Re: *Juggling anti spin*

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:15:12 GMT, Little Paul <usenet@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Which doesn't speak English as his first language.

I think you mean "whom" rather than "which", but English is my
first language, so I'm probably wrong. Furriners seem to be
much better than natives when it comes to this sort of thing.

That's usually true for foreigners that learns English in school, since
foreign-languages teachers are usually obsessed with grammar and syntax and
such. I find this true for a lot of languages. Foreigners tend to be better at
that sort of things, and then fail miserably with manners of speaking and
everything of that sort.

However, that's not my case, since I learnt most by reading on the net. Yep,
on the internet, not from books. Back when usenet was less full of morons, so
the general level of the language was a bit higher, and you could expect a
more "literate" use of words.

I usually am more correct than most self-taught, non native anglophones (but
sometimes also native ones, especially on spelling), and less scholastic than
most people who effectively studied English syntax and grammar on actual
books, especially on obscure verbs and pronouns.
I however also fail a lot when it comes to speaking, as I had to admit when I
had to say "recipe" around actual english-speaking people. I was pronouncing
"reez-hype" (without the "h" sound), which caused quite a bit of laughing in
my general direction.

Back to the original subject, a quick search on the 'net gave me back this
page, which, apparently, states that we are both wrong:

http://web.ku.edu/~edit/whom.html

From what I understand, and that may be "nothing", I should really have used
"who" in place of anything else, in my original statement.

Quite a long post to get down to the point, I admit.

Fabio.
Whose main flaw is to digress a lot.[1]

[1] I spent a minute thinking about how to write this. I was in doubt between
"is to digress a lot" and "is that he digresses a lot." Second form is more
like Italian, but first form feels more sleek[2] to my ears, and certainly
more right.

[2] Also, more sleek or sleeker? [3]

[3] Anyway, the part about your probable wrongness made me smirk.
--
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
www.scratched.it - /dev/random
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: NBC: Immigrant advocates convene May 1 work stoppage
    ... illegal immigrants. ... the reparations due the Natives. ... "Requirements as to understanding the English language, history, ... relating to achieving citizenship status that states 3 to 5 years' worth ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)
  • Re: His Majestys Government are plural?
    ... >>> We are bunch of wild naked natives so there is never doubt about ... > armchair, toss aside your stethoscope, then perform valid research. ... > My husband is Choctaw. ... somewhat more formal treatment of the language ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Author examines religious rights hijacking of Jesus
    ... called Christians who thought that the "poor savages" needed Jesus at ... have been offerred up to natives all...as a choice..not a prerequisite to ... the boarding schools and 'adopting out' ... As to the language problem, ...
    (soc.religion.christian)
  • Re: first steps with perl, a log reader
    ... Express those purposes, and the steps to achieve them, in plain language. ... With this sort of comment I wouldn't be L'ing OL at this point. ... Now here's where Perl splits people. ... 'use warnings' will give you all that you need ...
    (perl.beginners)
  • Re: Macro to Sort 5 Column Table
    ... If you type Sort into ... FieldNumber Optional Variant The first field by which to sort. ... depending on the language support (U.S. ...
    (microsoft.public.word.vba.beginners)