All of two days
It’s amazing the difference between semesters [nominal extraposition]. Only two days gone by and yet the semester seems like it’s been going on for weeks and weeks [non-constituent coordination, copy-raising]. Well, I’m anticipating that either this will be a slow semester of blogging due to me faithfully concentrating on teaching and research, or a semester of much blogging due to…uh, the massive amounts of ideas I’ll be getting from all the academic activity [discontinuous coordination]. (just practicing noticing various non-canonical constructions, to get back into the swing of things)
Actually, I’m hoping that a particular ad for Aflac is still in existence at a gas station near my apartment, because it would potentially be great material for the class (actually, moreso for a slightly different class that isn’t offered this year, but I can always figure out a way to squeeze it in). But I’ll probably test it out here first. In short, it’s about metaphors for service institutions, and conceptual blending.
And, in case you hadn’t noticed, the title for this post contains the strange minimizing use of all of, as in, He’s been here for all of three days and already he thinks he owns the place.