Date:  Wed, 24 Nov 1993 09:51:10 -700

From:  Keith Russell <wkr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CPU.US.DYNIX.COM>

Subject: Re: Query: "run over"



On Wed, 24 Nov 1993, Mike Agnes wrote:



> Query:

>

>   She ran him over.

>   She ran over him.

>   She ran the idiot over.

>   She ran over the dog.

>

> Can any speaker of British English confirm that

> only the second sentence above is impermissible

> in that national variety, and that the others are

> grammatical?

>

> Do any speakers of _American_ English sense

> differences among the sentences? (Some

> informants have detected different registers;

> others, the presence or lack of intent. Some

> find sentence three marginal.)

>



I am not a speaker of British English. However, as a native speaker of

Canadian English, and a speaker of "American" English as a second

language, I find all four sentences grammatical. I do feel a difference

between one and three on the one hand, and two and four on the other, but

am having difficulty identifying just what the distinction is. It does

seem to me that two and four are somewhat more standard and less colloquial.



Keith Russell