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Subject:RE: and then (was: Silly but important to me) From:John Wilcox <JWilcox -at- zetron -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 1 Sep 2004 12:22:10 -0700
Bonnie said:
> I cannot comprehend how Cambridge can say this. While we *would* say,
> "Eat breakfast, then mow the lawn, then take your brother for a walk,
> then clean your room, then have a beer with Grandpa, and then take a
> nap," we'd always have that "and" there to finish off the series.
> The only reason the construction works is because it IS a series.
The "and" only seems appropriate to me there because there are more than two
items in the series.
> So, I remain mystified. (Well, Cambridge may well be just wrong. It's
> not impossible, although it's more likely that *I* am wrong, but I
> haven't yet seen an explanation of why I am wrong, if I am wrong.)
I think it's simply a matter of language evolution. This happens alot. Yeah,
I know; it's supposed to be "a lot." See what I mean? We are witnesses to
the evolution of an article and a noun into an adverb.
alot
(a common spelling error, but also used deliberately as a `cool' spelling)
adverb 1. a great deal: The traffic has eased up and we're cruising alot
faster now. --adjective 2. many; a great number or amount of: It was alot of
fun.
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