LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 27.JAN.2001 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 27.JAN.2001 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: UB82DN at aol.com
Subject: LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 27.JAN.2001 (02) [E]

Liewe Laaglanders,
Surely, such items as "pea soup" and "bus station" are evidence that
English
has scores of unacknowledged compounds.  If we wrote these as one word -
"downloadfolder," "postholedigger," etc. - nothing would change
semantically,
but the situation might be clearer, and might bypass the adjective/noun
business.  It seems to work in German.  Some set phrases are adjective +
noun, e.g., Roaring Twenties;  others are compound nouns - "writing table,"

that is "table for writing," and not "table which is doing some writing."
Similarly, "smoking man" (participle) and "smoking lounge" (gerund) suggest

that the Latin categories retain some value -  unless of course the lounge
itself is on fire.  On the other hand, Horne Tooke and Otto Jespersen were
right in saying that English cannot usefully be crammed into a Latin
grammar
strait jacket.
Cheers,
Joe Stromberg

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