On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 10:11 AM, James G. Sack (jim) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Brad Beyenhof wrote: > > On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 8:00 AM, Lan Barnes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Of course, this should be: > >> There are three reasons ... > > > > I think that the main reason for this is just laziness in speech. I > > tend to be the type that composes sentences in my head before saying > > them out loud (which I suppose is why I often say little), but a lot > > of people these days start talking before they have a thought fully > > formed. People start off a sentence with "there's," not yet having > > considered the multi-item list they're about to come up with > > on-the-fly. > > In a grammatical pinch, maybe you could defend the construction as using > an understood ellipsis "a number, namely".
I think Monty Python said it best: NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again. -- Brad Beyenhof http://augmentedfourth.com I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. ~ Galileo Galilei, astronomer and physicist (1564-1642) -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
