[Ads-l] to "question"

[Dan Goncharoff]

To put it another way, it's bad writing.
On Mar 30, 2015 2:34 PM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: to "question"
>
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>
> > On Mar 30, 2015, at 11:56 AM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at MST.EDU> =
> wrote:
> >=20
> >=20
> > Looks like a blend: "The government does not question the accuracy of =
> the information"
>
> But why not "The government does not question whether the information is =
> accurate", which is a lot closer to the syntax of the sentence uttered?  =
> And if it's a blend, it's a well-established one; examples of "X do(es) =
> not question that Y" with exactly this sense (expressing doubts as to =
> whether Y is the case, not necessarily denying, or attempting to deny, =
> that Y is the case) are very easy to attest.  I find blend analyses more =
> appealing for one-off structures. =20
>
> LH
>
> > + "The government does not deny that the information is accurate."
> >=20
> > Gerald Cohen=20
> > ________________________________________
> > Jonathan Lighter wrote, Monday, March 30, 2015 6:29 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: to "question"
> >=20
> > 'To attempt to deny (that)' :
> >=20
> > CNN reports that the French government has criticized the release of
> > cockpit recordings from the Germanwings flight, "but does not question =
> that
> > the information is accurate."
> >=20
> > Some OED defs. come close, but definitely no cigar.
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> >=20
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