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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab

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To: Jack Clarke who wrote (35)	1/1/1998 5:55:00 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (2) of 4710

I thought about which one to use...and decided that as I was the one to whom I was referring, I would use the feminine, but that decision frequently puzzles me. I tend to stick with the masculine, unless I have a specific reference in mind. You're right about our Latin roots influencing our grammar, sometimes illogically. For example, the infinitive can't be split in Latin, and so it was decided that it would be incorrect to split it in English also (although I recently read that finally that rule is being questioned). Many of our rules come to us by way of individual arbitrary decisions-such as the one declaring it incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition (from A Short Introduction to English Grammar written in 1762 by a clergyman, Louth I think) that somehow take on the force of law as time passes. A wonderful book you might enjoy, Jack-- Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. penni-who apologizes for going on, but absolutely loves words and origins and language and considers reading the dictionary an exciting pastime and consequently is not a very desirable guest at a cocktail party

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