07-03-2004 06:32									#92
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quote: Originally posted by skywalker Huh? In the sentence "I am a furry", "furry" is the object, isn't it?

Its a subject complement, i.e not an object

	07-03-2004 06:33									#93
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ok... you win

I have no idea what a "subject complement" is.

	07-03-2004 06:34									#94
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quote: Originally posted by skywalker Not "I am furry", "I am a furry". "Furry" as in "stefu"

It's a predicate - it's including you in the class of furries.

If you said, "I am Stefu" that is an identity statement.

	07-03-2004 06:35									#95
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Skywalker gets my vote for best debater.

	07-03-2004 06:44									#97
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How shameless...trying to prove debating prowess in a thread about the best debater

	07-03-2004 06:48									#98
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quote: Originally posted by The Emperor Fabulous How shameless...trying to prove debating prowess in a thread about the best debater

Blame Sky - he started it. BC and I just felt it was our duty to lift him out of his pit of ignorance.

	07-03-2004 06:49									#99
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I wasn't trying to start a debate, I just felt the need to be an obnoxious grammar nazi

	07-03-2004 06:57									#100
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Was I mentioned? I would check myself, but I have but a limited time before the nectar of the gods wears off and I become a mere human once more. I must press my advantage while it lasts, typing quickly but with utterly precise punctuation. Everyone knows, after all, that the most convincing thing about a poster is whether he is so thoroughly hard-arsed as to check the spelling of each and every individual word before clicking the little button and consigning his electronic legacy to the ages.

I typed that too quickly! The elixir wears off! I must hasten away, ere break of day, to win my gold from smaug-oh wait, he's already dead, the sullen dude from laketown killed him. In that case, I should probably apologize to Sky if I offended him in that Make up your Own Hell thread where I tried to be wry but apparently came off as a bigot to some people. Let that serve as a lesson to all: don't try to be rye, you only get carawayed.

	07-03-2004 07:01									#101
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Oh, and Furry is in fact the object of the given sentence; specifically, the direct object. If you were to say, "I gave Stefu a Furry," Furry would be the direct object, Stefu the indirect object. The predicate as such is "gave stefu a furry," i.e. all but the subject and any modifiers thereof.

	07-03-2004 07:04									#102
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Yes, if you change the sentence in question to a completely different sentence wherein "furry" is the direct object, then "furry" becomes the direct object of the sentence.

	07-03-2004 07:06									#103
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Loinburger is right. Somebody vote for him. Elok should, since Loinburger just showed him up.

	07-03-2004 07:11									#104
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Admittedly, I'm not a very good debater. I'm just halfway decent at being a dickweed.

	07-03-2004 07:15									#105
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To hell with you, your legalistics, and all subsidiaries thereof!

Even without the added indirect object "stefu" and the altered verb, which were added merely as a gesture of pretentiousness and scholarly posturing, "I am a furry" consists of subject/noun "I," verb "am," "furry," the object of the verb "am," and "a," which is an article-type adjective modifying the direct object "furry." I am right, you fat-cat bureaucrats!

	07-03-2004 07:18									#106
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"a" is not an "article type adjective" it is an indefinite article.

The difference is because of the verb "to be".

Compare, "I am a furry" with "I killed a furry". The first only mentions one object, me and says that I am located in the class of furries. The second mentions two items, me, and the furry I killed.

	07-03-2004 07:22									#107
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quote: Originally posted by Elok "I am a furry" consists of subject/noun "I," verb "am," "furry," the object of the verb "am," and "a," which is an article-type adjective modifying the direct object "furry."

Am is not an action/transitive word. There is no object. There is no spoon.

	07-03-2004 07:26									#108
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I'm full of wine and therefore get a plus-seven to resist! I win anyway!

And by "article-type adjective" I mean that it is an article, and articles happen to be part of the family of adjectives. Which it undoubtedly is, as it alters the noun "furry" within the phrase "I am furry," thereby altering the meaning of the phrase as a whole from some sort of militant-activist statement of Finnish sexual deviance ("I am Furry, hear me roar") to a declaration of one's own identity as part of a larger group. Excuse me for being user-friendly.

