Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I didn't say that it was good English; merely that it was not poor grammar. Grammatically speaking, if it's valid to say "A and B did something-or-other" then it's equally valid to say "B and A did something-or-other". This is a matter of English usage, not grammar.
|
An interesting question is where usage becomes grammar and grammar becomes usage. For example, the ordering of adjectives in English seems to be rule governed - if you were to describe an object that was green, small, round and a ball you might say the small, round, green ball. It would seem odd to say the green, round small ball. Similarly, there seems to be some kind of iconicity effect with the order of nouns - "the sun and the moon" seems right whilst "the moon and the sun" seems, in most contexts, slightly odd. "The Pope and the Bishop" as distinct from "the Bishop and the Pope" seems to partake of the same effect, which has got something to do with with the largest, most important or higher up on some implicit scale coming first.