firm believer that

[Jonathan Lighter]

It sounds fine to me, though I see your point. I think it would be hard to
dispute the grammaticality on any basis.

(Not that it mightn't be tried.)

JL

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 8:37 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      firm believer that
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A non-native speaker of English asks me whether the following is
> grammatical:
>
> "I'm a firm believer that anyone can have a breakthrough right in her own
> backyard."
>
> It's from an essay of Oprah in the current issue of O Magazine.
>
> It took me about five reads before I spotted anything possibly amiss, but
> "a firm believer that…" definitely appears wrong now that I see it.
>
> I think this must come from a cross of "I'm a firm believer in the idea
> that…" and  "I firmly believe that…"
>
> Is that correct?
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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