[Ads-l] Loss of the English dative "home"?

[Randy Alexander]

Isn't "whom" and it's derived words all we have left of the dative in
English?

On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 11:26 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:
>
> http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2752963 asks this very
> question, and while is told "to home" is wrong, the question is an
> indication that the "to home" use might be spreading. There's also such
> a question at
> https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130127051438AAqSmIh with
> people going both ways.
>

There's a difference between (1) going home and (2) going to home.  In the
first, "home" is a preposition (CGEL), and in the second it's a noun.


> Also, the title of the book "Back to Home and Duty: Women Between the
> Wars, 1919-39" shows the answer can depend on meaning.
>

I read this "home" as the noun, matching "duty".  (Back to (Home and Duty)).

-- 
Randy Alexander
Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/
<http://www.sinoglot.com/blog>
Music: http://www.metafilter.com/activity/56219/posts/music/

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