"At all periods of the [English] language it……" — Robert Burchfield
"At all periods of the [English] language it is difficult to assign a beginning date to most new words and meanings. They tend to slip into the language silently, and are placed in date order only when scholars subsequently get to work."
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Robert Burchfield
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10 Quotes by Robert Burchfield
Robert Burchfield has 10 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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The English language is rather like a monster accordion, stretchable at the whim of the editor, compressible ad lib.
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Computer users soon learn that the miraculous powers of personal computers are based on avoidance of error.
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Lexicography is a chastening as well as an illuminating and fascinating art.
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I believe it is imperative to see modern English grammar as a rich and diverse linguistic system deposited on our…
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I am sure that the two main forms of English, American English and British English, separated geographically from the beginning…
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In 1776, at the point of severance, except for an infusion of words from east coast Indian languages, the English…
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The language of Doctor Johnson and Mrs Hester Lynch Thrale, and that of their adult contemporaries, was the stately language…
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Vulgarity finds its antidote; old crudities become softened with time. Distinctions, both those that are useful and those that are…
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To finish is both a relief and a release from an extraordinarily pleasant prison.
See all 10 quotes by Robert Burchfield »
More All Quotes
This quote is filed under All Quotes,
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Total loyalty is possible only when fidelity is emptied of all concrete content, from which changes of mind might naturally…
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No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our…
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The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes…
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Where all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of…
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We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and…
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I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is…
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We must all make peace so that we can all live in peace.
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Wise people, even though all laws were abolished, would still lead the same life.
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A friend to all is a friend to none.
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