I think Robert Peston's final six paragraphs are pretty telling -
HS2....who/what should we believe?....
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Originally posted by vinteuil View PostI think Robert Peston's final six paragraphs are pretty telling -
http://bbc.co.uk/news/business-24047047
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amateur51
Originally posted by vinteuil View PostI think Robert Peston's final six paragraphs are pretty telling -
http://bbc.co.uk/news/business-24047047
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Originally posted by eighthobstruction View PostDon't worry you chaps and chappesses.....I know you are worried you might not be able to buy shares in HS2....govt's been good enough to arrange a little bananza at the Post Office instead....
What also occurs to me here, however, is that neither is in quite the same position today as the rail system and the water supply and sewerage systems, for all of which there is a widespread and increasing public demand (even if that's not met as it could be in the case of the rail system) in that the public need for them is diminishing rather than burgeoning; so many of the services provided by each can be - and indeed are - covered by private couriers and email (Royal Mail / Parcelforce parcels and letters) and online facilities for such things as road tax payments, NS&I, state benefit payments et al that have traditionally been provided by Post Office Counters.
Back to topic, though!...
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Originally posted by zoomy View PostI would not believe a word KPMG says - they were in at the start of the recession with their now infamous Fannie Mae auditing reports.
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Resurrection Man
Originally posted by Richard Barrett View PostI would have thought a higher priority would be to invest in an efficient, affordable and comprehensive (and renationalised) railway system for the entire country in order to reduce road congestion, help the environment and create more employment, rather than a limited prestige project like this which will take 20 years (and the rest! allowing for the inevitable delays and cockups) to complete.
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Resurrection Man
Originally posted by Richard Barrett View Post... and as usual I think we can assume that anything being pushed like this by the Tories is overwhelmingly likely to be for reasons connected with fat profits for their friends (and in many cases themselves), rather than benefitting anyone else except perhaps incidentally, as we see from the NHS privatisation programme.
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... for Pedants' Thread - but this is a hypercorrection we have seen before : read - " But who do you think should be believed... "
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Originally posted by Resurrection Man View PostBut not this one which sounds more like a soundbite from the Daily Mirror !
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Originally posted by Resurrection Man View PostI agree with that totally. I am convinced that politicians of all parties start to believe in their own hype and none of them have the balls to admit that they were wrong and so cancel it (and other white elephants).
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Originally posted by ahinton View PostOr is it, though? - in the context concerned, could not the organisation to be believed or disbelieved be regarded as the object and the believer or disbeliever the subject?...
The (grammatical) object of an active verb becomes the (grammatical) subject when you recast the sentence as passive.
Thus
Whom should we believe? and Who should be believed? are both correct.
The hypercorrection we saw in the original But whom do you think should be believed? arises probably because the writer thinks whom is the object of think.
But you are in good company - the authors of the KJV wrote (Matthew 16, 13): Whom doe men say, that I, the sonne of man, am?
(And people may have dim memories of Latin Accusative and Infinitive. That's not so common in English unless you're John Milton, and even Milton couldn't do it with all verbs of saying, thinking, feeling -but it would give Whom do you believe yourself to be? as against Who do you think you are?)
.Last edited by jean; 12-09-13, 14:35.
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Originally posted by jean View PostNo.
The (grammatical) object of an active verb becomes the (grammatical) subject when you recast the sentence as passive.
Thus
Whom should we believe? and Who should be believed? are both correct.
The hypercorrection we saw in the original But whom do you think should be believed? arises probably because the writer thinks whom is the object of think.
But you are in good company - the authors of the KJV wrote (Matthew 16, 13): Whom doe men say, that I, the sonne of man, am?
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