Ah, you are speaking to one who was pulled up for being ungrammatical at
school, when she said 'It is I.'
joanna
----- Original Message -----
From: "MJ Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: Poem for Colin
> May I invite you to join the Fuddy-Duddy-Grammar Club, as it were, then,
> Joanna? There are several vacancies, as it happens... :-!
> mjay
>
> Joanna Boulter wrote:
>
>> I use it, Martin, and shall continue to do so.
>>
>> joanna
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "MJ Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 5:21 PM
>> Subject: Re: Poem for Colin
>>
>>
>>> I might have known once what that word means - could you possibly
>>> explain it, if it were possible, of course, I'd never insist that one do
>>> so...
>>> Interesting, Dave, that you explicitly pointed out the "ungrammatical"
>>> omission of the subjunctive: as a long-time expat (which means exiled
>>> from Patrick, of course, never to see that gleaming zimmerframe hurtle
>>> towards me in a silver blur) I was convinced that it had even become
>>> standard to write "if I was" etc, as I see it online in the press all
>>> the time. From my infrequent visits to Britain I know that "if I were"
>>> etc is a thing of the past, even among academics.
>>> cheers
>>> mjay
>>>
>>>
>>
>
> --
>
> The self that shines in the greying sunshine
> of the immediate is actual, though it is
> not all that is there. - Douglas Oliver
>
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