From owner-freebsd-chat Tue Apr 11 0:19:45 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mail.ptd.net (mail1.ha-net.ptd.net [207.44.96.65]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 3791A37B843 for ; Tue, 11 Apr 2000 00:19:43 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from tms2@mail.ptd.net) Received: (qmail 11184 invoked from network); 11 Apr 2000 07:19:46 -0000 Received: from du06.cli.ptd.net (HELO mail.ptd.net) (204.186.33.6) by mail.ptd.net with SMTP; 11 Apr 2000 07:19:46 -0000 Message-ID: <38F2D1E7.7119FA0F@mail.ptd.net> Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 03:19:03 -0400 From: "Thomas M. Sommers" X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.51 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BSDCon East References: <3.0.6.32.20000407145548.008cf100@mail85.pair.com> <20000407120154.A9276@sofia.csl.sri.com> <3.0.6.32.20000407145548.008cf100@mail85.pair.com> <3.0.6.32.20000407163211.00872d00@mail85.pair.com> <8cq4lu$1o3a$1@bigeye.rhein-neckar.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Christian Weisgerber wrote: > > ... this is a wide-spread belief and--excuse me--pure rubbish. > I have _A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language_ by Quirk > et al. sitting here, which explains the "non-existent" intricacies > of English grammar on nearly 1800 pages. And it's probably not > exhaustive. > > For many linguistically naive people, the simplicity of a language's > grammar seems to hinge on the degree of inflection. Having a few > noun cases, adjective/noun agreements, and a few verb conjugations > does not make for an objectively(!) difficult grammar. English has > the same complexity, it's just expressed differently. Once you get > beyond the basic level of "me Tarzan, you Jane", English syntax > becomes fiendishly difficult. In what ways is it fiendishly difficult? Many so-called grammatical rules, such as to not split infinitives, are nothing but some 18th century antiquarian's idea of what the language should be, not what it really is. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message