[Linganth] Substitute x for y

[Alexander King]

I think that Martin is onto something with the for/with problem. This
fits with general complaints from pundits about "prepositions in
English going to hell" or some such rant. For example, "different to"
is very common usage despite my intuition that it's ungrammatical. I
think, "should be 'different from' not 'to'. We are going to have to
adapt to the flow of the tide because everything melts like sand
castles in the sea, eventually.

Using apostrophes without possession, however, I will mark as "wrong"
on students' papers to my dying day. Maybe we could just delete
apostrophes from English? German seems to get on fine without them.

Alex

At 19:56 +0000 31/1/05, Martin Walsh wrote:
>I sympathise with Ronald's wife because I too get 'substitute'
>muddled, thinking that I can just substitute it for (with?)
>'exchange'.  But then I also have trouble making myself understood
>when I go to our local Chinese take-away and ask for fish and chips
>twice, I mean fish and chips two times, two fish and chips, two fish
>and two chips, two of everything, oh yes and a pot of curry sauce,
>no, only one of those...
>
>Martin Walsh
>Cambridge, England
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald Kephart" <rkephart at unf.edu>
>To: "linganth-list" <linganth at cc.rochester.edu>
>Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 4:43 PM
>Subject: [Linganth] Substitute x for y
>
>>All:
>>
>>More than twice now, I have gone to our local fried chicken outlet
>>and ordered the 8 or 12 piece dinner, which usually includes some
>>breast, thighs, legs, and wings. While doing so, I have said:
>>
>>"Please substitute legs and thighs for the wings."
>>
>>And nearly every time, the response I get is:
>>
>>"So, you want all wings?"
>>
>>I cannot understand how they can interpret my request in this way.
>>For me, "substitute x for y" should mean that I don't want y, I
>>want x instead. But my wife who seems normal otherwise, agrees with
>>the chicken people. What's going on here?
>>
>>Ron


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