Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Domandine (tanto per cambiare)

1) Come si rende in inglese la struttura italiana "verbo
essere+soggetto+'a'+verbo all'infinito"? (es.: "Sono stato io a telefonare")
2) Cosa significa l'espressione di tempo inglese "many a [time period]".
Es.: "I haven't seen him for many a year"
3) L'uomo della strada inglese mi capisce se lo apostrofo col "thou"?
Grazie fin d'ora a chi risponderà.
--
Christian Eidolon ------------>>>>>
"You speak me of knowledge, Judicator? You speak me of experience? I have
journeyed through the darkness between the most distant stars and I have
beheld the born of negative suns"
Zeratul, "The Trial Of Tassadar"
*** Sign random: programma Random Sign© (il nonno) ***


L'uomo della strada capisce "thou" pero'  e'  esottico, biblico,
shakespeariano - rurale
alcuni contadini lo usano ancora nel loro parlare rustico - ma devo
confessare che non l'ho mai sentito - se non alla radio   Rambling Sid
Rumble
Kevin


 I was the one who telephoned ...
Or, in response to a relative question, I might answer: It was I who
phoned.
--
Xakero
 Sapere aude!  (Horace, Epistulae)

 wrote in message
news:97fra3$2bs$1...@rex.ip-plus.net...

More typically, but grammatically incorrect
"It was me who phoned"

 "It was me who phoned"
Agatha Christie, whose every book I've read, used to write in her
detective stories: "It's me ....", he said ungrammatically.
An IBM bigshot, highly educated and all that, in a formal speech at a
workshop, said: "..., he said to John and I", not just once, but
twice. Years later, I asked an American professor about it and he said
that in some parts of America they are actually teaching it that way
at colleges. Soon, I guess, it will be in the grammar books that way,
and the old way will be considered wrong.
C'est la bloody vie!


and the old way will be considered wrong.
This is so basic a mistake - on the order of "Me is chief!" - that no matter
how many IBM bigshots (notoriously ill-educated as far as English goes) that
it will never be correct.  G.W.Bush (US President) said something similar
last week talking about Tony Blair ... "Prime Minister Blair and his wife
will have dinner with my wife and I ..."  Even this will not make "It is me"
correct.    The phrase could conceivably be thought of as "acceptable" in
certain slangy, colloquial circumstances, but never correct.  "It's only me"
Kevin in SF

and the old way will be considered wrong.
This, by contrast, is sick. ;)  But it's also invariable used in popsongs where a rhyme is needed 
for sky, pie, my, etc.
Raymot
=======
Brisbane, Australia
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

detective stories: "It's me ....", he said ungrammatically.
I know it's totally OT and most uninteresting, but I *must* say I
spent two delightful hours yesterday afternoon watching "Assassinio
sul treno" aka "Murder, she said", a 1961 British gem of a movie,
based on A. Christie's "4.50 from Paddington". 
It starred Margaret Rutherford as a stout, plump and nevertheless
menacing-looking Miss Marple :-), and not even the disgusting Italian
dubbing could spoil the unforgettable performance from Dame Rutherford
and (of course) the splendid b/w cinematography. Watch out for a rerun
all ye Christie's fans out there. Next time I'm in the UK I'm renting
the original, I swear.
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscalinet.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/