 2014 |
Natural as an adverb | April 13, 2014 |
fewer / less | May 3, 2014 |
Opposition to “pretty” | March 7, 2015 |
Misplaced clauses?
Something seems to have gone wrong with my organisation of information in the first sentence there!