Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen
To say, I have Scottishness' becomes non-specific as well as incorrect English. One does not say they have Englishness or Americanishness.
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But they
would say "I have Englishness" if they could not use the verb "to
be", and had no specific intention of making themselves clear. What
is now a weird sentence would become the norm, if the verb "to
be"
was abolished.
An obfuscator, when unable to use the verb "to
be", can easily fall back on sentences which
imply the verb to
be, such as "I have Scottishness", which
is just a roundabout,
be-less version of "I
am Scottish".
~Iain