"As it were..."
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The website englishclub.com1 gives the following explanation :
Definitions(!) <http://everything2.com/title/%2528%2521%2529> :
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
<http://everything2.com/title/Merriam-Webster+Dictionary> :
In a manner of speaking; as if such were so.
Oxford English Dictionary
<http://everything2.com/title/Oxford+English+Dictionary> :
Esp. in "as it were": as if it were so, if one might so put it, in some
sort: a parenthetic phrase used to indicate that a word or statement is
perhaps not formally exact though practically right.
dictionary.com <http://everything2.com/title/dictionary.com> :
(as if it were), a qualifying phrase used to apologize for or to relieve
some expression which might be regarded as inappropriate or incongruous;
in a manner.
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1. For a complete description of the subjunctive verb form, check
out :
http://grammar.englishclub.com/verbs-subjunctive.htm
Tina Terry - ELL Teacher
Payson High School & Rim Country Middle School
Room AUD-1 at PHS
Phone: PHS: 928-474-2233, ext. #2548
Cell phone: 928-595-0528
"To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life." - Humorist
& Illustrator Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)
"For myself - I am an optimist; it does not seem to be much use being
anything else." (Sir Winston S. Churchill, speech at the Lord Mayor's
banquest, London, Nov. 9, 1954.)
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From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Myers, Marshall
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Mondegreens
ATEG Members:
I wonder if anybody can help me understand the use and the odd syntax of
the expression, "as it were."
When do we use the expression? What do we call such expressions? Why is
the noun phrase singular and the verb plural?
I have some ideas of my own, but I'd like to get your explanations, too.
Marshall Myers
Eastern Kentucky University
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of MARLOW, DAVID
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 12:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Mondegreens
The "Chester Droors" question goes deeper than the average Mondegreen...
Some may be interested in this article:
The Story of Chester Drawers
Allison Burkette
American Speech 76.2 (2001) 139-157
Best,
D
David W. Marlow, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Linguistics and ESOL
Vice President/President Elect - Carolina TESOL
University of South Carolina - Upstate
800 University Way
Spartanburg, SC 29303
864.503.5849
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick Veit
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 9:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Mondegreens
One of my comp students wrote about his girlfriend, whose framed picture
he lovingly kept atop his "Chester droors." [chest of drawers]
Another told me of the prayer she recited each night as a child:
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soda key.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soda cake. [soul to keep, soul to take]
Dick Veit
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