Pedants' Paradise

[vinteuil]

As in "off of" ...

... as in "You ought to of got off of that by now... "

[Padraig]

And the older "without" meaning of "outside". (For years I thought the hymn was referring to a green hill that didn't have a city wall.)

See photo: this side Bishop Street Without; through the gate Bishop Street Within. The red brick building just visible within is the Bishop's Palace where Mrs Alexander probably wrote the hymn you refer to.
Please don't pull me up for ending a sentence with a preposition.

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186482-d6777929-i120996246-St_Columba_Heritage_Centre-Derry_County_Londonderry_Northern_Ireland.html#120996138

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just out of interest - is it a little school run by (or "for", or indeed, "with") nuns, or a school of indeterminate size run by (/for/with) little nuns?

[Padraig]

ferney, it was originally a nursery school run by nuns. Later a primary school for girls opened in the same complex, with a school for boys just across the road. 'The Wee School' speaks for itself (doesn't it?), but how the 'wee' got transferred to the nuns is one of the mysteries of local language.

[ardcarp]

Non sequitur approaching. Not a pedant's quibble either. Oh dear no finite verbs yet. As there is a wealth of philological knowledge hereabouts, can anyone insert a semantic cigarette paper between INSTINCTIVE and INSTINCTUAL? I heard the latter the other day, and it struck me that it is used much less than the former. I wondered if it had a subtle shade of meaning.

[Bryn]

Non sequitur approaching. Not a pedant's quibble either. Oh dear no finite verbs yet. As there is a wealth of philological knowledge hereabouts, can anyone insert a semantic cigarette paper between INSTINCTIVE and INSTINCTUAL? I heard the latter the other day, and it struck me that it is used much less than the former. I wondered if it had a subtle shade of meaning.

Do you not have access to Internet search facilities?

[Beef Oven!]

Do you not have access to Internet search facilities?

Obviously P.G.Tips, ardcarp, Stanfordian and I, are inferior to the super Bryn-being.

[ardcarp]

Do you not have access to Internet search facilities?

Deary me. Who got out of bed the wrong side this morning?
Having looked in Chambers (adj. concerning instinct) I felt none the wiser. Knowing the vast source s of knowledge to be found among our Members, I thought I'd seek enlightenment.

But thanks for the link.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I met a former pupil recently, who reminded me of the day when I was reprimanding one of her friends, who was too intelligent for her own good.

When I had said, "Who do you think you're speaking to?" she replied - "Shouldn't that be 'whom?'"

[jean]

"Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has unveiled a new type of piano, which he says is "radically different" to the standard concert grand."

DIFFERENT FROM...

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. PP, His lyght is moche different and vnlyke to the lyght of the holygoost.

1588 R. Parke tr. J. G. de Mendoza Hist. Kingdome of China 257 If..they could write any other language that were different vnto theirs.

1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. I2, Oh my deare Grissil, how much different Art thou to this curst spirit heere.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. PP, His lyght is moche different and vnlyke to the lyght of the holygoost.

1588 R. Parke tr. J. G. de Mendoza Hist. Kingdome of China 257 If..they could write any other language that were different vnto theirs.

1603 T. Dekker et al. Patient Grissill sig. I2, Oh my deare Grissil, how much different Art thou to this curst spirit heere.

Inappropriate word usage is not confined to the 21st century, so raking up old errors is hardly justification for their use today. I suspect the overuse of the preposition "to" is largely due to its ease of pronunciation when compared with "from" or "with".

[jean]

Inappropriate word usage is not confined to the 21st century, so raking up old errors is hardly justification for their use today.

But who is to say they are errors?

Who would presume to challenge Fowler (1926)?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But who is to say they are errors?

Who would presume to challenge Fowler (1926)?

Why not? You challenge Dryden - often.

[jean]

Do I?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Do I?

Wasn't Dryden the split infinitive man?