on Monday morning
GG
Is "on" not required these days in such contexts, esp with "morning"
present?
Thanks.
Don Phillipson
news:ipmobn$hqo$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
> "She had left his place on Monday morning."
>
> Is "on" not required these days in such contexts, esp with "morning"
> present?
Since so few English words modulate or decline, the
language generally relies on prepositions and similar
small words to convey meaning -- like ON in "on Monday
morning." Conventional good style requires these words,
at least in writing. We often omit them in speech, and so
do those special subsets of writing (e.g. broadcast and
print journalism) that deliberately approximate the vernacular:
but this does not mean the word ON is now "not required"
on contexts like this.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Horace LaBadie
wrote:
It was never "required."
Donna Richoux
It's a pondian thing.
"I'm going there Thursday." (American)
"I'm going there on Thursday." (British)
Actually, Americans can say either, but the Brits here have sounded
pretty firm about their preference.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Vinny Burgoo
It's not a preference this Brit. The 'on' is mandatory.
--
VB
Dr Nick
Agreed - "Suchabody said Monday" is related Americanism that always
throws me - I expect it to continue "is going to be a great day" or some
such - that "Monday" is the first word of reported speech.
Mind you, for me a "for" is mandatory[1] in the first sentence!
[1] which has always been man-da-try for me, but now seems to be
man-DATE-ory.
--
Online waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu
Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk
Peter Brooks
> In alt.usage.english, Donna Richoux wrote:
>
> >> "She had left his place on Monday morning."
>
> >> Is "on" not required these days in such contexts, esp with "morning"
> >> present?
>
> >It's a pondian thing.
> >"I'm going there Thursday." (American)
> >"I'm going there on Thursday." (British)
>
> >Actually, Americans can say either, but the Brits here have sounded
> >pretty firm about their preference.
>
> It's not a preference this Brit. The 'on' is mandatory.
>
reasonably, say: "I'm going there, Friday". If you're anybody else,
then you can expect people to wonder if you're a delusional
schizophrenics who thinks that you're Robinson Crusoe rather than
plumbing for the more usual delusion that you're Napoleon.
Peter Brooks
>
>
> Agreed - "Suchabody said Monday" is related Americanism that always
> throws me - I expect it to continue "is going to be a great day" or some
> such - that "Monday" is the first word of reported speech.
>
February', I also wonder if they're addressing Mr. February - there
are quite a lot of people named after months in Cape Town because
their ancestors took the month of their emancipation from slavery as
their name.
Mind you, there's another nastiness that's very popular in South
Africa and creeping in to other places, which is talking about
'government' when they mean 'the government'. It also sounds most odd,
distracting one from anything that the speaker might actually be
wishing to say.
James Hogg
The cartoon I saw showed Crusoe starting finding a beautiful blonde who
has just washed up on the beach. He turns to the native and says, "Why
don't you bug out and I'll call you Friday?"
http://www.animationarchive.org/pics/sokol14.jpg
--
James
Robin Bignall
That's done here, too. One that gets my goat is the ritual "Not fit for
purpose" that's used often to describe various functions in the public
sector.
--
Robin Bignall
(British English)
Herts, England
Joe Fineman
The "on" sounds pretty awkward to me -- as if perhaps "Monday morning"
had gotten contaminated by "on Monday". Certainly, one cannot say "on
yesterday morning". Indeed, my first thought was that "on Monday
morning" was a mistake for "on a Monday morning".
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net
||: Lady Luck's maiden name was Miss Fortune. :||
Mike Lyle
<3-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
>Vinny Burgoo <hlu...@yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>
>> In alt.usage.english, Donna Richoux wrote:
>>>GG <no_...@videotron.ca> wrote:
>>
>>>> "She had left his place on Monday morning."
>>>>
>>>> Is "on" not required these days in such contexts, esp with "morning"
>>>> present?
>>>>
>>>It's a pondian thing.
>>>"I'm going there Thursday." (American)
>>>"I'm going there on Thursday." (British)
>>>
>>>Actually, Americans can say either, but the Brits here have sounded
>>>pretty firm about their preference.
>>
>> It's not a preference this Brit. The 'on' is mandatory.
>
>Agreed - "Suchabody said Monday" is related Americanism that always
>throws me - I expect it to continue "is going to be a great day" or some
>such - that "Monday" is the first word of reported speech.
Absolutely. But it's actually, according to Kipling, a lower-classism
in BrE, but more widely spread in AmE. It's used much more in educated
BrE than people may realise: pay attention to BBC continuity
announcers trailing a programme, for example.
>
>Mind you, for me a "for" is mandatory[1] in the first sentence!
>
>[1] which has always been man-da-try for me, but now seems to be
>man-DATE-ory.
"MAN-dat-@r-y" for me. Not that I ever, AFAIR, used the word until
computers came along, and it still doesn't come naturally. I think I'd
always have used "obligatory" or "compulsory". But maybe there are
contexts in which it's always been the right word which aren't coming
to mind just now.
--
Mike.
Stan Brown
I think the sentence reads slightly better without "on".
--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com
Stephen
> GG<no_...@videotron.ca> writes:
>
>> "She had left his place on Monday morning."
>>
>> Is "on" not required these days in such contexts, esp with "morning"
>> present?
>
> The "on" sounds pretty awkward to me -- as if perhaps "Monday morning"
> had gotten contaminated by "on Monday". Certainly, one cannot say "on
> yesterday morning". Indeed, my first thought was that "on Monday
> morning" was a mistake for "on a Monday morning".
The sentence sounds fine to me, and would seem odd without "on", until I
realised it was US English.
--
Stephen
Ballina, NSW
mm
There is a surplus of prepositions, caused by the Preposition Price
Support Act of 1936. Writers and grammarians are actually paid to
make more prepositions than are needed, and so their retail price is
very low, and they are used willy-nilly.
Actually, I like it there.
--
Posters should say where they live, and for which area
they are asking questions. I have lived in
Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
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Baltimore 28 years