|
|
 #2 (permalink) Sun Jun 22, 2008 22:11 pm Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Neither of them sound natural to me. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #3 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:15 am Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
"Is it here you work?" sound a bit archaic or poetic, but it's technically not wrong.
Normally we would say, "Is this where you work?" |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
 |
| #4 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:13 am Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: | "Is it here you work?" sound a bit archaic or poetic, but it's technically not wrong.
|
But what about deixis? Do you think the mix of "that" with "here" is OK below?
Hey look at that building--is it here you work?
Surely "is it there that you work" would be more normal, wouldn't it? |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #5 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:38 am Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Deictic expressions mean whatever they are chosen to refer to. There's no reason why "here" can't refer to the same place just referred to as "that". |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #6 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 13:05 pm Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Quote: | | There's no reason why "here" can't refer to the same place just referred to as "that". |
I guess if the speaker were able to run - in the breath of uttering a single sentence - from the "this" location he's at when he says "that building" very quickly to the "this" location of when he says "here" (i.e. the builiding) it could be a possibility, yeah. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #7 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 16:17 pm Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Molly wrote: | | Surely "is it there that you work" would be more normal, wouldn't it? |
| Molly wrote: | | Quote: | | There's no reason why "here" can't refer to the same place just referred to as "that". |
I guess if the speaker were able to run - in the breath of uttering a single sentence - from the "this" location he's at when he says "that building" very quickly to the "this" location of when he says "here" (i.e. the builiding) it could be a possibility, yeah. |
Said like a true prescriptivist, Molly. (Or is your native-speaker intuition simply on the fritz again?) 
. |
|
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA
|
|
| #8 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 20:54 pm Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Quote: | | Said like a true prescriptivist, Molly. (Or is your native-speaker intuition simply on the fritz again?) |
So you have no problem with the "mixed-deixis"?
Not sure how asking what is more normal, or more common, is being prescriptivist, but I'm sure you'll explain, Amy. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| #9 (permalink) Mon Jun 23, 2008 22:46 pm Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
1. Hey, look at that building--is it where do you work?
2. Hey look at that building--is it here you work?
In #1, you would need to omit "do". One problem with the sentence as it stands is its two levels of knowledge: the first clause suggests "surprise", but the second suggests "familiarity" of some kind (the speaker thinks it reasonable to suggest that it might be where the addressee works).
#2 suggests a very speedy speaker, as has been said.
MrP |
|
MrPedantic
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 1319
Location: Southern England
|
|
| #10 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:31 am Expression: "Hey, look at that building..." |
|
|
| Quote: | | One problem with the sentence as it stands is its two levels of knowledge: the first clause suggests "surprise", but the second suggests "familiarity" of some kind (the speaker thinks it reasonable to suggest that it might be where the addressee works). |
I don't have a problem with that aspect of the sentence. If it were "Hey look at that building--is it there you work?", I could see a situation where the addressee had mentioned that he/she worked in a large, fantastic, horrible, or other, building. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
|
| Conditional questions (If I were sick, I would have taken this medicine.) | Deictic expressions |
