English once had, like distant cousin German still has, separate accusative and dative cases, used to distinguish direct and indirect objects. But as English simplified from a heavily inflected language loaded with grammatical endings for gender and numerous cases (like Latin, German, or Russian), along the way the accusative forms disappeared and the dative became the modern objective case. (Compare “him” and “whom” with German dative “ihm” and “wem” while the English equivalents of accusative “ihn” and “wen” disappeared.)
I just wish that the whole who/whom distinction would also have gone away. If someone asks “Who should I give this to?”, is there anyone who doesn’t know what it means?
I am in favor of languages continuing to evolve toward greater simplicity, and I would love to see “whom” someday go the way of “thou art” or “he sayeth”.
Isn’t english the United States speaks, sometimes considered “American” (not trying patrotric or something) because its changed considerably from “Queen” English?
yyyguy almost 15 years ago
as someone who IS articulate, i’d rather be fun.
ksoskins almost 15 years ago
I think that this should have been dative case, but I’m not a brachiopod.
yyyguy almost 15 years ago
what’s a synonym for thesaurus?
zero almost 15 years ago
Pass. I once got a 54/100 on a grammar test.
Colt9033 almost 15 years ago
I’m having trouble reading the script in panel one. Is this guys suppose to be Ben Franklin or something?
stepherb Premium Member almost 15 years ago
Thank you!!! And sorry about misreading the title – that font is brutal to read!! :-)
Plods with ...™ almost 15 years ago
Pumetto dell Irte?
Rough translation… your Dell’s got a tree in it
Motivemagus almost 15 years ago
Fumetti dell’arte. He’s been here before.
Yukoneric almost 15 years ago
jukeofurl: You received…………
DorMaus almost 15 years ago
If you can’t say it well – don’t.
prrdh almost 15 years ago
‘Fumetto’ (comic [strip]) for ‘commedia’ (comedy) in ‘commedia dell’arte’. Cute.
ChiehHsia almost 15 years ago
Dude looks like Sam Johnson, except that he’s smiling. Maybe it IS Sam Johnson, and he’s smiling because another doofus actually kicked the rock.
freeholder1 almost 15 years ago
The case for grammar.
freeholder1 almost 15 years ago
Kelsey Grammer’s case?
freeholder1 almost 15 years ago
Grammar with her suitcase?
utplagal Premium Member almost 15 years ago
Uh… doesn’t the verb “to be” take a predicate nominative?
freeholder1 almost 15 years ago
What is Gramper doing during all this?
The Old Wolf almost 15 years ago
In the immortal words of Calvin, “verbing weirds language.”
cwreenactor almost 15 years ago
Huzzah!!!
pschearer Premium Member almost 15 years ago
English once had, like distant cousin German still has, separate accusative and dative cases, used to distinguish direct and indirect objects. But as English simplified from a heavily inflected language loaded with grammatical endings for gender and numerous cases (like Latin, German, or Russian), along the way the accusative forms disappeared and the dative became the modern objective case. (Compare “him” and “whom” with German dative “ihm” and “wem” while the English equivalents of accusative “ihn” and “wen” disappeared.)
I just wish that the whole who/whom distinction would also have gone away. If someone asks “Who should I give this to?”, is there anyone who doesn’t know what it means?
I am in favor of languages continuing to evolve toward greater simplicity, and I would love to see “whom” someday go the way of “thou art” or “he sayeth”.
Colt9033 almost 15 years ago
Isn’t english the United States speaks, sometimes considered “American” (not trying patrotric or something) because its changed considerably from “Queen” English?