tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post7370385761525216305..comments2024-02-28T05:25:12.859-05:00Comments on English, Jack: Wonky content clausesBretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-32149669473803399012010-01-25T06:59:28.943-05:002010-01-25T06:59:28.943-05:00When I say it's unusual, I'm going by the ...When I say it's unusual, I'm going by the frequency in the corpus. My intuition too is that I hear it regularly, but I have no way to substantiate that.Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-1841996579163393202010-01-24T22:58:20.296-05:002010-01-24T22:58:20.296-05:00I'm with you on the wonkiness of the first and...I'm with you on the wonkiness of the first and second examples, but "on account of I'm x" has been familiar (jocular usage) to me for a long time. It's in "West Side Story":<br /><br />DIESEL: (Spoken, as Judge) In the opinion on this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home.<br /><br />ACTION: (Spoken) Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived.Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01579983806826643000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-15434522965173881282010-01-24T21:35:42.535-05:002010-01-24T21:35:42.535-05:00Regarding the first one, I wonder if it might be a...Regarding the first one, I wonder if it might be an American thing? Because while I myself (an Ohioan) don't usually invert subject and verb in indirect questions, and am surprised to find the <i>Times</i> doing so, what I'm <em>really</em> surprised by is your suggestion that it's unusual. I hear it all the time, and consider it merely colloquial. (In my experience it's most common when the question is "live", so to speak; for example, "I <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22wonder+what+was+he+doing%22" rel="nofollow">wonder what was he doing</a>" sounds more natural to me than "he <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22told+me+what+was+he+doing%22" rel="nofollow">told me what was he doing</a>".)Ranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01369980917358096502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-50838788777633368562010-01-24T20:25:46.280-05:002010-01-24T20:25:46.280-05:00I hadn't noticed the in terms of examples, but...I hadn't noticed the <i>in terms of</i> examples, but I had been aware of <i>on account of</i>. Rodney Huddleston brought them up again last week when I mailed him about the <i>about</i> examples. He sent me these:<br /><br />"I always thought I'd make a good detective, on account of I'm so nosy."<br />"`Maybe you could get your friend Ranger to help her,' Grandma said. `That might be better anyway, on account of he's hot.'"Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-50618680843414562332010-01-24T19:53:17.626-05:002010-01-24T19:53:17.626-05:00Actually, that's part of what I have been wond...Actually, that's part of what I have been wondering about, too. On the one hand, we are looking at main-clause phenomena occurring in subordinate clauses; on the other, we are looking at full-fledged finite clauses behaving like nonfinite clauses. Wherever there is a syntactic boundary, there are some grey areas there. <br /><br />In this connection, I have been intrigued by how the phrase 'in terms of' behaves these days: it is often directly followed by a finite clause (usually in speech, I believe). Let me copy & paste just a couple from a quick Google search.<br /><br />a. The biggest things in science, I think, are cosmology and evolutionary biology in terms of they're touching on the biggest questions of all, dealing with who we are, where we came from, where we're going, where the universe started and where it's going and so forth. <br /><br />b. The users are let completely in on the whole thing in terms of they understand why we’re there and what we’re doing.Q Higuchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110305928472008noreply@blogger.com