Knowing David Schleich, there seems little doubt that his title “Declining Trump Grammatically” extended to the declension of the word Trump which, as you know, can be both a subject and an object. For example: “Trump is an idiot” and “The idiot you heard is Trump.”
Not being an English teacher, my efforts will be amateurish at best, but I am hoping other colleagues will join in. A simple declension might suggest Trimp, Tramp, Trump – with the middle term being entirely understandable (in light of recent revelations) but the first term rather puzzling. Another approach might yield Trump, Trumped, Trumphet – with the middle term expressing what most of us hope is his fate and the last term describing his stentorian voice.
This exercise reminds of a story – as most things do, I hear you cry. This one, however, seems quite appropriate since it deals with declension and the familiar theme of under-employed Ph.D graduates who lack the job skills found in community colleges.
Not being an English teacher, my efforts will be amateurish at best, but I am hoping other colleagues will join in. A simple declension might suggest Trimp, Tramp, Trump – with the middle term being entirely understandable (in light of recent revelations) but the first term rather puzzling. Another approach might yield Trump, Trumped, Trumphet – with the middle term expressing what most of us hope is his fate and the last term describing his stentorian voice.
This exercise reminds of a story – as most things do, I hear you cry. This one, however, seems quite appropriate since it deals with declension and the familiar theme of under-employed Ph.D graduates who lack the job skills found in community colleges.
Our story concerns a wealthy businessman from the mid-west who loved seafood. He would often fly into Boston Airport and then visit restaurants along the coast to satisfy his cravings. On one such occasion, he was picked up at the airport by a cabbie who had recently completed a Ph.D in English literature. “Take me someplace where I can get scrod,” the businessman announced – to which the cabbie replied “This is the first time that I have ever had this directive expressed in the pluperfect subjunctive.” [Think about it for a while …. It will come to you. If not, let me know and I will reveal the full declension in a later post.]