"There was two Mini Cooper parked in front of my house", or "there WERE two mini coopers"?

@Frank Apisa,

Frank, a simple grammar question for a guy who excelled at not only grammar but language. I'm including the whole conversation to preserve the context.

+++++++++++++

jtt: 1) You've never explained how lying to that person would be of help, Frank.

Frank wrote: It won't...which is why I do not do it. When I do it,

Frank: Jerky on your part to assume the "it" referred to lying.

jtt: You actually understand pronoun referents better than this, Frank, if and when you let your internal grammar do its job. It's only when you get into your prescriptivist clothing that you make egregious errors wrt language use.

Frank: It won't...which is why I do not do it. When I do it

What is the antecedent for the three it pronouns, Frank?

1 Reply

@JTT,

The weather here is great today, JTT. Sun is shining...and although not actually warm, it is about 40--which represents a welcome temp increase.

How is it where you are?

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Another forced, but pointed reminder of just how practiced you are at avoiding reality, Frank.

Is this really what top notch students do in addressing the very issues that gave them that standing?

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Re: Frank Apisa (Post 5262302)
Another forced, but pointed reminder of just how practiced you are at avoiding reality, Frank.

Is this really what top notch students do in addressing the very issues that gave them that standing?

How about football, JTT. Do you enjoy football? Let's start with what you favorite team is...if you have one.

If not football...perhaps music.

Mostly, I like classical music or opera. Do you have a favorite composer or favorite opera? Perhaps just a favorite aria? A favorite artist?

C'mon, JTT. Work with me here.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Quote:

JTT...several people have advised me that attempting to be reasonable with you would not work...and would lead to frustration.

I could probably name those people, Frank, and they would be exactly like you - folks who simply cannot face arguments head on; folks who go off on tangents like yours above to avoid having to face reality. The only reason that so many recognize it in you, but not in a Merry Andrew, is that you just keep coming back with your every post providing confirmation of just how fundamentally dishonest you are.

Quote:

I've explained myself.

No, you try to explain away yourself.

Quote:

but your need to call me a liar trumps anything I've said

I only point out what you seem hell bent on parading with most every diversion, tangent, obfuscation, ... you can muster.

And in that, I must admit, Frank, you are most assuredly at the top of your class.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

@Frank Apisa,
Quote:
JTT...several people have advised me that attempting to be reasonable with you would not work...and would lead to frustration.

I could probably name those people, Frank, and they would be exactly like you - folks who simply cannot face arguments head on; folks who go off on tangents like yours above to avoid having to face reality. The only reason that so many recognize it in you, but not in a Merry Andrew, is that you just keep coming back with your every post providing confirmation of just how fundamentally dishonest you are.

Quote:
I've explained myself.

No, you try to explain away yourself.

Quote:
but your need to call me a liar trumps anything I've said

I only point out what you seem hell bent on parading with most every diversion, tangent, obfuscation, ... you can muster.

And in that, I must admit, Frank, you are most assuredly at the top of your class. Signature

Okay...let's do music.

My favorite opera is Verdi's Rigoletto. What do you think of Rigoletto, JTT? Can you get past the sexist motif...past the male chauvinism in it?

My favorite symphonies are (yeah, I know these are considered trite, but, I wanna be honest) Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth...and Tchaikovsky's Sixth. What do you think of those, JTT.

C'mon, we can start from there and work into something interesting.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

That's quite the juxtaposition, Frank - reality set against your ramblings.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Re: Frank Apisa (Post 5262365)
That's quite the juxtaposition, Frank - reality set against your ramblings.

What does that have to do with Rigoletto?

2 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

See, I told you, Frank. You seem not to have the common sense necessary to stop yourself from parading your inability to face reality.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Re: Frank Apisa (Post 5262388)
See, I told you, Frank. You seem not to have the common sense necessary to stop yourself from parading your inability to face reality.

So...do you like Beethoven?

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

And to think that you, the master of avoidance, one of A2K's lead hands at twisting facts and reality, were one of that group that piled on me for not answering JoefromChicago's question.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Re: Frank Apisa (Post 5262388)
And to think that you, the master of avoidance, one of A2K's lead hands at twisting facts and reality, were one of that group that piled on me for not answering JoefromChicago's question.

Oh, I see. You are feeling that people are piling up on you.

Nah!

