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Yilaner

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Feb 9, 2012, 8:40:18 AM2/9/12
to
Elizabeth remains a largely revered figure and can lay
claim to be the most recognised woman on the planet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I find the usage of "lay claim to" in the sentence very
unconventional, because it's more often to find a noun
following the phrase. Do you think it's acceptable to use
it this way?

Horace LaBadie

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Feb 9, 2012, 9:00:45 AM2/9/12
to
In article
<d28f5063-afd5-40af...@b10g2000pbd.googlegroups.com>,
I suppose that one would more commonly see "lay claim to the title of
Most Recognized Woman," but the phrase "lay claim to be(ing) the most,
etc" is not unusual.

Steve Hayes

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Feb 9, 2012, 9:29:55 AM2/9/12
to
I don't see a problem with it.

I do, however, see a problem with "to be", which sticks out like an amputated
leg.

It should be "to being".


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Jerry Friedman

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Feb 9, 2012, 10:27:35 AM2/9/12
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Not really. "Lay claim to being" is the usual way. Google Ngrams
surprised me, though, by laying a claim that "lay claim to be" was
more common until about 100 years ago and still exists.

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lay+claim+to+be%2Clay+claim+to+being&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3

http://tinyurl.com/6uua3ef

--
Jerry Friedman

THE COLONEL

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Feb 9, 2012, 12:41:51 PM2/9/12
to
"Yilaner" <yil...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d28f5063-afd5-40af...@b10g2000pbd.googlegroups.com...
I HEREBY LAY CLAIM TO FIRST POST OF THE DAY!

Harrison Hill

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Feb 9, 2012, 12:49:48 PM2/9/12
to
On Feb 9, 5:41 pm, "THE COLONEL" <ts2-ggi...@asianprincess.net> wrote:
> "Yilaner" <yila...@gmail.com> wrote in message
You have already successfully "laid claim" to be the tosspot of the
year.

Mark Brader

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Feb 9, 2012, 1:34:46 PM2/9/12
to
"Yilaner":
>> Elizabeth remains a largely revered figure and can lay
>> claim to be the most recognised woman on the planet.
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I find the usage of "lay claim to" in the sentence very
>> unconventional, because it's more often to find a noun
>> following the phrase.

Steve Hayes:
> I don't see a problem with it.
>
> I do, however, see a problem with "to be"...
> It should be "to being".

Agreed. But I think this was exactly Yilaner's point. "Lay claim to"
doesn't work *with "be" following it*, as in the original.
--
Mark Brader | "In the USA politicians run for office. In Britain they
Toronto | stand for office. Of course... once elected... [they]
m...@vex.net | neither run nor stand, they lie." --John Cletheroe

Robert Bannister

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Feb 9, 2012, 10:32:02 PM2/9/12
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I'd have written "to being".

--
Robert Bannister
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