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Subject:Re: Common Errors in English From:"Mark Baker" <listsub -at- analecta -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 27 Feb 2004 10:27:28 -0500
Lynne Wright asked:
> if its 'six head of sheep', and 'seven tons of coal', why isn't it 'five
> years OF experience'?
Because it isn't. Why is it "five minutes time" and not "five minutes of
time"? English is highly irregular.
The point is, it is fine to attempt to build logical models to explain the
structure of English. But if the logic fails to explain common
constructions, the the problem is with the logic, not with the
constructions. It is not good practice to try to constrain, exclude, or
transform common construction of the language in an attempt to make an
imperfect grammatical system work. Procrustean grammarians must not prevail.
