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#204513 - 02/06/12 02:15 AM apposite - opposite
BranShea Offline
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Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5249
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
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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#204517 - 02/06/12 07:36 AM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: BranShea]
Candy Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/21/10
Posts: 1705
Loc: down under
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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#204519 - 02/06/12 10:19 AM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: BranShea]
Rhubarb Commando Offline
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Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 1032
Loc: Lancaster, UK
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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#204528 - 02/07/12 12:29 AM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: Rhubarb Commando]
Tromboniator Offline
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Registered: 05/10/10
Posts: 691
Loc: Alaska
Exactly where I learned it, Rhuby: comments on essays I wrote in high school, in the '60s.

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#204532 - 02/07/12 10:59 AM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: Tromboniator]
Rhubarb Commando Offline
old hand

Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 1032
Loc: Lancaster, UK
Seems our education wasn't completely a waste of time, then. wink
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#204536 - 02/07/12 11:23 AM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: Rhubarb Commando]
LukeJavan8 Online sleepy
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Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 5300
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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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#204539 - 02/07/12 03:54 PM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: LukeJavan8]
Rhubarb Commando Offline
old hand

Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 1032
Loc: Lancaster, UK
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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#204544 - 02/07/12 08:53 PM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: Rhubarb Commando]
LukeJavan8 Online sleepy
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Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 5300
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That was very nice indeed. You are very lucky.
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#204553 - 02/08/12 05:46 PM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: LukeJavan8]
Rhubarb Commando Offline
old hand

Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 1032
Loc: Lancaster, UK
Oh, yes! It is a much treasured possession.
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#204558 - 02/09/12 05:57 AM Re: apposite - opposite [Re: BranShea]
Candy Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/21/10
Posts: 1705
Loc: down under
A great memento Rhuby.

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