Linda and Tim:
I'm going on memory here, and it will take a while to find the
reference, but I believe it is not unusual for Southern Coastal and
Southern Midland speakers to use verbs in the progressive that
traditional grammars typically say aren't -- e.g. "I was liking that
movie until the plot twist." I think all American English speakers will
do this under certain conditions, but in Southern, it's particularly
unmarked. I've seen arguments relating it to the influence of
Scots-Irish, but there's quite a fad for explaining things via
Scots-Irish, so I'm not sure how strong the evidence is.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hadley, Tim
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 4:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: grammar & writing class
Hi, Linda,
I'm not sure how typical this usage is. It seems a fairly normal usage
to me, carrying the idea of "what she is suggesting" or "what she is
implying" or something along those lines. I suppose it would have been a
little more concise to just say "what she means," but I committed the
sin of writing like I speak, at least in that sentence--adding extra
words, trying not to sound too blunt.
Tim
Tim Hadley
Research Assistant, The Graduate School
Ph.D. candidate, Technical Communication and Rhetoric
Texas Tech University
Editor, ATEG Journal
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Linda
DiDesidero
Sent: Tue 11/22/2005 9:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: grammar & writing class
Tim,
I cannot help asking you about this construction. You wrote:
"...depending on exactly what she is meaning by her topic."
This is an interesting use of 'mean' in the progressive. Is it typical
for speakers you know, or would you say it is unusual? I'm just
curious.
Linda DiDesidero
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