tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 31 17:36:57 1998

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Re: Nature phenomenon



At 06:35 98-01-29 -0800, HomDoq wrote:
}ghunchu'wI' said
}> I'm slightly surprised that you reject out of hand the likelihood that
}> {SISlu'} is correct.  If you "feel" that {SIS} has no subject, I would
}> expect that you'd use known Klingon grammar to indicate that lack.  By
}> itself, {SIS} implies that there *is* a subject.
}> 
}I'm not responding specifically to ghunchu'wI', but more generally...
}I always felt that even {-lu'} means there _is_ a subject, it's just
}not known or general (and in fact, looking up TKD 4.2.5 lists these two
}along with "indefinite" which I read as "undefined"(?) but still there)
}and I really don't see why "one rains"* should be preferable to "it rains".
}It looks to me more like a matter of style.
}
}* this only sounds weird in English, because "one" can only refer to
}intelligent beings, whlie {-lu'} can refer to anything (!)

There certainly may be a subject and it may be obvious.  It's just that the
subject isn't the point of the sentence.


Qov     [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian                 



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