Date:  Sun, 13 Feb 1994 15:12:21 METDST

From:  "Jon Grepstad, LR" <JGR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FTRHU.KUF.DEP.NO>

Subject: Re: Too in initial position



Dan Brink:



Thanks a lot for your note. This is getting interesting, at least to

me as a foreign, non-native observer. A have had a couple of other

replies already, both from the US.





One claims:

"Too," as a clause beginner seems to occur in written

texts. To my ear, it always seems self-conscious and vaguely ugly, a

pretentious brightness or cuteness. I have never heard it in human

speech. Neutrally, you might bank it as a marker of middle-brow

written dialect. [...]



The other says:

[...] But briefly, sentence-initial "too" is virtually non-existent

in American English speech. it is very high-style literary. [...] it

has the ring of the 19th century to it [...] I notice it much more

often in written British English, so perhaps it is more current and

ecceptable in that national variety.



Your note adds other nuances to the picture:

>My intuition is that 'too' is quite common in (near) initial

position

>in spoken American English, although (almost) always accompanied by

>'then' or 'and then'.



Best regards,



Jon Grepstad