So I’m finally getting caught up on Language Log. Yes, that’s right, I am currently reading the first of 99 posts queued up in my RSS reader. This particular post is from February 24 and concerns the placement of connective adverbs.
To spotlight just how much of a geek I am, I give you the following:
Although Hardy must have been among the authors who formed William Strunk’s sense of English prose style, there is no evidence in Hardy’s works, treated as a whole, to support Strunk’s notorious anxiety about initial placement of however.
However, if we inspect the beginning and end of Hardy’s career separately, a slightly different pattern emerges.
Do you see what he did there?! He started the sentence with “however”, after talking about the stigma against starting a sentence with “however”! OMG!!!!
This made me laugh out loud. So, yes…I am a total dork. (A total dork who adores Mark Liberman.)