MSGID: 1:153/716.0 e740e105   
   REPLY: 2:221/360.0 5e72028c   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:   
      
   AK>  -- Anton, will you go to lunch with us?   
   AK>  -- Yeah, directly, -- answer I,   
      
   AK>  Directly???   
      
      
             I don't know many people who would say that, but according to both   
   of my Canadian dictionaries the word is used to mean "soon" or "immediately".    
   :-)   
      
      
      
   AK>  Taking aside "directly" I think that the question "will   
   Ak>  you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".   
      
      
             I don't know many people nowadays who would say "anon", as Juliet   
   did more than four centuries ago.  Either way I understand the intent.  But   
   since I have no idea who Anton's colleagues are I'd hesitate to suggest he use   
   the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec", as I might do with family & friends.    
   I wouldn't want him to miss an opportunity to become a tenured professor of   
   linguistics if other such people disapprove of my free & easy North American   
   ways.  One of the important lessons I learned in my youth was that, although   
   Miss Stickler turned a deaf ear when I didn't speak formal English, many of   
   the people I worked with in the restaurant business seemed genuinely baffled   
   when I did... [wry grin].   
      
      
      
   AK>  IMHO it is very unusual how you switched times from present   
   AK>  to past. I believe you should use the past tense in every   
   AK>  sentence.   
      
      
             That would be my preference here.  When Anton shares an anecdote   
   with us about something which happened to him, I take it more seriously than a   
   made- up story about a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead stranded on a   
   lifeboat.  :-Q   
      
      
      
   AK>  PS: also note that your direct speech punctuation is like in   
   AK>  the Russian language, not in English.   
      
      
             Okay.  Thanks for the clarification....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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