MWDEU

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Feb 23, 2010, at 6:12 AM, Amy West wrote:

> It really is quite fabulous. And I'm always thrilled when Arnold says
> "use it!" because I knew the editor was smart:

i guess "knew" here means something like 'already knew', and then the
"was smart" is just a sequence-of-tenses thing, rather than a past
relative to now as the reference time.  Ward "Gil" Gilman is still
smart.  he reads Language Log and sometimes exchanges correspondence
with me.

> ... Having said that, I think I'm going to make the pocket version a
> required purchase for my next comp. class to balance out the
> "glossary of usage" in Diana Hacker's _A Writer's Reference_ that we
> require of all the comp. classes on our campus. She toes an even more
> conservative line on some things than the AHD Usage Panel.

i have no influence on Stanford's PWR program, but if i did, i'd
recommend just such a move (to balance out Hacker, in fact).

arnold

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