CONtract/conTRACT

[Alice Faber]

David Bowie wrote:
>From:    "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU>
>
>: Have you been out practicin yore stress since 10/31? The
>: Ioway stress rules you got are way too complicated fer
>: me. I ADDress the envelope one minute, and give a short
>: ADDress to the audience the next.
>
>Do you PREsent a PREsent to someone, too?
>
>I myself ADDress an envelope by putting an ADDress on it, but i preSENT
>people with PREsents.
>
>: dInIs (one of whose students went to syntax class the other
>: day and was told by the instructor that Professsor Preston's
>: judgments about grammaticality were not trustworthy; in
>: fact, the instructor reflected, they were dangerous)
>
>For a time, i was forbidden to offer grammaticality judgments in one of my
>undergrad syntax classes. (Something about accepting "for to" as a
>preposition was the straw that finally broke the camel's back, IIRC.)

Well, I was never actually *banned* from offering
judgments...however, one of my professors used to look pleadingly at
me after putting a set of example sentences up on the board, silently
*begging* me not to disagree with the crucial pattern of *s and ?s.
--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963