From smason@yorku.ca Sun Feb 18 13:16:58 2001 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.05/8.9.3+UW00.12) with ESMTP id NAA23780 for ; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 13:16:57 -0800 Received: from femail3.rdc1.on.home.com (femail3.rdc1.on.home.com [24.2.9.90]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id NAA23389 for ; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 13:16:57 -0800 Received: from [10.0.1.48] ([24.65.71.85]) by femail3.rdc1.on.home.com (InterMail vM.4.01.03.00 201-229-121) with ESMTP id <20010218211621.MYOD12119.femail3.rdc1.on.home.com@[10.0.1.48]> for ; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 13:16:21 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: smason@postoffice.yorku.ca Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: <5.0.0.25.2.20010217174240.03ca1b80@pop.bol.ucla.edu> <3A8FF7CE.6542A430@temple.edu> <3A8FFADF.135A8072@home.com> Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 16:16:35 -0500 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: Steve Mason Subject: Re: "bad" grammar Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >At 10:39 AM -0600 2/18/01, Jeffrey B. Gibson wrote: >>Speaking of "bad grammar", isn't the assertion, noted by Dan >>Tompkins, and made by Amy Halloran, that she " >> >>> feel[s] very badly it's all gone so awry" >> >>a prime example of this? I have been taught to view the expression >>"to feel badly" as the equivalent of the assertion of possessing >>the less than requisite skills for engaging in laying one's hands >>upon something. Or am I mistaken in thinking that the distinction >>between "I feel bad" = I am full of remorse/regret, etc. and "I >>feel badly" no longer holds? Out of northern curiosity: Jeffrey (if I may), would you then take the corresponding expression "I feel well" as odd-sounding, properly meaning, "I am rather good at feeling things [i.e., I have good tactility]"? Without daring to speak for my compatriots on this, I would take the expressions "I feel well" and "I feel badly" as fair answers to the question: "*How* (not what) do you feel? ["feel" as intransitive or understood reflexive; cf. ich fuehle mich]" In that case the adverb is needed, surely. Or "sure"? :-). ____________________ Steve Mason, Professor of Humanities (Classics, Religious Studies, and Graduate History) 219 Vanier College, York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada smason@yorku.ca; 416-736-2100 x66987; fax 416-736-5460 http://www.yorku.ca/smason .