Hi Martin
But many of the BoE examples also have simple past tense:
usbooks/US ngland: 1550---1750, 109. Already in 1584 Scot described these
brbooks/UK inst itself- Romanticism. Already in 1750 Rousseau wrote that reason
usbooks/US who drifted on their own. Already in 1776 an observer noted
times/UK liked to write things down. Already in 1795 he used the word
Unfortunately, I can't readily establish whether these happen to be
non-native writers...
Intuitively, I agree there seems to be something a bit odd about the usage.
Is it the fronting of "already" in this usage (for emphasis?) that is
marked, perhaps?
I can think of alternate locutions, such as
"As early as YEAR; as long ago as YEAR" etc
that might seem less marked?
And I agree that progressive forms seem less marked...
Best
Ramesh
At 12:45 08/03/2006, Martin Wynne wrote:
>The examples listed below from the BNC could all be paraphrased as
>"already in [some year], something was happening" or "already in
>[some year], something was the case". The example suggested by Nick
>(see bottom of this message) means "already in [some year], an event
>took place".
>
>The examples from the BNC all have past progressives in the main
>clause, except for the first one, which has a stative verb ('be').
>
>Nick's example has a simple past tense of an active verb in the main
>clause. This is the usage which occurs in non-native English, and
>strikes native speakers as, depending on point of view, either:
>- charming
>- just plain wrong
>- an interesting interference error
>- evidence of a new dialect of English
>
>--
>Martin Wynne
>Head of the Oxford Text Archive and
>AHDS Literature, Languages and Linguistics
>
>Oxford University Computing Services
>13 Banbury Road
>Oxford
>UK - OX2 6NN
>Tel: +44 1865 283299
>Fax: +44 1865 273275
>martin.wynne@oucs.ox.ac.uk
>
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>>*From: *Costas Gabrielatos <c.gabrielatos@lancaster.ac.uk
>><mailto:c.gabrielatos@lancaster.ac.uk>>
>>*Date: *7 March 2006 21:03:29 GMT
>>*To: *'Nicholas Sanders' <nick@semiotek.org
>><mailto:nick@semiotek.org>>, corpora@lists.uib.no <mailto:corpora@lists.uib.no>
>>*Subject: **RE: [Corpora-List] Re: 'Standard European English' ?*
>>*Reply-To: *c.gabrielatos@lancaster.ac.uk
>><mailto:c.gabrielatos@lancaster.ac.uk>
>>
>>If the use of 'already' in the example is a characteristic of SEE, what can
>>we make of these sentences from the BNC?
>>
>>Already in 1610 he was one of "a select number of the Lower House" who met
>>with the lord treasurer, Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury [q.v.], son
>>of his father's patron, to discuss impositions. [GTE 65]
>>
>>Already in 1914 he was exhorting the readers of Poetry (Chicago): [A1B 1208]
>>
>>
>>Already in 1915 Pound was making this mistake about the rivers, for in "Near
>>Perigord", which he published in that year, he declares: [A1B 154]
>>Already in 1922, Wheatley was attacking the conventional view that
>>internationalism held the key to ending unemployment: [CE7 909]
>>Already in 1926 ( The New Republic , 30 June) Tate was obliged -- faced with
>>the aridity in diction and imagery of "The Hollow Men" -- to concede that
>>"It is possible that he has nothing more to say in poetry". [A1B 1476]
>>Already in 1928 he was protesting that his own pronouncements at the time of
>>the Imagist manifesto were tailored to the specific needs of 1914, and
>>should not be taken as binding fourteen years later. [A1B 1948]
>>Costas Gabrielatos
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-corpora@lists.uib.no [mailto:owner-corpora@lists.uib.no] On
>>Behalf Of Nicholas Sanders
>>Sent: 07 March 2006 20:27
>>To: corpora@lists.uib.no <mailto:corpora@lists.uib.no>
>>Subject: Re: [Corpora-List] Re: 'Standard European English' ?
>>
>>Does the panel agree that the use of "already" in the following is an
>>example of SEE?
>>
>>Already in 1976, UNESCO itself mentioned that this practice should
>>only be used where absolutely necessary...
>>
>>Nick
>>
>>
>>--
>>
>>Nicholas J A Sanders
>>_____________________
>>semiotek
>>
>>T: +44 [0]7092 153 409
>>F: +44 [0]8707 059 093
>>
>>nick@semiotek.org <mailto:nick@semiotek.org>
>>_____________________
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>--
>
>
>Nicholas J A Sanders
>
>_____________________
>
>*/semiotek/*
>
>*/
>/*
>
>T: +44 [0]7092 153 409
>
>F: +44 [0]8707 059 093
>
>
>nick@semiotek.org <mailto:nick@semiotek.org>
>
>_____________________
>
>
>
>
>
Ramesh Krishnamurthy
Lecturer in English Studies
School of Languages and Social Sciences
Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Tel: +44 (0)121-204-3812
Fax: +44 (0)121-204-3766
http://www.aston.ac.uk/lss/english/
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