Final verb

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Two wrongs do not a right make.Is this type of pattern (sorry I cannot think of a better example)with the verb ending the sentence a common folkloric (barnyard) usage?As always, I'm grateful for all your comments.

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[nq:1]Two wrongs do not a right make. Is this type of pattern (sorry I cannot think of a better example)with the verb ending the sentence a common folkloric (barnyard) usage? As always, I'm grateful for all your comments.[/nq]
I would first think "archaic" and "poetic." Versifiers can rearrange natural word order to put the rhyming word at the end.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by "folkloric (barnyard)" but I don't associate it with Farmer Jones speaking to his hired hand, no. But old songs and bits of verse, yes.
It also resembles the common word order in Dutch (and I think German) the auxiliary verb early in the sentence, the main verb at the end. I would guess that this pattern held in Old English and/or Middle English as well, but someone else would have to say.

Best Donna Richoux

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Donna Richoux filted:
[nq:2]Two wrongs do not a right make. Is this type ... the verb ending the sentence a common folkloric (barnyard) usage?[/nq]
[nq:1]I would first think "archaic" and "poetic." Versifiers can rearrange natural word order to put the rhyming word at the ... guess that this pattern held in Old English and/or Middle English as well, but someone else would have to say.[/nq]
And it's the way they (for suitably small values of "they") talk on Dagoba..r

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Arcadian Rises typed thusly:
[nq:1]Two wrongs do not a right make. Is this type of pattern (sorry I cannot think of a better example)with the verb ending the sentence a common folkloric (barnyard) usage? As always, I'm grateful for all your comments.[/nq]
It's more poetic than folkloric. Your example is not a good one to start with as "Two wrongs do not make a right" is a standard phrase which sounds plain wrong if you switch it around. But the form "X does not a Y make" is common enough when you want to make a point. I use it here myself from time to time. I might say "One disagreement does not a flame make".
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage ...
- Richard Lovelace, To Althea, from Prison (IV)
or
"One swallow does not a summer make" - 1,680 Google hits

David
==
replace usenet with the

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[nq:2]Two wrongs do not a right make. Is this type ... the verb ending the sentence a common folkloric (barnyard) usage?[/nq]
[nq:1]It also resembles the common word order in Dutch (and I think German) the auxiliary verb early in the sentence, the main verb at the end. I would guess that this pattern held in Old English and/or Middle English as well,[/nq]
Dutch and German are really standards poking up from a sea of dialects of the same language. German naturally holds the second verb for the end of the clause. By no means is this limited to Germanic languages, Latin showing preference for a neutral word order with the main verb held for last. Supposedly the most important word is the verb and keeping the reader/listener in suspense to the end was a goal.

Personal accounts are good because they lessen the liability against future taxes of the retiree while sequestering the funds he's been paying in so they cannot be used to mask current general fund deficits.

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"Bill Bonde ( The chamber was in confusion, all the voices shouting loud )"
[nq:1]Dutch and German are really standards poking up from a sea of dialects of the same language. German naturally holds ... Supposedly the most important word is the verb and keeping the reader/listener in suspense to the end was a goal.[/nq]
My Latin has almost vanished, but I doubt this is
right. The point about Latin is that, since so many words conjugate or decline, word order is almost
non-functional, convenient for poets.
In German it is not the "second verb" that must be placed at the end of its clause, but the verb of any subordinate clause, e.g.
The book he read last year said . . .
Das Buch, das er voriges Jahr gelesen hat, sagte . . . Dutch has no such rule for correctness
(and my Dutch is not good enough to be sure
about preferences in style.)

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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[nq:1]My Latin has almost vanished, but I doubt this is right. The point about Latin is that, since so many words conjugate or decline, word order is almost non-functional, convenient for poets.[/nq]
I'm no linguist, but no doubt it's probably true that languages that rely more on their morphology rely less on their syntax, and vice versa.
I do think, though, that there's a strong preference in classical Latin for the main verb to lie at the end of a clause, the verb "to be" being an exception, imperatives being another exception...

One of the advantages of this pattern is that imbedded clauses are easier to parse: one does need syntax to some extent, and can't simply throw Latin words together in a hodgepodge and rely purely on their endings to sort out their sense.
As evidence for the prominence of verb-at-end, here's some Livy, Caesar and Cicero: http://latin-language.co.uk/text/.
==
Regards,
VI
http://kenm.mydeardiary.com/

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[nq:1]Two wrongs do not a right make. Is this type of pattern (sorry I cannot think of a better example) with the verb ending the sentence a common folkloric (barnyard) usage?[/nq]
In classical Greek, you've got something called an "aorist" tense. It's usually more or less a past tense (as opposed to an imperfect, or a perfect). But occasionally it gets used with present tense meaning for instance, for "gnomic" expressions when you want to say something that is true everywhere and for all time.

It may be the case that when you want to say something gnomic in English, a common way of doing this is using the present tense and adopting some sort of syntactical formula, preferably one with an archaic ring.
I don't know where the pattern "(Number of) (x) does not a (y) make" came from, but I think it's well established for this purpose and I do think it's the pattern as a whole that's significant, and the particular word "make", rather than just the position of the verb.

To get a feeling for how commonly it's used, do a Google search for pages that contain the phrase "does not a" as well as the word "make".

And another point about this usage that Google will show is that it's often facetious:
Just bashing California does not a Northwest energy policy make. Three days does not a study period make.
One election does not a democracy make.
A computer loaded with the latest souped-up design application does not a
designer make.
Arousal does not a gay man make.
Great *** does not a relationship make.
AUE wits might wish to add to the list...
==
Regards,
VI
http://kenm.mydeardiary.com/

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[nq:1]In German it is not the "second verb" that must be placed at the end of its clause, but the verb of any subordinate clause,[/nq]
That's true in Dutch, there are quite a few "bijzinnen" where all the verbs, auxiliary or not, must go at the end. I was trying to stick to the simple "One swallow does not a summer make" situation that was asked about. No subordinate clauses there.
e.g.
[nq:1]The book he read last year said . . . Das Buch, das er voriges Jahr gelesen hat, sagte . . . Dutch has no such rule for correctness[/nq]
I'm not completely sure what you mean by that, but that certainly resembles Dutch word order. Any clause beginning with "that...", "so that...", "After that..." "Because-of-that," and many other conjuctions, has to be treated as a bijzin.
[nq:1](and my Dutch is not good enough to be sure about preferences in style.)[/nq]
I was taught about bijzinnen as being a firm policy, not a mere matter of preference.

Best Donna Richoux
An American living in the Netherlands

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[nq:1]Donna Richoux filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]I would first think "archaic" and "poetic." Versifiers can rearrange ... English as well, but someone else would have to say.[/nq]
[nq:1]And it's the way they (for suitably small values of "they") talk on Dagoba..r[/nq]
I was about to call it Yodish..
Stupot

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On 26 Feb 2005 04:20:48 -0800, "Arcadian Rises"
[nq:1]Two wrongs do not a right make.[/nq]
Two wrongs do.

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