Helene,
This verges on nitpicking, but why the comma after “excited”? “She
wet her pants” feels like a resultative clause.
Herb
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of helene
hoover
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 10:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unresolved comparative "so"
Well, Bill, I'm with you. I always tell my
students that they need to finish the comparison with the comparative
"so." I usually use the example, "She was SO excited, she
wet her pants," and they tend to remember that one. Of course, they
don't always remember to incorporate the ending in their writing, but memories
are fairly easily jogged if I mention it again! Helene Hoover
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:58:37 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unresolved comparative "so"
To: [log in to unmask]
Dick,
This is by no means the first time that what I thought was an
odd usage turned out to be the norm, or vice versa (“What do you mean ‘might
should’ sounds funny?”). I wonder whether I can blame this one on
dialect, or whether (instead) I’ve fallen into the old grammar pedant’s trap of
trying to foist my idiolect on the universe.
Thanks, er, muchly,
Bill Spruiell
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit,
Richard
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 4:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unresolved comparative "so"
Bill:
I Googled “thanks so much” in parentheses and got 17 million hits.
Then I added 1950 (randomly chosen date) and looked at some newspaper archives
where the phrase appeared. Here is one example from an Iowa newspaper in 1950. Clearly, it’s
not a new expression.
Dick Veit
________________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell,
William C
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Unresolved comparative "so"
Dear
All:
I’m
trying to figure out whether my reactions to a particular construction are
based on my age (incipient geezerhood), or my native dialect (Inland
Southern). It involves use of comparative “so” without an accompanying
“that” clause, roughly equivalent to “very”:
A: “Thanks so
much”
B: “It was so
hot.”
I
hear (A) very frequently, but I don’t remember hearing it when I was younger. I
also hear expressions like (B) from my students, although not nearly as
frequently as (A), which has become a set expression. I can almost make (B)
work in my own speech, but only with a lot of emphasis on the “so” and an
emphatic drop at the end of the sentence, but this is not always how my
students use it. Somehow, I can’t manage (A) at all – any attempt and I can
tell it’s coming out as sarcasm (“Oh, now my leg’s broken. Thanks SO much.”).
I’ve
checked the American Dialect Society listserv archive, but I either used the
wrong search terms, or there hasn’t been much discussion of it. My attention
was particularly drawn to it by a recent political robocall (I live in
Michigan) in which the candidate (who is older than I am) not only used (A),
but managed to sound natural while doing it.
Thanks!
Bill
Spruiell
Dept.
of English
Central
Michigan University
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