PSAT Glitch (fwd)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Hmmmmmm! I'll have to think about a new definition for sarcasm.

dInIs


>         With a verb like "helped" there is no ambiguity, even
>without furry winged nocturnal creatures.  If we said instead
>"Sosa's coach helped him break the record," we know that it is Sosa,
>not the coach, who is being helped.  Here the noun closest to the
>pronoun is a modern slacker and makes no effort to take on the role
>of antecedent.
>
>John Baker
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dennis R. Preston [mailto:preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU]
>Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 12:00 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: PSAT Glitch (fwd)
>
>
>>Ys I remember when I read that "Sosa's bat helped him break the
>>record" I was puzzled as to how a furry winged nocturnal creature
>>might play such a role in baseball. Woe to young writers if they are
>>being tutored by people whose pragmatic devices are flat-out broke.
>
>dInIs

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 353-9290