"As with"

[Jonathan Lighter]

What happened to "like"? That would work fine in the Lucinda Childs ex.

Is "as with" partly the result of "like" avoidance?

JL

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 4:44 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "As with"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Fwiw, this seems to be a shortening of "As is the case with,..."
> =20
> G. Cohen
> ________________________________
>
> Original message from: Megan O'Neil, Tue 8/9/2011 2:08 PM:
>
> I'm working this summer with Arnold Zwicky on a project.  We just
> started looking at the use of sentence-initial "As with..." in a
> sentence, and we're looking for any feedback or thoughts others might
> have.
>
> The use of "As with" is actually quite common.  Searching for examples
> proved to be quite easy and straightforward.  It also turned up a lot
> of headlines that use the construction, which I found interesting.
> The following is a headline from the Los Angeles Times:
>
> "As with many in dance, Lucinda Childs finds inspiration from Merce
> Cunningham."
>
> This particular sentence is a perfect example of how to employ "As
> with" in a way that doesn't invite criticism or confusion.  Many of
> the examples I found were along these same lines, but there were also
> (of course) those that left the reader quite baffled.  Ultimately,
> ["As with X"] triggers a comparison that is going to happen between
> the main clause and the "as with" phrase.  The main clause supplies
> the thing that X is being compared to and also the basis for the
> comparison.
>
> My question is this: Has anyone looked at these types of sentences
> before?  If so, what are your thoughts?  Is there any literature on
> the subject?
> Any feedback is welcome.  Thanks!
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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