Re: Spelling and Grammar in our e-mails

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

This is a another déjà vu.  It's a fight between the prescriptivists and the
descriptivists.  The young as a rebellion are descriptivists.  (A rather
harmless form of rebellion which should be fought, so as to prevent their
switching to a more lethal form, e.g. Marin Taliban.)

Another example is lit and lighted, however the dict. (mine, of course)
distinguishes them -- they have sl. diff. uses.

The problem is that England being a long term imperial power (still is as our
lap dog) and conquered by the French, et al.?, incorporated many exotic words
and grammatical forms into their language.  It was an eye opener to lean
German (grundstufe) in Dresden.

bc who thinks using Shakespeare as an authority of "correct" usage is wrong.
Tho he wrote for Elizabeth he also wrote for the "general".  Check the
writings of the contemporary University dons.




Mark Sylvester wrote:

> Indeed, many verbs used to form the past tense with 't', even if only a few
> retain it as an option... spoilt, burnt, leant, knelt... Open Shakespeare
> almost anywhere and you'll find some of these. Romeo to Mercutio: "I dreamt
> a dream tonight..." Herb, you can blame your English teachers for
> inculcating a misconception!
>
> Mark
>
> At 08:36 08/03/03 -0500, Vern Lindberg wrote:
> > > ...
> > > While reading his interesting comments, the verb, "learnt"
> > > that he used happened to catch my eye. In my younger days,
> > > I did a considerable amount of professional proofreading
> > > as a technical writer. I remembered that back in school, we were
> > > always cautioned to say "learned" rather than the incorrect
> > > word "learnt"
> >
> > Incorrect according to whom?
> >
> > > However, I just checked my Webster's Dictionary and, sure enough,
> > > the word "learnt" was listed there along with some other
> > > accepted choices.  I was wondering if anyone else on this
> > > list-serve had similar experiences. ......
> >
> > ...
> >
> > > Herb Gottlieb from New York City
> > > Where only our New York Times newspaper seemd to be paying
> > > attention to our old-fashioned spelling and grammar)
> >
> > Whose "old-fashioned spelling and grammar?" A quick check on the
> > Merriam Webster online (<http://www.m-w.com/home.htm>) says "chiefly
> > British past and past participle of LEARN"
> >
> > My Random House also has "learnt" as an alternative spelling, but
> > with no etymology. It could be that "learnt" is as old or older as
> > "learned."
>
> Mark Sylvester
> UWCAd
> Duino Trieste Italy