I don't find it acceptable, and it isn't one of those things that I hear
many other people say either.  Using I as the object of a preposition when
there is a compound object is used by everyone but a few of us grammar
people now, (at least in Washington)but I don't hear can in this context.

-----Original Message-----
From: Johanna Rubba [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 10:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Verb form of if-subjunctive


 "(1)The little child is lonely; he would be happier if he had someone that
he can play with."

Do any of the native speakers on this list find this sentence
grammatical? I can't imagine this being acceptable to anyone, but maybe
I'm wrong. The 'that' clause requires 'could'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  * San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  *  Fax: (805)-756-6374 * Dept. Phone.  756-259
* E-mail: [log in to unmask] *  Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
                                       **
"Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
but that's not why people do it normally"  -            Frank  Oppenheimer
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