The manner in which it was arrived

[Randy Alexander]

On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 4:11 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Er, no.
>
> A figure can appear in the rain, but rain is not a place, and using
> "where" to refer to the rain  would probably be wrong.
>
> As for using academic writing as proof of correctness, I don't think I
> will make a lot of friends continuing this argument.
>

Well, you won't catch me trying to "prove correctness" (I'm not sure how you
came under that assumption); I was using the COCA data to show that a
significant number of copy editors didn't find a problem with "context
where", which is evidence that the collocation is being accepted in academic
English.

Whether that's good or not is another matter entirely.

Randy


>
> On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Randy Alexander
> <strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: The manner in which it was arrived
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 3:26 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> For me, "where" is a term of place, and the copywriter in me does not
> >> consider context to be a place.
> >>
> >
> > Along those lines, it would seem that "appear" doesn't work either;
> doesn't
> > something need a place (even if it's a metaphorical place) to appear?
> >
> > COCA has 127 instances of "context where", most of which are from
> academic
> > (presumably copyedited) writing.
> >
> > --
> > Randy Alexander
> > Xiamen, China
> > Blogs:
> > Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
> > Chinese characters: http://www.sinoglot.com/yuwen
> > Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Randy Alexander
Xiamen, China
Blogs:
Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
Chinese characters: http://www.sinoglot.com/yuwen
Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog

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