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You're trying to condemn prescriptivism? What's your point -- some things can't be diagrammed? Who said they could be? The first one is deliberately "wrong" fo

You're trying to condemn prescriptivism? What's your point -- some things can't be diagrammed? Who said they could be? The first one is deliberately "wrong" for advertising effect, like "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should." when the correct English is "Winston tastes good, as a cigarette should." The ad copywriters liked how it sounded.

eru 2y ago
> You're trying to condemn prescriptivism? No, that's a separate discussion. You can use the diagrams for both description and prescription. > What's your point -- some things can't be diagrammed? Well, at most that some things can't be diagrammed naively, and perhaps need a more complicated diagram language. > The first one is deliberately "wrong" for advertising effect, [...] No, it's perfectly fine. It's called 'middle voice' and is a normal, if relatively rare, feature of English. Your Winston-ad example also seems like your correction makes it less grammatical.