Re: Is "is" a verb?
From: M. Ranjit Mathews (ranjit_mathews_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/16/04
- Next message: M. Ranjit Mathews: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Previous message: Aaron J. Dinkin: "Re: "I'm coffee and he's espresso." -- facially nonsensical"
- In reply to: DE781: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Next in thread: Rex F. May: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Reply: Rex F. May: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Date: 15 Jun 2004 22:01:50 -0700
de781@aol.com (DE781) wrote ...
> "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote ...
> >
> > Since you don't know what Tamil is, you're presumably not Indian; where
> > else can you say "This person is being well"?
>
> "This person's being well" can be used when someone is being what
> they're supposed to be very well. For example, if you're putting on a
> play and you're pretending to be a lawyer, someone could say that
> you're "being well a lawyer", and it's perfectly acceptable.
Most, other than that elusive someone, might say you're playing a
lawyer well.
> You're GOOD AT being a laywer, i.e., you ARE a good lawyer.
> But you're being a lawyer well. See the difference?
"Being a lawyer well" makes sense grammatically, but isn't done in
English since for reasons that I was trying to divine when I started
this thread, Anglos (European language speakers?) are averse to
treating "is", "be" and friends like other verbs such as "play"
(playing a lawyer well). Since it's not done, the Anglo has to resort
to contortions like "doing justice to his profession", ambiguities
like "being a good lawyer" or "being a skilled lawyer".
- Next message: M. Ranjit Mathews: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Previous message: Aaron J. Dinkin: "Re: "I'm coffee and he's espresso." -- facially nonsensical"
- In reply to: DE781: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Next in thread: Rex F. May: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Reply: Rex F. May: "Re: Is "is" a verb?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Relevant Pages
|
