[Gllug] Monthly GLLUG grammar report (Seriously OT now!)

[Dylan]

On Tuesday 26 November 2002 02:26, Jonathan Harker wrote:
> On Tuesday 26 Nov 2002 12:53 pm, Bruce Richardson wrote:
> > If you're determined to be pedantic, then an apostrophe is allowed in
> > the plural of acronyms and abbreviations.
>
> Fine.
>
> Of course, don't get me started on whose/who's or who/whom
>
> Or split infinitives - Star Trek's "To boldly go" has caused much wailing
> and gnashing of teeth ever since.

THERE IS NO REASON TO NOT SPLIT AN "INFINITIVE". Shakespeare and Chaucer can 
be seen to regularly split their infinitives. The whole proscriptive issue 
arose in the 19thC because it was believed Latin was quantitatively better 
than contemporary languages.

>
> <peeve>
> Mixing up me, myself and I - this is so EASY and yet so often misused. eg.
> "Me and Steve are going to the pub." One would never say "Me is going to
> the pub", one would say "I am going to the pub", therefore "Steve and I are
> going to the pub.", always putting yourself last on the list. See? Easy.

Another, false proscriptive epi-rule.

>
> Similarly, "Bruce bought loads of beer for Steve and I" would infer "Bruce
> bought loads of beer for I", which sounds daft, so it should be "Bruce
> bought lots of beer for Steve and me".

This one, however, is right on the mark - the stylistic "X and I" rule being 
misunderstood (because it has no basis in syntactic fact) and 
over-generalized to the objective position.

>
> Where you are doing something to/with/for (dative) a group that includes
> yourself, use myself, eg. "I bought lots of beer for Steve and myself."

The -self forms are not and never have been dative. They are, in fact, 
compounds of the genitive and a reflexive marker - look at occurences of 
'his-self' and occasions when something occurs to separate the two parts: 
"your good self".

Dylan

-- 
"Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not, we are
Between the wars"

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