	07-03-2004 07:32									#109
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"Am" might very well be considered transitive depending on one's language. It's confusing because, in English, the same verb is used for "I exist," which is intransitive, as for "I am a member of, equal to, or identified with," which is most definitely transitive. In, say, Spanish, it would be haber as opposed to estar or ser. Here the sense is quite clearly that of estar or ser, i.e. transitive. "Hay," makes sense in a cogito-ergo-sum sort of way, whereas "estoy" or "soy" are mere sentence fragments, because those verbs function only to define the subject in terms of a given object, which if not given cannot be taken as implied from context.

	07-03-2004 07:34									#110
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It's not transitive, there are just different uses of "is" some require a complement, some do not.

	07-03-2004 07:38									#111
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You are all wrong. Wrong. WRONG!

	07-03-2004 07:43									#112
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Seems like I always forget someone when these polls come up, and since he mentioned me I should return the favor.

David Floyd

While I like Wraith's pithy responses, he just doesn't debate people here any more and David does and I haven't seen him lose a debate and I count myself among the vanquished.

MtG also deserves credit although I don't see him debate much. It's always enjoyable watching him rip apart Sava's trolls.

Chegitz occasionally makes intelligent points but lacks the consistency to place highly on my list.

	07-03-2004 07:45									#113
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quote: Originally posted by Agathon It's not transitive, there are just different uses of "is" some require a complement, some do not.

In which case "to be" can be considered both transitive and intransitive, and may or may not require an object as communicative necessities dictate. If you left out "a furry," you would be expressing the idea that you exist and nothing more, which is not the idea you meant to convey and therefore would be labelled a failure or at least an incomplete victory in the annals of human interaction.

	07-03-2004 07:53									#114
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Spiffor
Sava
Skywalker

honorable mention
Ned

	07-03-2004 09:32									#115
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quote: Let's start a new thread with recommendations for our friend Mr Siddiqui. He can't go through life without pizazz. We who care about him, should help him remedy this defect and improve his pizazz rating. I suggest he change his name to "Iron" Siddiqui. That's a name that oozes chutzpah.

I need to work on my pizazz quotient. Perhaps I should sit on the foot of the Grand Poohbah Zylka.

And apparently people like my username (at least that is what they told me when I started a thread asking if I should change it), so the pizazz has to be from somewhere other.

--

And of course, the day when I take a plane and thus am not on the boards for a long amount of time is when a debate breaks out about my debating style (funny that). Well, I'll let you carry on, but before I do, Oncle Boris, being right means never having to admit you're wrong .

	07-03-2004 11:07									#116
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EDIT: Would the people who post in this thread, please give a list of one to three names for nominations? Counting is an HELL as it is right now.
And, BTW, if you can't nominate for X reasons, please state it clearly, so that I don't waste time trying to make something out of your posts.

Thanks.

	07-03-2004 11:11									#117
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Ming:

Didn't know that Evan Schmuctruck was in fact Thorn.

BTW, aren't you happy we mentioned you win your debates?

	07-03-2004 11:12									#118
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Ok everyone, while Oncle Boris is busy counting the nominations so far, it's time to start editing your posts.

	07-03-2004 11:13									#119
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui Well, I'll let you carry on, but before I do, Oncle Boris, being right means never having to admit you're wrong .

Not in YOUR case, silly. It would be quite the opposite, in fact.

	07-03-2004 11:16									#120
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quote: indeed the only hardline Catholic I've seen that can discuss their policies

Not bad for someone who ain't Catholic.

People who have not been mentioned who deserve to be on the list:

I'd give Berzerker a vote, but he's already there.


1. DanS.

Deadly on any econ thread. Willing to smother you with facts and evidence. Does not do ad-hominems, or BAMs.

2. Shi Huangdi

I know he hates the acclaim, but he deserves to be on here as well. Very articulate, and patient with posters.

3. Adam Smith

Any list without him would be incomplete.