[Lexicog] Digest Number 294

[Dick_Watson at GIAL.EDU]

Mike,

In my experience I don't think you have asked a valid question, i.e. "what is the most
NATURAL way to make an observation of someone dropping something, to call
that person's attention to it? Not what is possible, but the most common
way of saying it."

What is most natural when you assume it was done intentionally and what is
most natural when you assume it was done unintentionally are two different
things.  John Roberts pointed out that 'drop' in English has both senses, and I
could assume that your professor was being intentional enough that his
students were reflecting his intentionality.  However, even if he made it
appear unintentional and the students reflected that use, they could still
have used the same phrase in an unintentional unacusatory sense.

In Pacoh there are three choices and the most natural is based on
whichever of the choices one assumes:  1) you did it intentionally
(accusatory), 2) you did it unintentionally (not accusatory), or 3) it
happened, i.e. 'pen' as subject.

Dick
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