atw: Re: It's Vs It is


Craig :
On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:05:44 +1000 (EST),  you wrote:

>
> PM> Go with the flow and rhythm of the spoken language
> PM> wherever you can.
>
> I agree to a degree, but I'd be wary because:
> * A spoken style has a more limited target audience.
> Yesterday, for example, I read some help that said
> such-and-such had just "gotten easier". That might
> have made North American users feel all warm and
> fuzzy, but for many other English speakers (myself
> included), it could induce retching!


Don't think this is really a good example (although of 
course there are others that might well crop up to emphasize 
some of the limits that may apply in using spoken language 
expressions.

The "gotten" use in American English is an interesting 
example of the preservation of an older form of grammar in a 
"new" (eg. colonial) environment  -- much as the Australian 
accent is probably a preservation of a fairly widely-used 
form of English pronunciation from the late 1700s-early 
1800s.   "Gotten" does date from earlier English usage.

As such, I don't think it is really an example of 
differences between written and spoken idiom.  As acceptable 
grammar in America, it's likely to be written as well as 
spoken. 

--Peter M

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