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Derek Baker
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| Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:43 pm
Post subject: Can someone culminate something? |
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Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
--
Derek
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Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:31 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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Derek Baker wrote:
| Quote: | Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
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No, especially if that is the entire sentence. I might
be able to come up with a correct sentence if your
sample is just a snip-it. If so, please remember to
post the whole sentence, not just part of it.
GFH |
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Derek Baker
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:27 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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<georgeh@ankerstein.org> wrote in message
news:1126035075.081594.161220@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: |
Derek Baker wrote:
Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
No, especially if that is the entire sentence. I might
be able to come up with a correct sentence if your
sample is just a snip-it. If so, please remember to
post the whole sentence, not just part of it.
GFH
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Sorry.
'In 1685 Louis culminated his campaign against Protestantism by revoking the
Edict of Nantes, ending toleration for the Huguenots.'
--
Derek
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Don Phillipson
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:47 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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"Derek Baker" <me@xyzderekbaker.eclipse.co.uk> wrote in message
news:vsCdnTzRwsErZoDeRVnysg@eclipse.net.uk...
| Quote: | 'In 1685 Louis culminated his campaign against Protestantism by revoking
the
Edict of Nantes, ending toleration for the Huguenots.'
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The point is that very nearly all actual instances
of culminate suggest it is an intransitive verb --
but dictionaries as early as the OED first edition
found transitive examples with direct objects
(e.g. "apex that culminates a believer's happiness,"
1653.)
So the problem becomes semantic rather than
grammatical. Many, perhaps most, readers
think "culminated his campaign" is erroneous
or at least peculiar -- so the writer should probably
rephrase things otherwise, so as not to impede
his own fluency.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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Derek Baker
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:52 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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"Derek Baker" <me@xyzderekbaker.eclipse.co.uk> wrote in message
news:c66dnZ2dnZ31s0ODnZ2dncZIgN6dnZ2dRVnyoZ2dnZ0@eclipse.net.uk...
| Quote: | Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
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Thanks for the replies. I've changed it to climaxed.
--
Derek |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:55 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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Derek Baker wrote:
| Quote: |
georgeh@ankerstein.org> wrote in message
news:1126035075.081594.161220@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Derek Baker wrote:
Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
No, especially if that is the entire sentence. I might
be able to come up with a correct sentence if your
sample is just a snip-it. If so, please remember to
post the whole sentence, not just part of it.
GFH
Sorry.
'In 1685 Louis culminated his campaign against Protestantism by revoking the
Edict of Nantes, ending toleration for the Huguenots.'
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Interestingly, "culminate" can be used transitively, i.e., with an
object. Here's an example: "The discovery culminated many years of
research." This comes from
<http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=culminate*1+0&dict=A>.
M-W online says "transitive senses: to bring to a head or to the
highest point."
However ... There is no indication that the subject of "culminate" in
a transitive sense can be the actor as opposed to the action. In the
Cambridge example, the subject is a discovery, not a person. So
although there's nothing grammatically wrong about "Louis culminated
his campaign," it's not sanctioned by any dictionary as an actual
usage -- to which I would add that it sounds weird to my native
speaker's ear. In short, it's not idiomatic English. That simply
isn't how we use the language.
Tune in ten years from now to see if the usage has changed
--
Bob Lieblich
Idiom savant (?) |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:19 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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Derek Baker wrote:
| Quote: | Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
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"Culminate" as a transitive verb is hardly ever seen these days, but it
is an accepted usage over several centuries. Cites from OED are:
" 1659 R. Eedes Christ's Exaltation 35 That's the altitude, the very
apex that culminates a believer's happiness. 1675 Ogilby Brit. Ded.,
May the same Influences tend to the Culminating all other Arts. 1896
Earl of Rosebery in Westm. Gaz. 12 Sept. 5/1 This brings to a head and
culminates all the nameless massacres in Asia Minor. 1904 Illustrated
Bee (Omaha) 25 Sept., A romance extending over several years was
culminated. 1927 Daily Express 25 Apr. 1/5 They decided that an
immediate ceremony would culminate their childhood romance. "
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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ray o'hara
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:01 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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"Derek Baker" <me@xyzderekbaker.eclipse.co.uk> wrote in message
news:frKdneY0yL01nIPeRVnyhw@eclipse.net.uk...
| Quote: | "Derek Baker" <me@xyzderekbaker.eclipse.co.uk> wrote in message
news:c66dnZ2dnZ31s0ODnZ2dncZIgN6dnZ2dRVnyoZ2dnZ0@eclipse.net.uk...
Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
Thanks for the replies. I've changed it to climaxed.
--
Derek
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Try "Louis' campaign against the Protestants culminated with the Edicts of
Nantes." |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:01 am
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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John Dean wrote:
| Quote: |
Derek Baker wrote:
Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
"Culminate" as a transitive verb is hardly ever seen these days, but it
is an accepted usage over several centuries. Cites from OED are:
" 1659 R. Eedes Christ's Exaltation 35 That's the altitude, the very
apex that culminates a believer's happiness. 1675 Ogilby Brit. Ded.,
May the same Influences tend to the Culminating all other Arts. 1896
Earl of Rosebery in Westm. Gaz. 12 Sept. 5/1 This brings to a head and
culminates all the nameless massacres in Asia Minor. 1904 Illustrated
Bee (Omaha) 25 Sept., A romance extending over several years was
culminated. 1927 Daily Express 25 Apr. 1/5 They decided that an
immediate ceremony would culminate their childhood romance. "
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Yabbut -- none of these has the actor as the subject, only the
action. Having seen the entire sentence (in another post), I'd change
it to "Louis's campaign against the Protestants culminated in the
revocation ... " Just barely allowable would be "The revocation ...
culminated Louis's campaign," but I wouldn't use it. (I don't think
replacing "culminated" with "climaxed" in the original sentence is
much of an improvement. There's a subtle difference in meaning
between the two.)
--
Bob Lieblich
BWDIK |
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Guest
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 6:29 pm
Post subject: Re: Can someone culminate something? |
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Derek Baker wrote:
| Quote: | georgeh@ankerstein.org> wrote in message
news:1126035075.081594.161220@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Derek Baker wrote:
Is 'Louis culminated his campaign' correct?
No, especially if that is the entire sentence. I might
be able to come up with a correct sentence if your
sample is just a snip-it. If so, please remember to
post the whole sentence, not just part of it.
GFH
Sorry.
'In 1685 Louis culminated his campaign against Protestantism by revoking the
Edict of Nantes, ending toleration for the Huguenots.'
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Why be sorry? I did indicate that it might be
possible to come up with a correct sentece *if*
the sample posted was a "snip-it" from a longer
sentence.
But, we might disucss style.
GFH |
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