Paul--

 

In your student's sentence, it's the use of the word "from" that bugs me.  Various members of the list have commented recently on the apparent widespread indiosyncratic use of prepositions that has sprung up among our students.  This is another instance.  I think that in writing, 

 

"Hamlet doesn't seem phased [sic] at all from having killed Polonius." 

 

your student means 

 

Hamlet doesn't seem fazed at all by having killed Polonius.

 

and your student has no trouble hearing an active voice version something like

 

Having killed Polonius doesn't seem to faze Hamlet at all.

 

as well as a passive version with the agentive by-prepositional phrase deleted:

 

Hamlet doesn't seem fazed at all.

 

In this last sentence, there is no way to distinguish whether fazed is functioning as a verb or an adjective.  But, at the same time as I think all of the foregoing variations may be mushed together in your student's head, I have no clue where this use of "from" comes from.  Just too wierd, but again, I find this sort of unconventional use of prepositions cropping up all over my students' writing--starting with constructions like "based off of" rather than "based on" in a sentence like 

 

His opinions are based off of his experience.

 

Seth

 

Dr. Seth Katz

Department of English

Bradley University

 



	-----Original Message----- 

	From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of PAUL E. DONIGER 

	Sent: Fri 4/22/2005 8:01 PM 

	To: [log in to unmask] 

	Cc: 

	Subject: usage question

	

	

	In finally getting around to grading my latest set of senior English papers (Hamlet Logs), I came across a usage issue that has come up before and that gives me some minor trouble. My student wrote:

	 

	"Hamlet doesn't seem phased [sic] at all from having killed Polonius." 

	 

	Aside from the misspelling of 'fazed', I am troubled that the word is being used in a clumsy (or, dare I say it, "wrong") manner. My dictionaries all refer to 'faze' as a transitive verb, and that's how I grew up, too. There is also no indication in my dictionaries that 'fazed' is ever used formally as an adjective. Does anyone approve, in formal, academic writing (SWE) of my student's usage? 

	 

	For the record, I am suggesting that my student re-write as follows: "Killing Polonius does not seem to faze Hamlet at all." I'm not in love with this sentence either, but I do think it's a little better -- frankly, I don't like the word 'faze' one bit in this context; it seems very weak. I'd cut the whole sentence and just get on with commenting on Hamlet's flippancy with Claudius over the location of the body.

	 

	Any thoughts?

	 

	Paul





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