Positive _(al)though_

[Wilson Gray]

On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 7:47 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> My guess is that “(al)though” remains as adversative as ever here, the real weirdness is “struck within 50 yards of them”, which would have been more perspicuously expressed as “struck as far away as 50 yards of them” or even just “struck 50 yards away” simpliciter.
>

Exactly. It's this kind of combination that's strange, as though the
writers were internationals - I miss the days when "foreigners" was
felt to be  entirely appropriate as a designation for foreigners -
lacking a native-speaker's intuitive grasp of English semantics WRT
syntax.

However, if it becomes the norm - as well it may, youneverknow - it
won't be felt to be any odder than the now-usual, e.g.

"infringe a patent"

as opposed to the formerly-standard,

"infringe _upon_ a patent."

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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