Grammar - PoA - Ginny - Animagus Sex - Shipping

[Catlady]

No: HPFGUIDX 10253

GRAMMAR
Pam Scruton wrote:
> Amanda wrote:
>> British English treats collective nouns as plurals for the
>> purposes of subject-verb agreement
> Unfortunately this is all too true - British English NOW tends to
> treat collective nouns as plurals but it was not always thus. When I
> was at school our teachers made sure that we treated collective nouns
> as singular and I have a big problem with treating them otherwise.

I would be interested to hear if  ="when you were at school"= was
before George Orwell got involved in politics, because I really think
I remember reading phrases like 'the government don't' in some of
Orwell's essays. Btw, in American (non-parliamentary) 'the
government' means something quite different than it does in British.

John Walton wrote:
> "If any student has a problem with this, he (they) should present his
> (their) case to the Assistant Dean."
>  It's clearly grammatically wrong, yet it's used everyday.

Why is it more grammatically wrong than using the second person plural
'you' when addressing a single person 'thou' (and having dropped the
dual person from the language!)? My ABD-in-English friend assured me
that the natural English language, before scholars tried to force Latin
rules of grammar (e.g. no split infinitive and no ending a sentence with
a preposition) on English, used both 'they' for a generic third person
singular, and double negatives -- in fact, my umpty-ump years of French
in school taught me only that negatives in French are REQUIRED to be
double : Je ne sais pas (NE PAS), je ne parle guere francais (NE GUERE).

> Hay, whoo kneads grammar?
That' spelling, not grimoire.

PoA
Amy Z wrote:
> Then there are the layers we start to see in other characters (snip)
> namely Sirius, Snape & Lupin. (snip)  In  Lupin's case, I read and
reread
> the scene on the train and think about what it must have been like to
> open his eyes and see the likeness of  his 12-years-dead friend.
> Likewise, when Harry hears James's voice for the first time, that's
gotta
> almost kill Lupin.

How much of this do child readers pick up on?

In case it's any comfort to you, I don't think it was any surprise to
Remus to see Harry on the train (or to see how much Harry resembles
James) -- I think Dumbledore, knowing that the Dementors would board the
train, specially asked Remus to ride on the train to protect the
children especially Harry -- Remus got enough information to know that
Weasleys & Co would arrive at the last possible minute and that Harry &
Co would be in the only unoccupied carriage, so that's where he
stationed himself.

Michelle Apostolides wrote:
> 1 ) Is there any evidence to suggest goodness in [Pettigrew]?

I don't see JKR showing us any, but there MUST have been some at one
time: he WAS Sorted into Gryffindor and WAS close friends with James,
Sirius, and Remus. Therefore, I choose to imagine that he made just a
couple of mistakes that led him to the Dark Side, and then whatever good
was left in him was eaten up by being on the Dark Side and associating
with Voldemort.

> 3) Pettigrew gives the impression of wanting to befriend people who
> threaten him rather than be their enemy. > If this is true, a ) can
> anyone suggest why he was trusted enough to be Secret Keeper and b )
> What does this say about the behaviour of the other Marauders as
> students?

Sirius said ="You always wanted to have big friends to protect you. It
used to be us, now it's Voldemort."=  First, even if it's true, it
doesn't say that the 'big friends' are the people he wants to be
protected FROM. Therefore, it does not imply that they would have
treated him like they treated Snape if he hadn't prevented it by sucking
up to them. Second, I suspect it wasn't true. I suspect that Peter in
childhood worshipped James and Sirius rather than cynically planning to
make use of them.

Mike Schubert wrote:
> We don't really see any examples of people being judged on the color
> of their skin, but is that because of a lack of racism or because of
> open-mindedness on Harry's (and the narrator's) part? We see LOADS
> of classism (notably the Malfoys), and I'm just wondering if the ilk
that
> the Malfoys hang out with would judge people not only on their
> wizarding background and wealth, but on their culture and race (and
> sex and etc.) as well.

Even back in Yahoo days, I was struck that the wizarding world SCORNS to
judge people by Muggle standards like race or nationality, while being
massively bigotted with their own standards like pureblood or
Muggle-born.

GINNY
Kimberly Moon wrote:
> who will defend characters whenever possible, and who has a soft spot
> for Ginny

I might be wrong about what Ginny seeks in a partner, and I might even
be wrong about whether she and Hermione could make each other happy, but
I certainly NEVER intended to put Ginny down. I started by saying that
she's a nice kid!

ANIMAGUS SEX
Marvin Long wrote:
> (Non sequitur:  I wonder how an animagus reacts if, when in animal
> form, another critter of the same species goes into heat....)

I'm fond of a fanfic in which Sirius, having gone to town to pick up
Muggle chicks but failed, turns into Padfoot to seek poodles instead....

Sister Mary Lunatic wrote:
> I still think Crookshanks is McGonagall's love child. >:P
Me, too.
> Did she ever have kittens? What happens to a female animagus that
> gets pregnant while in animal form?
I believe that whether the offspring is human or animal depends on which
form the mother was in at the time she gave birth, not at the time the
child was conceived. I wonder whether the human child whose father was
just an animal is deformed or retarded or something? I wonder why the
Animaga has a litter of one when the other animals of her species have
much larger litters?

Caius Marcius  wrote:
> Subject: With Cat-Like Fur (filk)
As I have often said before, I don't understand what Hermione was upset
about. If **I** turned myself into a Cat Furry, I would be overjoyed! I
would go to work that way! And I would make passes at (some) men who had
turned me down in normal form, saying: don't you just LOVE petting
cats...

SHIPPING
Susan wrote:
> not too many people get involved in high school with their future
>  partner (some do of course....but few)....
And not too many people have magic powers, either, and even fewer save
the world.

Susan wrote:
> Has anyone suggested a menage a trois? All three move into together
> ...both Harry and Ron are involved with  Hermione
I keep suggesting it, but am always boo'ed down.
> ...in some circles Harry and Ron would also, uh, become
>  involved with each other?
There are supposed to be plenty of Harry/Ron fics, altho' they don't
seem to jump out at me.
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