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I wonder why he didn't simply use reneging? You could write to him and ask. Although--one of the definitions of renege is break promise: to go back on a promise or commitment. I was thinking that renunciation might have been a better word for what he may have intended. But I have a sneaking suspicion that neither really is accurate. Renege and renounce both imply--well, mean--actively deciding against something one has previously determined to do. Confess I more skimmed the article than read it, but somehow I don't think all of the writers in Britain did that re: being politically engaged.
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I think we'd have to take the TARDIS back to ask Lenin (or his translators) why the word became de rigueur amongst the Marxists; but I will try to find a latter-day leftist to ask.
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I think we'd have to take the TARDIS back to ask Lenin (or his translators) why the word became de rigueur amongst the Marxists; but I will try to find a latter-day leftist to ask. having found no joy in scaring up my own leftist, I did the next best thing and fired off an email to a Prof. who penned a book on the Essentials of Terrorism, ostensibly for use in his class, TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM(!), in which he quotes (and I quote) "... the opportunists, as fair-weather "revolutionaries," are reveling in despondency and renegacy, ..." here then is a copy of that, and his quick reply: Dr Martin,
Here's a curious thing: the word 'renegacy' is splattered far and wide in Marxist writings, other leftist tracts, your own book on Terrorism, and so forth. Broadly used, I would expect it to refer to the acts of a renegade; but it seems to be applied in most specific instances to former leftists who have reneged their Marxist(?) views. Well, the curious thing is that I can find it defined in no dictionary; neither paper & ink, nor online. Can you shed any light on this matter? Or put me in touch with a knowledgeable leftist? Now, that is interesting -- good work on this. It is likely a term of art used by the far left. Very often, extremists develop their own language to talk to each other. The far right does the same thing. I will give some thought to finding an older seasoned leftist to refer you to. Introduce yourself tonight. See you then.
Prof. Gus Martin
- joe (at least I didn't start a new topic, this time) friday
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There are a number of factors in such renegacy. Actually, I have a question about the grammar. Shouldn't it be "There is a number of factors...", since "number" is singular? I am always running into this, and I don't recall it being hashed... :0)
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There are a number of factors in such renegacy. Actually, I have a question about the grammar. Shouldn't it be "There is a number of factors...", since "number" is singular? I am always running into this, and I don't recall it being hashed... :0) I noticed that and was wondering if anyone was going to ask about it. I'd have to see the context but I think the subject is really 'factors'. If it were something like "the number of factors has increased by ..." I'd be with you on that but I don't think it's any different than if it had been, say, "[t]here are seven factors in such renegacy."
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No. No. Are. "A number" = many, here. There are many factors in such renegacy.
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Gonna persist, here...
What about "group"? Isn't that the same idea? Yet, no one would say "There are a group of factors..." I really want to know the hows and whys on this one! Which collective nouns go with "is" and which with "are", and why isn't there a consistent rule? Thanks! :0)
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There are 25 hits for "there are a group of factors", so we do say it, but not often. MWDEU on collective nouns
Last edited by goofy; 09/19/08 02:41 PM.
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Gonna persist, here...
What about "group"? Isn't that the same idea? Yet, no one would say "There are a group of factors..." I really want to know the hows and whys on this one! Which collective nouns go with "is" and which with "are", and why isn't there a consistent rule? Thanks! :0) Well, lessee. Let's google goofy's "There are a group of factors". Finally, there are a group of factors, or "disability predictors," that help clinicians to identify those individuals in whom back pain is likely to lead to ... There are a group of factors influencing project selection at this conceptual stage ... there are a group of factors which have a relatively limited number of linkages ... There are a group of factors that combine to explain the especially damaging character of Australian land ... Let's look at some "is a group of factors" Finally, there is a group of factors biotic factors that are biological attributes of a community ... The results indicated that there is a group of factors that characterize those individuals meeting minimum fitness requirements as described previously in ... Secondly, there is a group of factors related directly to farms and determining their productive potential. Items include the type of soils, rainfall, ... I got 16 hits for "there are" and 44 for "there is". One thing is that in other languages with a stock construction for this kine of thing it is in the singular. In German we have es gibt not sie geben, in Spanish hay, as I remember, is derived from a singular form of haber, similarly the French il y a is singular. In all cases they are singular regardless of the number of whatever there is. I get 388,000 hits for es gibt drei, 1,800,000 for hay tres and 9,290,000 for il y a trois. In English we also have the fact that it's easier to say "there's" than it is to say "there're" and the apostrophized form is probably more common in spoken language. I'd also say that what may affect your choice is whether you're talking about the group or the factors. Help?
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...there are some guidelines for deciding which verb form (singular or plural) to use with one of these nouns as the subject in a sentence.
If we refer to the group as a whole and, therefore, as a single unit, we consider the noun singular. In this case, we use a singular verb. ...
If, on the other hand, we are actually referring to the individuals within the group, then we consider the noun plural. In this case, we use a plural verb....
Indefinite pronouns can pose special problems in subject – verb agreement.
The difficulty is that some indefinite pronouns sound plural when they are really singular....
As subjects, the following indefinite pronouns ALWAYS take singular verbs. Look at them closely.
either; neither; other; anybody; anyone; anything; somebody; someone; something; everybody; everyone; everything; nobody; no one; nothing; each; one.
However, the following indefinite pronouns ALWAYS take plural verbs.
both; few; many; several; others.
A third group of indefinite pronouns takes either a singular or plural verb depending on the pronoun’s meaning in the sentence. Look at them closely.
some; any; none; all; most. Online Writing Support
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