Hello
What do you (you guys? you all?) think about this? I am looking at a
book, Side by Side: Spanish and English Grammar. In the following
construction, 'to err is human,' 'to err' is referred to as a present
infinitive, while in 'to have quit is terrible,' 'to have quit ' is
referred to as past infinitive.
This seems very odd to me. I'm have trouble thinking of an infinitive
as having a present or a past but when I googled these terms, it appears
that they are used in Latin and some other romance languages, although
to the best of my knowledge, Spanish doesn't use these terms.
Janet Castilleja
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marshall Myers
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 10:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: pair
Stahlke, Herbert F.W. wrote:
>I think, though, that contractions have a special status. We also say,
"There's five kids in the hall." We would never say, "There is five
kids in the hall." "There's" and "where's" have become formulaic.
>
>Herb
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Nancy
Tuten
>Sent: Wed 6/20/2007 7:19 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: pair
>
>True-we certainly do say them. I meant that we wouldn't say them if we
were
>thinking consciously about what we were saying and were trying to be
>"correct" (oh, no-I said the "c" word!).
>
>
>
>I would say "Where're my scissors?" If we said "Where's my scissors?"
>wouldn't we consider the expression colloquial, casual, informal (OK,
>"incorrect"), similar to saying "Where is my dogs?" Heck, I know plenty
of
>people who say "My dogs is in the yard," so "Where's my scissors" (or
>"Where's my dogs?") is a natural progression.
>
>
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>
>Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
>
>Professor of English
>
>Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
>
>Columbia College
>
>Columbia, South Carolina
>
>[log in to unmask]
>
>803-786-3706
>
> _____
>
>
>
>--- On Wed 06/20, Paul E. Doniger < [log in to unmask] > wrote:
>
>From: Paul E. Doniger [mailto: [log in to unmask]]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:55:29 -0700
>Subject: Re: pair
>
>It seems odd, perhaps, that we might not say "Where is the scissors,"
but we
>often do say "Where's the scissors." And I know I've said, "Where's my
>pants" (but NOT, "Where is my pants?").
>
>Why is that?
>
>Paul D.
>
>P. S. I wouldn't assume that we "never" say these things.
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>----- Original Message ----
>From: Nancy Tuten
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 6:02:31 PM
>Subject: Re: pair
>
>But we would never say Where is the scissors? Maybe we would say
Where is
>my pair of scissors? More likely, I would say Where are my scissors?
In
>fact, I say those very words quite often in our house.
>
>Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
>
>Professor of English
>
>Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
>
>Columbia College
>
>Columbia, South Carolina
>
>[log in to unmask]
>
>803-786-3706
>
>
>
> _____
>
>
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martha Kolln
>Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 4:58 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: pair
>
>
>
>Yes, I would--sometimes. Maybe not always. I think I use both "it" and
>"they" for scissors. I think I would say that "My scissors needs to be
>sharpened." I think "scissors" is on the fence--whereas those other
objects
>are nearly always plural.
>
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>
>Martha
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>In a message dated 6/20/07 2:39:10 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>Hi Peter,
>I'd say that a pair of scissors is an "it," whereas a pair of twins is
a
>"they." Strangely, a pair of pants is also a "they," as are most of
those
>other bifurcated objects. When I lose my glasses, I never say, "I
wonder
>where it is,"--always "they."
>
>Martha
>
>
>
>Martha,
>
>If you lost your scissors would you wonder where "it" is?
>
>
>
>Peter Adams
>
>
>
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Herb,
I wonder, too, about "He don't." I haven't heard a speaker say, "He do
not."
Marshall
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