Weird comparative now fit to print

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Tue Apr 22 20:24:45 UTC 2008


On Apr 22, 2008, at 12:56 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 3:28 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky
> <zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>> plus several types that MWDEU treats as syntactic blends:
>
>>   _hardly/scarcely/barely_ Clause ... than Clause (Hardly had I
>> entered the room than the children began screaming) [deprecated, but
>> at least verging on standard; "when" is prescribed instead of "than"
>
>> -- but for "no sooner", "when" is prescribed and "than" deprecated]
>>   disjunction of equative and comparative: as good as or _better_
>> than X [deprecated as non-parallel, but verging on standard; in any
>> case, this is just straightforward comparison as far as "than" is
>> concerned]
>
> Perseveration error? I'd've expected "no sooner ... THAN" to be
> prescribed, and "no sooner...WHEN" deprecated.

yes, you're right.  an error on my part.

arnold

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