EthicalDative

Two bits in this opinion piece by Shmuel Rosner have an off ring, one solecistic, the other non-colloquial.

But most Israeli voters would support such move. Most of them voted for parties that support such move.

“Such” here is an adjective expressing similarity. To modify a singular noun it wants “a/an”: “such a move.” Otherwise, the noun must be plural: “such moves.”

The citation is interesting in that the structure is repeated, which means it’s likely to be intentional (an influence from Hebrew, perhaps? — the author is Israeli), and not an editorial slip. I can’t speak for Hebrew, but both Spanish and French would admit the equivalent of “such move.”

We learned that to win against a political opponent one has to have a message more profound than “everyone but him.”

“Everyone but him” is not incorrect grammatically; however, most speakers would say, “Anyone but him.” They seem to mean the same thing, though usage favors the latter.

Nevertheless, I’m given pause. So in a thought experiment I stand before a classroom and pose a question to my students. Confronted with silence, which of these do I say encouragingly with interrogative intonation to solicit an answer: “Everyone?” “Anyone?” The first invites all, the second one. I’ll go with “anyone” and take it as evidence that they’re not interchangeable.

“The medium is the message.” I don’t know what McLuhan’s ricocheting aphorism meant to him, but it emboldens me to posit grammar as the “medium” of language, and to assert that much message is encoded there for any who care to look. What you convey is embedded somewhat in how you say it. If your message matters to you, say it well.

(Quotations are from Shmuel Rosner, “The Indefatigable, Unbeatable Benjamin Netanyahu,” NYTimes, 3-3-20)

(c) 2020 JMN