ATEG Archives

February 2011

ATEG@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU
Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
Re: "thats" for "whose"
From:
Robert Yates <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:34:36 -0600
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (56 lines) 
Herb,

Over the weekend, I was reading a set of papers and had a relative that's.

Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri

>>> "STAHLKE, HERBERT F" <[log in to unmask]> 02/15/11 9:57 PM >>>
We've had considerable discussion of relative "that" from time to time, and I thought the following exchange from ADS-L might be of interest.

Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
[log in to unmask]

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject:      Re: "I've a 24" 2.4Ghz iMac _that's_ hard drive recently packed
             in."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I mentioned this some years ago. I had a freshman in the early '80s who
insisted that "that's" was correct because "whose" referred to people.

When I surveyed English Department graduate students with a
fill-in-the-blank quiz, a fair number filled in the blanks with "that's"
instead of "whose."

God knows what they wrote in their own papers. They were mainly working on
masters' rather than doctoral degrees, if that makes anyone feel better.  And
did I mention that the degrees would be in English?  Yeah, I guess I did.

JL


>
> On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 4:30 PM, Laurence Horn <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> wrote:
>
> > it's an instance of "that" (reanalyzed from complementizer to
> > relative pronoun) in the genitive, as noted.
> >


To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

ATOM RSS1 RSS2