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From: rte@elmo.lz.att.com (Ralph T. Edwards)
Subject: Re: "A is B" - which is subject ?
Message-ID: <rte-0106951835060001@mac-118.lz.att.com>
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References: <D9HKrn.EHE@indirect.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 23:35:06 GMT
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In article <D9HKrn.EHE@indirect.com>, stevemac@bud.indirect.com (Steve
MacGregor) wrote:

> According to rte@elmo.lz.att.com (Ralph T. Edwards):
> 
> >There are three reasons.
> >
> >"*There is three reasons" makes my teeth hurt.  Never-the-less it is
> >becoming increasingly common.
> 
>   I always say, "There =are= three reason," unless I'm in a hurry, in
> which case I contract "there are" to "there's".  This contraction is only
> slightly weirder than the contraction of "will not" to "won't" and "am
> not" to "aren't" (as in, "I'm right -- aren't I?").
>   Do extraneous hyphens inserted into words such as "nevertheless" hurt 
> your teeth, too?
> 
>             I want to be a non-conformist -- just like all my friends!
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not any more than extraneous hyphens in nonconformist:->. (Let he who is
without...)

But seriously, Someone else suggested the same thing, which suprised me. 
I can't reanalyze "there's" as a contraction for "there are" (I'm talking
about the way my brain is wired, not book grammar).  I'll take your word
for it that you can.  Must be either a regional or generational thing.  I
will gather data.

-- 
R.T.Edwards rte@elmo.att.com 908 576-3031
