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 #2 (permalink) Wed Jun 04, 2008 17:31 pm Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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| Old version for "I have arrived safely"? |
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Molly
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| #3 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 21:08 pm Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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| Quote: |
| Tell her I am come safe into the new city. |
Is this expression used these days?
Tom |
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 Tom
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| #4 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 21:23 pm Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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| Tom wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Tell her I am come safe into the new city. |
Is this expression used these days?
Tom |
I'm sure it is, but not in seriousness, I imagine. |
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Molly
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| #5 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 22:23 pm Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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Some intransitive verbs (particularly of motion or change, e.g. "come", "gone", "become") can take the auxiliary "be":
1. They are all gone into the world of light.
2. All is changed, changed utterly.
In ordinary English, it would now seem old-fashioned or literary.
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| #6 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:54 am Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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Here's something similar:
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While I am happy to pass on what knowledge I have, I am always ready to listen to someone who knows more than me. This is, after all, how we all gain knowledge and pick up useful tips. However, once in a while I am visited by a "self-proclaimed expert. I can usually tolerate him, nodding tactfully when I feel it is appropriate, and being carefully non-committal when he makes any sweeping statements.
From: Practical fishkeeping. Peterborough, Cambs: EMAP Pursuit Pub. Ltd, 1992. |
The sentiment doesn't seem archaic, IMO, but the grammar does. |
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Molly
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| #7 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 23:08 pm Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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| Molly wrote: |
| However, once in a while I am visited by a "self-proclaimed expert. |
The sentiment doesn't seem archaic, IMO, but the grammar does.[/quote]
1. They are all gone into the world of light.
2. I am visited by an expert.
3. I was visited by an expert.
#2 is a normal passive structure: "visit" here is transitive.
In #1, however, "go" is intransitive.
The two structures are therefore not the same.
(Cf. #3; a past passive is more usual than a present passive, which may be why #2 sounds "archaic" to you.)
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| #8 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 23:17 pm Expression: "I am come safe into..." |
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| Quote: |
| The two structures are therefore not the same. |
Indeed not. |
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Molly
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| Expression: "The blow fainted him." | that's what |
