more begging of the question.

John M. Spartz jspartz at PURDUE.EDU
Thu Apr 12 16:24:12 UTC 2007


The -ed for -ing to be the most plausible analysis. Using the -ed for the -ing
present participle is common in some dialect areas--Pennsylvania? Even here in
Indiana, I hear things like "my car needs washed" on a regular basis.

John
__________________________________________
John M. Spartz
jspartz at purdue.edu
English Linguistics
Purdue University


Quoting "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: more begging of the question.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I wrote imprecisely.  I should have written that Sen. Nelson may
> simply have used "begged" (yes, passive) where he may have intended
> "begging":  "The question is begging to be answered" (an
> understandable utterance) vs. "...the question is begged to be answered."
>
> There is another possibility.  With the passive one doesn't know who
> is begging -- perhaps Nelson saw the question itself pleading for an answer!
>
> Joel
>
> At 4/12/2007 11:33 AM, Michael H Covarrubias wrote:
> >That would make sense and we could read it that way if Nelson had said "the
> >question is begging" or "the question begs."
> >
> >But he uses the passive: "the question is begged."
> >
> >mhc
> >
> >Quoting "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>:
> >
> > > Isn't it here "the question begs (pleads) to be answered" (which
> > > makes some sense to me), rather than "a person begs the question"?
> > >
> > >
> > > At 4/12/2007 02:06 AM, Michael wrote:
> > > >Wednesday: Senator Bill Nelson D-Florida, heard on C-SPAN.
> > > >
> > > >"...the question is begged to be answered."
> > > >
> > > >I'm not sure I even understand how he thinks this sentence makes
> > sense. But
> > > >perhaps now when someone 'begs the question' it's because the answer is
> in
> > > >control of whether or not it can be answered.
> > > >
> > > >"Please be answered!" we might plead of especially difficult questions.
> > > >
> > > >Michael Covarrubias
> > > >
> > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > > >   English Language & Linguistics
> > > >   Purdue University
> > > >   mcovarru at purdue.edu
> >
> > > >   web.ics.purdue.edu/~mcovarru
> > > >  <http://wishydig.blogspot.com>
> >
> > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
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> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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