Friday, September 05, 2008

What's your function?

Take the line "George W. Bush is an idiot" and precede it with the declaration of either "I am a Republican" or "I am a Democrat" to make a compound sentence. What conjunction would you choose to combine the clauses?

For the elephant, likely it would have to be "I am a Republican but George W. Bush is an idiot."
For the donkey, it might go "I am a Democrat and George W. Bush is an idiot."

(If you used "or" then you're just being silly.)

The conjunction does not merely put the two together; it suggests shame or glee. One little variation and the compound sentence takes on completely opposing tones.

Language is neat.

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So, what do you think?