Research

[Charles Doyle]

I found no difficulty interpreting the clause "most people
would say that they were pants instead of trousers" as written--"they" (as Fritz suggests) referring to pants, the subjunctive "were" (rather than "are") being occasioned by "would."

OK, it isn't a highly elegant construction.  But we all (professorial types) in our e-communications commit typos, misspellings, slips of the tongue, slips of the brain, Freudian slips.  Let's not hold an undergraduate (even an English major, even a Georgian) to higher standards!

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 13:30:58 -0800
>From: FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US>
>Subject: Re: Research
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>Wilson,
>I saw this, too, but after rereading, 'wear' might fit--if you take they 'they' as the item of clothing in question and not the people.
>Fritz
>
>>>> hwgray at GMAIL.COM 11/1/2006 12:20 PM >>>

>Note that that spellings, "wear" and "where," have not been replaced by the spelling "were," regardless of how they may be pronounced.
>
>-Wilson
>> >

>> >> I am an English major at Kennesaw State University, and I am in need of some help.  I am in an American English class, and a project for that class is to discover why certain words have seemed to have disappeared in from main stream vocabulary.  For example, most people would say that they were pants instead of trousers.  It is almost as if the word "pants" has replaced the word "trousers."
>> My problem is that I have no idea were to look for information regarding this phenomenon.  If anybody has any suggestions as to how I might go about researching this project I would truly appreciate it.
>> >>
>> >>   Thanks,
>> >>   Tanya Boettcher

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