Re: experiment iv - lyrics???

[jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)]

In article <1993Feb4.700.90616@channel1> eric.walker@channel1.com (Eric Walker) writes:

>That third line is still confusing.  It sounds like "So we go ahead,"
>but that's poor grammar.  "So we'll go ahead," perhaps?

It *is* categorically "So we go ahead."  This is correct grammar in first-
person present; this is consistent with the present tense in the subsequent
lines, "and the meters are over in the red / it's a mistake in the making."

All that notwithstanding, writers, who by all accounts know better, do
occasionally use incorrect grammar.  My favorite (and the most personally
annoying!) example is Gabriels "Games Without Frontiers" in which he
sings "If looks could kill they probably will."  There's an obvious 
disagreement between "could" and "will."  The easiest correction, and one
which scans, would have been "If looks *can* kill they probably will" and
I'll never understand why Gabriel didn't use that.

>"Go ahead" obviously meaning "Given the go-ahead," as in given
>permission to proceed.

Nope, I think it's used as in "we are proceeding."  The 'go-ahead' is
assumed within the "They told us what they wanted"; there's no reason for
further permission.

Yours in pedantry,

Jeff
(who seems to have a completely worthless degree in English, but really doesn't
care because his degree in Geography is equally worthless....;-)
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka        | "Fairies are the perfect people to do this        |
|(suffering Bad Grammar) |  sort of work.  Biologically, their upper         |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu    |  bodies are strong enough to wield a pickaxe...." |