A trivial dialect conundrum
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Oct 4 21:35:54 UTC 2012
>From the NYT:
A. "… one of those _euphemisms_ that _make_ my teeth hurt."
The problem is the use of the plural in the relative clause. I use the singular:
B. "… _one_ of those euphemisms that _makes_ my teeth hurt."
I have no idea why this is the case. I'm certain that I wasn't taught
the B way of constructing this kind of sentence-partial and I'm not
even sure that I've ever heard anyone but me say it and the A-type is
the only construction that I've ever seen in print.
Nevertheless, until *very* recently, I've regarded the A-type as
merely a common "error" of no import.
Youneverknow.
--
-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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