|
Do you know the difference... (pg. 5)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| Noisician |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Not to mention when you guys put an article right between an adjective and a noun ("so good a dancer"). I didn't know that existed until recently, as I'd always say "such a good dancer".
|
yeah, that's a known phenomenon in the english language. the words like "too", "as", "that", "how", "so" are called zero-degree intensifiers, and they behave differently than the rest of the adjectival specifiers. when they are used, the enclosing AP adjoins to an empty noun head, so that it becomes part of an NP-PP-NP complex. in the case of a regular intensifier the tree assumes the shape of an ordinary DP:
but with a zero-degree intensifier you actually get two NPs, with the head of the first NP being empty. in effect, a sentence like "he is that good a father" is parsed as
he is [[that good Ø] of [a father]]
the empty head Ø is controlled by "father".
| quote: | Originally posted by Domesticated
As for "so good a dancer", it's only correct to use that if there is a qualifying statement following, such as "she's so good a dancer that guys ejaculate just watching her."
|
 |
|
|
| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Omega_Blue
do you also LARP, play magic the gathering, and have a massive knowledge of C++? :p |
haha, no, no and no. |
|
|
| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Noisician
yeah, that's a known phenomenon in the english language. the words like "too, as, that, how, so" are called zero-degree intensifiers, and they behave differently than the rest of the adjectival specifiers. when they are used, the enclosing AP adjoins to an empty noun head, so that it becomes part of an NP-PP-NP complex. in the case of a regular intensifier the tree assumes the shape of an ordinary DP:
but with a zero-degree intensifier you actually get two NPs, with the head of the first NP being empty. in effect, a sentence like "he is that good a father" is parsed as
he is [[that good Ø] of [a father]]
the empty head Ø is controlled by "father". |
Wow, I couldn't have asked for a better explanation. Thank you very much indeed, Noisician :)
By the way, it's just that you wrote the second example with brackets, have you ever seen a website called phpSyntaxTree? It's really handy :D |
|
|
| Domesticated |
| quote: | Originally posted by Omega_Blue
no, "learnt" is improper no matter how you dice it, always use "learned". it rolls off the tongue better, and people won't think you're an inbred from arkansas. think about it
learn = present tense
will learn = future tense
learned = past tense
learnt = i'm a big ing idiot |
That's funny, because in UK/Australian English, "learnt" is correct and "learned" makes you sound like an idiot. It's only acceptable in the case of "he is a well learned person". This applies to all -nt endings like spoilt, burnt etcetera.
As far as I'm concerned, American English is to English what Protestantantism is to Christianity. |
|
|
| PETRAN |
| This thread is full of Chomsky's alts |
|
|
| Sunsnail |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
its called sounding better. im a big fan of whilst. |
You can't sound better with your outrageous Australian accent. |
|
|
| Ania_xox |
"whilst" is such a sexy word
if it were tangible, I would masturbate with it |
|
|
| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
You can't sound better with your outrageous Australian accent. |
very true. its pretty ! but better than the indian or new zealand ones. |
|
|
| Domesticated |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
You can't sound better with your outrageous Australian accent. |
The funny thing is that half you guys don't seem to know what an Australian accent really sounds like. On holiday abroad, we get called English or South African more often than not. |
|
|
| Sunsnail |
| All I have to go off of is ray |
|
|
| Frenchie |
| quote: | Originally posted by Domesticated
The funny thing is that half you guys don't seem to know what an Australian accent really sounds like. On holiday abroad, we get called English or South African more often than not. |
That's very unfortunate because the Australian accent sounds far better than the other two. |
|
|
| pkcRAISTLIN |
| play more forged alliance you little jew, sunsnail! :mad: |
|
|
|
|
