"substitute by" = "replace with"

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Mon Aug 28 18:22:23 UTC 2006


On Aug 28, 2006, at 9:52 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> Here's a Ph.D.-level ex. of this usage :
>
>   1982 Allan Rodway _The Craft of Criticism_ (Cambridge: C.U.P.)
> 70 : But the revision seems to substitute one kind of flaw by another.
>
>   OED uncharacteristically goes out of its way to call a related
> construction "incorrect," not once but twice (_substitute_, v., 4a,
> 4b).  But none of its exx. are quite as odd as the above.
>
>   BTW, Prof. Rodway's book provides a splendid explication of pre-
> deconstructive literary criticism.

this is an example of the usage that's been around for some time and
with some frequency (it's even in MWDEU), what i called innovative
"substitute" in my earlier postings on the subject:

original: substitute NEW for OLD
innovative: substitute OLD by/with NEW
reversed: substitute OLD for NEW

reversed "substitute" is the real stunner.  pretty recent, and only
recently working its way into north america.

arnold

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