For all practical purposes, the word "whom" no longer exists in English. This question relates closely to Carol Morrison's previous post about the use of spoken/colloquial/slang. Here's the way I see it - for hundreds of years, English has been eliding tense indicators, case endings, and other paraphernalia that "normal" people shed along the way in the development of the language. So although all of these "bother me" to some extent, they are all becoming more and more accepted as "standard." Another example is the way Ebonics eliminates the "s" in third person present singular verb conjugation. This makes a lot of sense to me - why is 3rd person singular the only odd ball - why not "He run"?
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:22:54 -0400
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[log in to unmask]Subject: 'Bad' English
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Trask in his Why do Languages Change includes
(p. 10) nine sentences that he considered would be or shortly
become
accepted as "normal English grammar." One of the
sentences (number seven) is strictly conversational and unlikely
to be encountered in normal writing: I consider the
other eight to have egregious errors. What do you think?
(1) I recommend you to take the job.
(2) He demanded that the agitators were
arrested.
(3) This is just between you and I.
(4) Due to the rain, we had to cancel the
picnic.
(5) This paper was written by Susie and myself.
(6) Please come between eight a.m. to six
p.m.
(7) If he'd've played, we would have won.
(8) He makes tedious
jokes about mother-in-laws.
(9) Having said that, there is no feasible
alternative.
Scott Catledge
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