Re: Are "semi-creoles" widespread?

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:32:03 -0700, Darkstar
<darkstar100@xxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:1188437523.683100.36690@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
in sci.lang:

On Aug 30, 3:48 am, Nathan Sanders <nsand...@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

[...]

And for "are you spelling" (574) and "do you spell"
(543,000), the ratio is about 1/946. So? Surely you
wouldn't suggest that "spelling" is "not used in
Progressive/Continuous in modern grammar"!

Don't you know how the Indefinite or Progressive Aspect
are used? "How are you spelling" would mean "How are you
spelling this word at this very moment" which has no
meaning.

And yet the first four Google hits (and six of the first
ten) on <"are you spelling"> are for 'how are you spelling',
and in each case the meaning is obvious, at least to a
native speaker. Once again you don't know what you're
talking about.

[...]

But "Are you wanting" is used 375 times less frequently
than "Do you want" which made me claim that it's hardly
ever used at all.

A claim that is clearly false.

[...]
.

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