firm believer that

[Joel S. Berson]

I should not have used as an example "I believe
that ..." since it was "believer that" that was
in question.  Still, I don't have a problem with
this construct.  Although for at least two
reasons I would not say "I am a firm believer that pigs can fly."

Joel

At 9/17/2011 09:26 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>Sounds fine to me too.  "anyone can have a
>breakthrough right in her own backyard" is the
>statement that is believed.  "I believe that pigs
>can fly" doesn't need "in the idea that".
>
>Joel
>
>At 9/17/2011 08:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>It sounds fine to me, though I see your point. I think it would be hard to
>>dispute the grammaticality on any basis.
>>
>>(Not that it mightn't be tried.)
>>
>>JL
>>
>>On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 8:37 PM, Benjamin
>>Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>> > Subject:      firm believer that
>> >
>> >
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > A non-native speaker of English asks me whether the following is
>> > grammatical:
>> >
>> > "I'm a firm believer that anyone can have a breakthrough right in her own
>> > backyard."
>> >
>> > It's from an essay of Oprah in the current issue of O Magazine.
>> >
>> > It took me about five reads before I spotted anything possibly amiss, but
>> > "a firm believer that
" definitely appears wrong now that I see it.
>> >
>> > I think this must come from a cross of "I'm a firm believer in the idea
>> > that
" and  "I firmly believe that
"
>> >
>> > Is that correct?
>> >
>> > Benjamin Barrett
>> > Seattle, WA
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > 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
>
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