Subjunctive(?): not critical that

[Dennis R. Preston]

Ooooops! When I said "sure could" I didn't mean that 1) was not also
ambiguous (as LH pointed out). I meant only to agree that 2) was
indeed so.

dInIs



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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Subjunctive(?): not critical that
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>
>Sure could. Didn't meet no ambiguities yet that skeert me very bad.
>
>dInIs
>
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>Subject:      Re: Subjunctive(?): not critical that
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>At 3/19/2008 08:20 AM, Dennis Preston wrote:
>>>For me the subjunctive (whose disappearance I applaud daily, and not
>>>only in English) sounds better in the passive:
>>>
>>>[1] "It's not critical that everything be tied together."
>>>
>>>And the indicative passive is not so good at least for one of the
>>>subtle distinctions that we appear to be trying to make here:
>>>
>>>[2] "It's not critical that everything is tied together."
>>
>>Doesn't [2] potentially have the opposite sense from [1], and
>>therefore is at least ambiguous?  [1], being subjunctive, means that
>>it is the case that not everything is tied together.  [2] can be
>>interpreted as meaning that everything *is* tied together, but that's
>>not critical (i.e., some things could be loose and the situation
>>could still be acceptable).
>>
>>Joel
>>
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>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>15C Morrill Hall
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824
>517-353-4736
>preston at msu.edu
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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