Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums General Topics Q&A about words Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Welcome, film, and thanks for that pointer. It seems useful stuff mostly, but I take exception to the one-line summary:
> Most of these rules are arbitrary and are learnt only with experience by native speakers.
What a pile of manure this description is - something is either a rule or it's arbitrary. This imho is the ultimate absurdity of the prescriptivist pretence. This sentence actually suggests these things:
1. Native speakers are privileged by some sort of magic ear
2. This allows them to discern required differences in speech patterns despite the apparent random qualities observed in practice
3. This superior performance allows their speech to fit the rules
Balls. Surely what is actually going on is that the accretion of patterns of usage is indeed pretty arbitrary in its variations, and it's only custom that privileges the apparent euphony of one form over another. To attempt to draw a 'rule' given the observable discrepencies is simply perverse. The most that can usefully be said is that certain forms tend to be mostly found doing this job (with notable exceptions) whilst the alternate form is mostly found doing a slightly different job (again, with some notable exceptions). In other words, you can describe what is, but you cannot usefully ascribe the resultant language as the product of some rule.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted ![]()
Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Faldage 03/10/2005 11:37 PM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Jackie 03/15/2005 1:33 AM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Faldage 03/15/2005 11:11 AM ![]()
Re: How you say?
AnnaStrophic 03/15/2005 12:44 PM ![]()
Re: How you say?
Jackie 03/15/2005 2:38 PM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
filmacg 03/15/2005 9:42 PM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
TEd Remington 03/15/2005 11:22 PM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
maverick 03/15/2005 11:56 PM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Avy 03/16/2005 9:24 AM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Faldage 03/16/2005 10:34 AM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Avy 03/20/2005 3:58 AM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
TEd Remington 03/20/2005 10:00 AM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
Faldage 03/20/2005 1:58 PM ![]()
Re: Verbs, transitive and intransitive
TEd Remington 03/20/2005 3:02 PM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,916Posts230,367Members9,209 Most Online7,006
Mar 7th, 2026
Newest Members Peripatetic Toad, JerryC, blvd, Tony Hood, Wood Delivery
9,209 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 11
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 11,199tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,974Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk