I hope you don't mind me asking, when you say "grappling with a nut, let's see if we can get him to turn." Do you mean to break the nut so you can eat the fruit inside? No, I meant a nut like this:

Hi, Your link didn't work, but I found it with the "in-house" search function. There's quite a bit of material there. Could you help me by writing one specfic example of a usage you're not clear on? Then we can go from there.

Dear Sis: For the first time, when reporting the doings in aue, I must report my disappointment with the group of late. The recent topics have been so boring, so mundane, and so achingly detailed in minutia that reading aue is like having to

Dear Marius, Is that series of words to be regarded as a "question"? Well, the "had she not", the inversion, at the start of it gives the impression of questionhood, yes. So if you wanted to parse the paragraph according to

I assumed that you already had a couple of examples in mind when you posted your advice. (I mean, if ... occasional racism, but the construction(s), like what you originally mentioned. But if you were just blathering again, I forgive you. OK,

You might not know of such evidence but have you looked for any? It's not my job to prove that no evidence exists. It's the job of those who are claiming that there is a reason that non-traditional families are a Bad Thing to prove it. A

In our last episode, (Email Removed), the lovely and talented Gerald Smyth broadcast on alt.usage.english: In prose, should or should not each speech-act be marked by a new paragraph?...g Not necessarily. The important thing is not to mix

Donna Richoux: Mark Brader: Donna Richoux: Sorry, Mark, can you elaborate? I just cannot grasp what ... the origins of phrases, what are we doing, whistling Dixie? I guess that for me "etymology" is about the origin of the *form* of a

This paragraph implies that you believe regional accents to be class markers, not just in the UK but everywhere. Have I got that right? No. They are often class markers in the US, much less so in many other countries. The class obsession in the UK

(Snip) ObAUE: That "ignorant of the English language" bothers me. (Oh, ... "that" instead of "who" - would be usage errors. No? You claim not to be ignorant of the English language but ignorant of the usage of the