I’m not sure if this is a satisfactory
answer, but the OED entry for “as” cites “as it were” as meaning “as if it were
so.” It’s clearly elliptical and counterfactual, so the “were” represents the
old subjunctive rather than the plural. But the OED does not say, and I don’t
know, whether “as it were” derives historically from “as if it were so.”
Herb
From:
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010
1:42 PM
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
From:
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
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 -
864.503.5849
From:
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 "
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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