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Subject:Re: Data are vs Data is From:Mary Nurminen <manurmin -at- TRE -dot- TELE -dot- NOKIA -dot- FI> Date:Thu, 15 Jan 1998 12:00:42 +0200
Michael Lewis wrote:
>
> I sympathise with your reluctance, but the simple fact is that the
> language belongs to the general public, not to us "experts" (or should
> that be "we experts", as in "we [who are] experts"?)
No, it should be 'us experts' because it is the object of the preposition 'to'.
By the way, I agree anyway that the language does belong to the public. I used
to be quite a fan of the prescriptive school of thought but have been converted
to the joys of linguistics as a descriptive science.
It was a French-speaking friend of mine from Quebec who first introduced me to
the idea that language control, or attempts at it, are a form of fascism.