C'mon, let's talk about music...or movies. You'll feel better.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Quote:

Oh, I see. You are feeling that people are piling up on you.

Not in the least.

I was just noting the stunning hypocrisy and the dishonesty on your part, Frank.

How unlike you to not notice and to divert attention away from that fact.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Quote:
Re: Frank Apisa (Post 5262409)
Quote:
Oh, I see. You are feeling that people are piling up on you.

Not in the least.

I was just noting the stunning hypocrisy and the dishonesty on your part, Frank.

How unlike you to not notice and to divert attention away from that fact.

Ya know...now that I think about it...you remind me a bit of both Rigoletto...and the Duke of Manchua. They both were a bit paranoid also.

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Quote:

How about football, JTT. Do you enjoy football? Let's start with what you favorite team is...if you have one.

If not football...perhaps music.

Mostly, I like classical music or opera. Do you have a favorite composer or favorite opera? Perhaps just a favorite aria? A favorite artist?

C'mon, JTT. Work with me here.

To help you continue in your delusions, Frank. To help you spread nonsense about topic after topic. No thanks. That wouldn't be generous to either you or the truth.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

@Frank Apisa,
Quote:
How about football, JTT. Do you enjoy football? Let's start with what you favorite team is...if you have one.

If not football...perhaps music.

Mostly, I like classical music or opera. Do you have a favorite composer or favorite opera? Perhaps just a favorite aria? A favorite artist?

C'mon, JTT. Work with me here.

To help you continue in your delusions, Frank. To help you spread nonsense about topic after topic. No thanks. That wouldn't be generous to either you or the truth.

Okay...how about favorite artists...especially the masters?

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Does Nancy ever mention how you don't listen, Frank?

To help you continue in your delusions, Frank. To help you spread nonsense about topic after topic. No thanks. That wouldn't be generous to either you or the truth.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Good dog, Spendi, is this another one of the language "sources" in your library that has helped you to be the incompetent you are when it comes to describing language issues?

This is ridiculous JT. That's just another of a long line of unsupported assertions which I notice continues unabated in the subsequent posts. The unsupported assertion is meaningless and isn't language at all. The point made based on the assertion isn't a point. What's the sense in arguing about language using meaningless constructions making no point.

I don't even know if I have been describing language issues.

I use language having been influenced by others who use language. I have vague notions about old fashioned subjunctives and none at all about gerunds, dangling participles and what not. Nor do I care. I am neither competent nor incompetent regarding describing language issues or using language. What you see is what you get. Like it or lump it.

Those were the first words I have ever read from S&W. I came across them looking for something else on Wiki.

Quote:

Next you'll be quoting from Fowler.

It's very unlikely. I do have two copies of Fowler and one of Partridge but I don't consult them much. The English section in my library is about a yard wide, reaches to the ceiling and has eight overfull shelves. "Overfull" being an image those with overfull bookshelves will understand. I have Roger's Profanisaurus (a joke about us gents being in favour of causing sore fannies), The Lecher's Lexicon, The Right Word At The Right Time, Linguistics for Genteel Folks, Linguistics Made Simple, The Slang Thesaurus, Dictionaries galore, Mencken, and a ****-load of other stuff. I even have a vintage, excellently tooled Lempriere and I can support the assertion of excellence if I have to.

Quote:

The Elements of Style does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Its enormous influence has not improved American students' grasp of English grammar; it has significantly degraded it.

I consider that to be drivel. Indeed it is drivel. Pullum by name and pull-um by nature. No wonder you have assertivitus' dance. A power kick lacking the force to give it a point.

2 Replies

@spendius,

"No wonder you have assertivitus' dance."

I'm going to steal that one, Spendius. I've been waiting for a new likely signature line.

Thank you for fighting the good fight so well, fought many times before, so much that many of us have lost interest.

Well, toot toot, see you around.

0 Replies

@JTT,

Quote:

Re: Frank Apisa (Post 5262425)
Does Nancy ever mention how you don't listen, Frank?

To help you continue in your delusions, Frank. To help you spread nonsense about topic after topic. No thanks. That wouldn't be generous to either you or the truth.

Nancy really does not like classical music...particularly opera, JTT. I try to get her to embrace it, but I think that will always be a losing effort.

We do seem to like the same movies, though.

So...how about you?

0 Replies

"There was two Mini Cooper parked in front of my house", or "there WERE two mini coopers"?

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