Bill,
   I just want to say I, for one, am very happy that you gave us your
post, complete with all the apologies (unncessary in my case) about its
questionable usfulenss. I printed it out and hope to do it full justice
later today, but have read enough to find it valuable. I don't know the
history of linguistics, and I'm delighted when someone can fill me in.
This is, of course, totally independent of agreement.  Don't take one
person's cursory response as at all indicative of your value to the
list. Keep posting.

Craig

Phil,
>
> While this may not be of further interest or relevance to the rest of
> the group, I feel compelled to point out that science - and scholarship
> in general - does not, as a rule, accept arguments that are structured
> as, "your counterarguments don't matter, because I'm right, and if we
> discovered more stuff, it would prove I'm right."  The details I
> mentioned constitute "further complexity" rather than "counterevidence"
> only if one *starts* with the assumption that your position is already
> proven. If you can point out a substantive flaw in the points I made, by
> all means do so. If you consider it a trivial waste of your time, feel
> free to say that too - I'm thick-skinned.
>
> Bill Spruiell
>
> Dept. of English
> Central Michigan University
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phil Bralich
> Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 6:27 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Paul's Solution to Re: Grammar Terms Definitions
>
> If you think those odd little details somehow contradict the fact that
> grammar is a discovery not a creation, you are sadly mistaken.
> Grammarians may not as yet have discovered the entirety of what there is
> to be discovered about the parts of speech anymore than the physisicist
> has discovered all there is to be known about quasars.  In either case
> the pointing out of anomalous or exceptional material as you do below is
> not counter evidence. It merely illustrates further complexity in the
> issue.  However, for elementary, secondary, and post secondary students,
> the idea that nouns take plurals and verbs take tense is sufficient to
> demonstrate to them that grammarians aren't making things up to pester
> them but are imparting the knowledge of discoveries about the nature of
> language.
>
> Phil Bralich
>
>
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