Can a have an A, men?

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Feb 5, 2009, at 4:22 AM, Randy Alexander wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 11:49 AM, Jocelyn Limpert
> <jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com> wrote:
>> The "problem," as I clearly heard it, was always related to the
>> pause,
>> something that people often do, shifting their speech after a pause
>> from one
>> thought to another -- as in following a singular verb and a pause
>> with a
>> plural direct object.
>
> Following a singular verb with a plural direct object is bad?  'Cause
> I do it all the time, with or without a pause.
>
> Isn't there a name for this?  -- A fault in the fault-finding that's
> bigger than the original fault?  One of those Murphy's Law spinoffs?

it's cousin to Muphry's Law and to Hartman's-McKean's-Skitt's Law, but
these usually apply to formal faults within criticisms.  it's closer
to incorrection/miscorrection, where something that's not an error is
"corrected" to something else, often (but not necessarily) with a
justifying "rule" to back up the alteration.

maybe Jocelyn Limpert could give us some examples of what she sees as
problematic.  at the moment i'm baffled.

arnold

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