"Don't Say Gay"

[Randy Alexander]

OK, here's the quote again:

> The basic right as an American is my right to life, my right to
> liberty and my right to the pursuit of happiness. Within that includes
> being able to run my home, raise my children as I see fit and to
> indoctrinate them as I see fit.

The first thing that pops out is that "right" is singular but the author
goes on to describe a plurality of rights.  "That" is anaphoric to "right",
and as Benjamin noted, "includes" is supposed to be "is included".

The only other possibility that I can see is that the subject is elided
(within that, the right includes...).  If this is the case, I can't think
of any other verbs that could work here syntactically.

Maybe Arnold will have more to say about this.

Randy

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 1:07 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: "Don't Say Gay"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No, it's not a subject, amd yes, it's not so strange a construction.  I'll
> try to elaborate when I get home (in a few hours).
>
> Randy
>
> 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:      Re: "Don't Say Gay"
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >On Feb 16, 2012, at 8:30 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> >
> >> On Feb 16, 2012, at 8:15 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> >>
> >>> That's the name of the Tennessee bill that prohibits the discussion of
> >>> any gay issues in schools prior to 9th grade. But this is not why I am
> >>> forwarding this. John DeBerry (D-Memphis) made an argument in support
> of
> >>> the proposition:
> >>>
> >>>> The basic right as an American is my right to life, my right to
> >>>> liberty and my right to the pursuit of happiness. Within that includes
> >>>> being able to run my home, raise my children as I see fit and to
> >>>> indoctrinate them as I see fit.
> >>>
> >>> What got my attention was the beginning of the second sentence, "within
> >>> that includes..." that treats "within that" as a subject.
> >>>
> >>>    VS-)
> >>
> >> Interesting catch. And it sounds perfectly normal, evidence that
> grammar is a construction fabricated from patterns in speech.
> >
> >
> >BTW, this doesn't feel like "within that" is the subject.
> >
> >To me, it feels like "within that" is preposed as a topic and "includes"
> somehow is "is included." I can't justify it, though.
> >
> >Benjamin Barrett
> >Seattle, WA
> >
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> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Randy Alexander
Xiamen, China
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