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#204513 02/06/12 07:15 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Coincidence; I just wanted to put in this word 'apposite' which I just read on the back flap of a book I'm reading. Never had seen it before.

Then in the Quinian article ( the double genitive thread- [of my sister's etc.] ) I met with it again, here used as adjective:

"The technical name for this construction is double genitive or double possessive (it has also been called the appositional of-phrase, and the post-genitive). It’s of great age — examples are to be found in writings of the fourteenth century; by the eighteenth century it was common and unremarkable. "

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Thats interesting Bran...at first I thought it must be an error in typing but now I see its a word (I'd not come across before).

apposite
1620s, "well-put or applied, appropriate," from L. appositus, pp. of apponere "apply to, put near," from ad- "near" + ponere "to place"

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

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It's a good word. I used it from time to time - indeed, when it was apposite so to do - when marking students' essays, as in, "This is a very apposite argument."


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Exactly where I learned it, Rhuby: comments on essays I wrote in high school, in the '60s.

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Seems our education wasn't completely a waste of time, then. wink


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Certainly seemed so to almost all the students I taught.
Of course, that was just their 'expressed' opinion. I think
deep down they thought otherwise.


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Yes, you always wonder if they are just being polite! On my retirement, my colleagues presented me with a book full of letters from past students saying what a good guy I was. They had contacted all of the students that they could find. So, prolly 20 - 30% had moved addresses, there was a response rate of c.40-45% of the rest - and they are the ones wo are being polite, the others just stayed schtumm! Nice to hve it, of course, but it does make one think.


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That was very nice indeed. You are very lucky.


----please, draw me a sheep----
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Oh, yes! It is a much treasured possession.


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Pooh-Bah
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A great memento Rhuby.

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