Barrie England

79,252 reputation

489169

bio	website	caxton1485.wordpress.com
	location	United Kingdom
	age	71
visits	member for	1 year, 9 months
	seen	9 hours ago
stats	profile views	6,068

I have spent most of my career in government service, much of it abroad. I have a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford and the Diploma in English Language Studies from the UK's Open University, and am qualified as a teacher of English to foreign learners. I have studied several other languages including French, German, Latin, Arabic and Old and Middle English.

My blog, Caxton, is mostly, but not entirely, about the English language.

Elsewhere on the web I have attempted to write in the constrained style of the 'Ouvroir de littérature potentielle' (OULIPO) in Variations on an Incident in Paris and in Variations on Jane Austen. I have also created a full set of 256 Syllogisms by figure and mood and showing which are valid and which are not.

	79,252 reputation	bio	website	caxton1485.wordpress.com	visits	member for	1 year, 9 months
489169 badges		location	United Kingdom		seen	9 hours ago

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Jun 2	comment	Pronunciation of “'ll” Yes, I expect so.
May 25	comment	“If I would have lost you” vs “If I had lost you” I would say that, but mobiles (cell phones) are different from girlfriends.
Apr 23	comment	“Coquette” vs. “flirt” @tchrist. Thank you. I'll try to remember that.
Apr 15	comment	“He made a picture” vs. “he has made a picture” All I can tell you is that, at least in British English, the present perfect construcion is used to relate something that has happened, usually in the fairly recent past, that has some kind of bearing on the present situation.
Apr 15	comment	What part of speech is “methinks”? @John Lawler. But sometimes intransitive: 'I think, therefore I am.' And: 'What are you doing?' 'I'm thinking.'
Apr 14	comment	Is “gonna have to” an Americanism? @Mitten. I can assure you that as a speaker of British English I'm quite capable of using it myself.
Apr 14	comment	“in every respect” vs “in every aspect” That should have been collocations.
Apr 14	comment	“in every respect” vs “in every aspect” The usual collacations are in every respect, but from every aspect.
Apr 14	comment	“He made a picture” vs. “he has made a picture” The context includes what follows, and it also includes the wider social framework.
Apr 14	comment	“in every respect” vs “in every aspect” Yes, you can in the appropriate context, but, in your example, respect is what is needed. I'll say in passing that the whole style is a little strange.
Apr 14	comment	“He made a picture” vs. “he has made a picture” It still depends on the context.
Apr 14	comment	“He made a picture” vs. “he has made a picture” It depends on what has gone on previously in the conversation.
Apr 13	comment	Why do people say “that-a-way” instead of “that way”? @Robusto. Yes, looks like a previous use. OP may like to transfer the acceptance. Is that possible?
Apr 13	comment	“work as a journalist on/at a magazine” Not even 'He was on the Wall Street Journal' for five years'?
Apr 13	comment	“work as a journalist on/at a magazine” In the UK, we can say that a journalist worked on 'The Times' for five years meaning that the journalist was employed by the newspapaper.
Apr 12	comment	Meaning of “candle” in “I now call to mind that there was a letter in the candle three days ago” ‘The Trumpet-Major’ was published in 1880. Contemporary readers would have known more about candles and their associations than we do.
Apr 12	comment	Meaning of “candle” in “I now call to mind that there was a letter in the candle three days ago” @KitFox♦. It seems so.
Apr 12	comment	“[adjective] and [adjective] [noun]” — Should the noun be singular or plural? @John Lawler. Thank you, John. That's what I intended to say. Now edited.
Apr 12	comment	Stress in “control” word +1. There may be others like control that have the same stress as verb and noun, but I can't think of any.
Apr 12	comment	Positions of “of which” I hope that the edit I have just made to my answer will make it a little clearer.