Prescriptive question

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Why is it so hard to see the "lurking we" (I know, I should eschew
>technical terms) here?

dInIs



>I know better than to ask the denizens of this list to BE prescriptive, but
>in this case I'm not sure whether a prescriptive "rule" exists anymore,
>even for prescriptivists.  I've tried the Chicago Manual of Style on this
>one, but no luck.  I don't have any other style manuals handy.
>
>The case is embodied in sentences like:
>
>"The Burgville Philharmonic invites you to subscribe to our upcoming
>concert season."
>
>Have even the prescriptivists dropped an earlier insistence on changing
>"our" to "its," or is this prescription alive and well for formal writing?
>
>Peter Mc.
>
>*****************************************************************
>Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
>******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736