syntax

Beverly Flanigan flanigan at OHIO.EDU
Thu Jul 27 20:08:52 UTC 2006


A curious sentence on a tourist site about Ireland:  "County Donegal - Not
many people would argue that Donegal has the finest scenery in the whole of
Ireland."  Does this mean (logically) that "not many people would argue
with the claim that ..." or (implausibly) that "not many people would make
the claim that ..."?  Does this kind of elision happen often?

Beverly Flanigan

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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