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Evaho88 Posted 20 years ago
Linguistics Studies
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive
The following 'diction' is wrong according to prescriptive, but why?
'existence' for life
'novel' for new
'capture' for take
'inimical' for hostile
'demise' for death
'phenomental' for extraordinary
Also these sentences:
Ask whoever you see.
He works faster than me. (is it because it should use 'I' instead of me?)
I can't imagine it being him.
Nobody was killed, were they? (is it because 'singular they'?)
These kind of men are dangerous.
That's her at the door now. (is 'she' not 'her'?)
The data is now in.
Thanks very much.
'existence' for life
'novel' for new
'capture' for take
'inimical' for hostile
'demise' for death
'phenomental' for extraordinary
Also these sentences:
Ask whoever you see.
He works faster than me. (is it because it should use 'I' instead of me?)
I can't imagine it being him.
Nobody was killed, were they? (is it because 'singular they'?)
These kind of men are dangerous.
That's her at the door now. (is 'she' not 'her'?)
The data is now in.
Thanks very much.
Top answer
In the first set of words you see attempts to replace a simple word with a fancy word. The problem is that the meaning of the 'fancy word' is not really the same as the meaning of the word it replaces. For instance, 'existence' refers to the state of being, not the state of being alive.
- In the first set of words you see attempts to replace a simple word with a fancy word.
- The problem is that the meaning of the 'fancy word' is not really the same as the meaning of the word it replaces.
- For instance, 'existence' refers to the state of being, not the state of being alive.
- In the case of an individual human being, 'existence' may seem to be largely coterminous with 'life', but to use 'existence' as a fancy way of saying 'life' ignores the big differences between the two words.
- Similarly for the other words in the list.
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6 Answers
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In the first set of words you see attempts to replace a simple word with a fancy word. The problem is that the meaning of the 'fancy word' is not really the same as the meaning of the word it replaces. For instance, 'existence' refers to the state of being, not the state of being alive. In the case of an individual human being, 'existence' may seem to be largely coterminous with 'life', but
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Hi,
The data are in now. (split infinitives)
There is no split infinitive here.
Clive
The data are in now. (split infinitives)
There is no split infinitive here.
Clive
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<Nobody was killed, were they? (is it because 'singular they'?)>
http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/003572.html
http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/003572.html
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no,no...it is 'He works faster than me'... this is SUCH a commone mistake. You only switch me for I if 'I' is the subject in the sentence. 'John and me went to the store' is wrong because John and me are the subjects. It should be, 'John and I went to the store'. However, in your sentence, 'He' is the main subject, so it SHOULD BE 'He works faster than me'!!!
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You're coming up with the right answer ("faster than me" is okay) for the wrong reason.
The sentence is a shortened version of "He works faster than I work". That's why usage manuals used to decree that we should say "faster than I," because it is the subject of a clause.
However, in modern English, we generally feel odd about using subject pronouns for anything except t
The sentence is a shortened version of "He works faster than I work". That's why usage manuals used to decree that we should say "faster than I," because it is the subject of a clause.
However, in modern English, we generally feel odd about using subject pronouns for anything except t
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