LL-L "Grammar" 2004.09.25 (06) [E]

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From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Grammar

Tom wrote re "aren't I?":
"I know that this form is taught in many  ESL classes, probably throughout
the world, .."

Well, what else could be taught? We recently discussed the widespread but
incorrect use of "isn't it?" in this situation.  "Am I not?" is possible but
not something most people habitually say.

John Duckworth wrote:

"I think our use of _aren't I_ in English is just a sign that the verbal
system was on its way to further simplification when printing and
standardization more or less froze it as we know it today. We might have
been using forms such as *_I are_ and *_she are_ if things had not slowed
down."

But in that case why does "are" appear only in this single negative
construction? We say "I'm not" and never (in the standard language) "amn't
I?". Language development doesn't stop just because printing fixes certain
forms pro tem. The loss of the preterite plural form in Swedish is a very
clear example.

John also wrote:
"In some dialects of English ... the subjunctive forms of the verb seem to
have taken over; hence, _I be from England_. "

This isn't a subjunctive, just a version of "beo", the 1st person sing
indicative of the verb "beon".

John Feather CS johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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