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#2 (permalink) Sat Sep 15, 2007 18:07 pm Is ‘we not replace' grammatically correct? |
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Iwanna wrote: | I read (not heard) these sentences from Mr. Bush's speech:
question 1:
He has recommended that we not replace about 2,200 Marines scheduled to leave Anbar Province later this month.
——'would' was omited here, wasn't it? No, 'not replace' is the negative form of the present subjunctive here. Believe it or not, Mr. Bush does occasionally manage to utter some proper English. ;) :lol:
question 2:
These gains are a tribute to our military, they are a tribute to the courage of the Iraqi Security Forces, and they are a tribute to an Iraqi government that has decided to take on the extremists.
——what did 'take on' mean here?It means: to accept as a challenge; contend against Definition #113d here |
_________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8325 Location: USA
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#3 (permalink) Sat Sep 15, 2007 18:50 pm Is ‘we not replace' grammatically correct? |
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Yankee wrote: | Believe it or not, Mr. Bush does occasionally manage to utter some proper English.[/color] ;) :lol:
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Hi, Amy
You intrigued me. I haven't heard him utter improper English. Can you give me an example, please? :)
And, I heard of another meaning of "take on" - to hire (we need to take on some extra staff). Could "take on the extremists" be interpreted as "to hire them" ? |
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Lost_Soul I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 1861 Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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#4 (permalink) Sat Sep 15, 2007 19:03 pm Is ‘we not replace' grammatically correct? |
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lost_soul wrote: | Yankee wrote: | Believe it or not, Mr. Bush does occasionally manage to utter some proper English. ;) :lol:
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Hi, Amy
You intrigued me. I haven't heard him utter improper English. Can you give me an example, please? :) Just google the word "Bushisms", Alex, and you'll find a wealth of examples. For example, here Dubya is well-known for his slips of the tongue.
And, I heard of another meaning of "take on" - to hire (we need to take on some extra staff). Could "take on the extremists" be interpreted as "to hire them" ? 'Hire' is also a possible meaning, but I would certainly hope and expect that it is not the meaning intended here. :lol: |
_________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8325 Location: USA
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#5 (permalink) Sun Sep 23, 2007 16:05 pm Is 'we not replace' grammatically correct? |
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thank you very much, Yankee.
BTW: In the top 10 Bushisms, 'Is our children learning' comes up to the 3rd, why? Is it just because the singular 'Is' goes along with the plural 'children' ? I don't think this mistake is more serious than those in the lower ranked, such as 'wings take dream' ,'to put food on your family',etc. ,isn't it?
And,the 10th Bushism is 'Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.'-----Is 'Families is where' acceptable among native speakers or not? |
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Iwanna I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 112
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#6 (permalink) Sun Sep 14, 2008 14:44 pm Needs Replaced? |
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Something I hear / see from time to time is the phrase "Your ______ needs replaced."
I live in a semi-agricultural area of California and never heard this phrase before I moved here from New York, so I am going to attribute its usage to some kind of dust bowl era transplant.
But it's wrong, right? To make this proper English, the words "to be" need to be inserted between needs and replaced. Alternatively, I suppose you could just change "replaced" to "replacing" in order to keep the tenses correct?
I'd appreciate some feedback, because every time I see this written or spoken, that little tuning fork goes off inside my head and I get the overwhelming urge to correct the writer / speaker. |
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Sean In Ca New Member
Joined: 14 Sep 2008 Posts: 1
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#7 (permalink) Sun Sep 14, 2008 15:45 pm Is 'we not replace' grammatically correct? |
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Hi Sean
I don't use that construction, either. I believe its use is strictly regional. As far as I know, this construction is also commonly used in the Pittsburgh, PA area, for example, but I'm not sure what other areas might tend to use it.
Jamie(K) may well know more about it. . _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8325 Location: USA
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#8 (permalink) Sun Sep 14, 2008 18:09 pm Is 'we not replace' grammatically correct? |
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In my experience, that "needs V-ed" is usually characteristic of US Midlands rural speech. The Midland dialect area is one that basically runs in a strip from the coast of Delaware, through Pennsylvania, on through Ohio and Indiana, and then stops at the western borders of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. So you'll hear people from places as far apart as western Pennsylvania and southern Indiana say things like, "This floor needs mopped," or, "This coat needs cleaned."
Here is the US dialect map: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NatMap1.html |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 6771 Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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How to differentiate for and to? | watch film vs. see film vs. watch the film vs. see the film |