Re: Is "is" a verb?

From: LEE Sau Dan (danlee_at_informatik.uni-freiburg.de)
Date: 06/15/04 

Date: 15 Jun 2004 09:10:41 +0200

>>>>> "M" == M Ranjit Mathews <ranjit_mathews@yahoo.com> writes:

    M> LEE Sau Dan <danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de> wrote ...
>> >>>>> "M" == M Ranjit Mathews <ranjit_mathews@yahoo.com>
>> writes:
>>
    M> In most languages, is "is" modified by an adverb or an
    M> adjective?
>> In most languages? Some languages perhaps don't even have an
>> "is".

    M> Is "to be or not to be" untranslatable to these languages,
    M> then?

Why would you find that surprising?

Show me a Chinese translation to convince me of what you think.

Then, try an Arabic and/or Russian translation. Try also Malay and
Japanese.

    M> That is, is modifying "is" with an adjective like in English
    M> the exception or the rule?
>> Modifying "is" with an adverb certainly is possible in
>> English.

    M> Is it?

You still haven't discovered the hidden message in that sentence. 

-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     +Z05biGVm-                          ~{@nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee

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