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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