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> English has a contrast between kinds of clause in which one kind has the standard correspondence between grammatical subject and semantic roles (when a verb d
by thcipriani 8mo ago
> English has a contrast between kinds of clause in which one kind has the standard correspondence between grammatical subject and semantic roles (when a verb denotes an action, the subject standardly corresponds to the agent), and the other switches those roles around.
I've tried to read this sentence so many times. That parenthetical is a doozy.
- Throaway1982 8mo agoshould be phrased "when a verb denotes an action, the standard is for the subject to correspond to the agent"
- thcipriani 8mo agoI've also been pondering the two uses of the word "roles" in this sentence. This sentence is the world's best sentence.
- arduanika 8mo agoIn layman's terms, he's saying, "I am very smart and George Orwell is a blowhard." You can decide for yourself which author you'd rather read.
- helicalspiral 8mo agothe author is linguist using linguistic terms
- yongjik 8mo agoThe sentence isn't that unnatural when you realize that it's full of standard linguistic terms, such as "clause", "subject", "semantic roles", "action", and "agent". Pick a random sentence from discussion on tax laws or building an npm package, and they will sound just as ridiculous (or even pompous) to outsiders.