Max,
Thanks for "Thinking" about my question and responding so ... dare I say it
... thoughtfully. (Sorry for the pun). To explain my ... idea (I almost did
it again!), I was looking at the word "different" as a quotation, like a
response or a thought. If the sentence, "Think different." is an imperative,
couldn't we look at the word, 'different' as a quotation, which would make
it a 'thing' and therefore a kind of noun? Not that the word itself is a
noun, but a response or a thought is a noun.
Boy, I think I'm getting out of my depth here.
How about this: "Think, 'I would never do that!' " Is the quotation here a
direct object of the verb 'think', or isn't it?
Confusedly yours,
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: Max Morenberg <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 7:42 PM
Subject: Re: Query about "act professional and speak professional"
> Paul, I've been thinking hard all weekend, trying to think through
> your analysis (that "different" is a noun in "think different"). I
> think you may be correct, though I didn't think of such a possibility
> myself. But you thought a good thought. And fought a good . . .
> Well, I'm starting to get silly now, I think.
>
> To get back to serious grammatical analysis. Couldn't "different" in
> "think different" have resonance (resonate?) noun, adjective, and
> adverb? It would be a bit like looking at the water goblet/faces
> figure in so many cognitive psychology texts. It's hard to see one
> or the other for too long. They both exist. I've been re-reading
> Pinker's THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT for a class I'm teaching. In the
> chapter on phonology, "The Sounds of Silence," Pinker makes the point
> several times that to some extent the language sounds we hear are
> illusory. And that we often hear vowel or consonant sounds where no
> such sounds exist in the way that we hear them, in part because of
> their context. I guess the point I'm trying to make, Paul, is that
> it may be that "different" in "think different" takes on nounness,
> adverness, and adjectiveness because of the possiblity of "think" as
> an intransitive, linking, or transitive verb. I don't know that I'd
> lay down my life to defend this ditch, but the more I think about it,
> the more fetching this view becomes. If not the more kvetching. Max
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> > <[log in to unmask]>
> >Poster: "Paul E. Doniger" <[log in to unmask]>
> >Organization: The Total Tutor
> >Subject: Re: Query about "act professional and speak professional"
> >---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >----------
> >
> >Max,
> >
> >Isn't the word 'different' in "Think different" more like a direct object
> >(what to think), as in: Think "different."?
> >
> >Paul E. Doniger
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Max Morenberg <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 6:26 PM
> >Subject: Re: Query about "act professional and speak professional"
> >
> >
> > > Bill, with a great deal of trepidation, I'll jump into your question
> > > (prepared to jump out at any moment). At first glance, you'd want
> > > "professionally," an adverb, not the adjective "professional" in a
> > > slot following an intransitive verb. But I think the adjectives are
> > > functioning as adverbs. This gives them an interesting new meaning,
> > > much like Apple's "Think Different." It has more resonance than Think
> > > Differently would. After all, adjectives and manner adverbs are close
> > > in structure and meaning. And lots of times one part of speech has
> > > two syntactic manifestations (I'm grasping for terminology), kind of
> > > like when verbs function as nouns (gerunds and infinitives). Is this
> > > syncretism?
> > >
> > > I hope, Bill, this attends to the question you had in mind. Max
> > >
> > > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > >-----------------------
> > > >Sender: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> > > > <[log in to unmask]>
> > > >Poster: "William J. McCleary" <[log in to unmask]>
> > > >Subject: Re: Query about "act professional and speak
professional"
> > >
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >----------
> > > >
> > > >While you're working on Linda's query about "now once again," please
> >ponder
> > > >this one. I have seen this construction several times, including in
the
> > > >play "The Miracle Worker" and wonder how the experts parse it.
> > > >
> > > >If you act professional and speak professional, people will respect
you.
> > > >
> > > >Bill
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > >Could I have some feedback about the wording of the following
> >sentence,
> > > > >especially regarding the phrase "now once again"?
> > > > >
> > > > >"In September 1991 the parish celebrated a re-dedication of the
newly
> > > > >refurbished bell, which now once again calls the faithful to Mass
and
> >lends
> > > > >its voice to celebrate weddings and bid farewell at funerals."
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >William J. McCleary
> > > >3247 Bronson Hill Road
> > > >Livonia, NY 14487
> > > >716-346-6859
> > > >
> > > >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/
> > >
> > > Max Morenberg, Professor
> > > Department of English
> > > Miami University
> > > Oxford, OH 45056
> > > [log in to unmask]
> > >
> > > 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/
>
> Max Morenberg, Professor
> Department of English
> Miami University
> Oxford, OH 45056
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 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:
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and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
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