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#183706 03/19/09 03:35 PM
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Iscah Offline OP
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You are undoubtedly the experts I need for this topic! Is there a specific word to describe words like heretofore, nevertheless, thereunto, etc - legalistic adverbs formed by the combination of a series of smaller words?

Thanks!

Iscah #183736 03/20/09 03:03 PM
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Sorry, Isca, welcome, but I'm nonwhatsoever the expert you need on this issue. I know they are out there......I hope you'll get your answer.

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Unnecessary? grin

Zed #183757 03/21/09 08:46 AM
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herefromeverafter? smile tja..

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Thanks for the welcome, BranShea! I'm still hoping :-) They are sort of silly words - isn't it funny that they're all used in overly formal legal documents?

Iscah #183771 03/21/09 02:19 PM
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Welcome, Iscah. Keep your computer on, they will come.
(Something akin to "if you build it they will come".)


----please, draw me a sheep----
Iscah #183773 03/21/09 02:37 PM
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I'd call 'em compound adverbs. A perennial question, owing much to the unsystematic orthography that English has been saddled with, is when to use hyphens, spaces, or nothing at all. Why pick on adverbs or conjunctions, while passing over nouns and other parts of speech in silence? Why babysitter instead of baby-sitter, or into instead of in to? Why do not but cannot? And baseball used to be base-ball, but it changed a long while ago. The list is endless.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #183799 03/21/09 09:22 PM
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Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
And baseball used to be base-ball, but it changed a long while ago. The list is endless.


Nevertheless, it started off as base ball. Sobeit.

Faldage #183811 03/22/09 04:37 PM
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Is: I'd like to know too. So if you're patient enough and can find it, please do report back:

http://onelook.com/?w=*&loc=revfp2&clue=meaning+heretofore%2C+nevertheless%2C+thereunto




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once again, the strange obsession with having just one word for *everything. what, exactly, is wrong with jim's excellent suggestion: compound adverbs

as jim also suggests, spelling of these (spaced, hyphenated, or joined) is much more of an issue than naming the concept, n'est-ce pas?

-joe (Avoid compound adverbs like heretofore, therefore, and so on; they will make your writing sound brittle and overly formal.) friday

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