@snailplane browsing Youtube video now, just came across this video :-)

@Cardinal I keep reading that as "rotational crap"

Arctic Lion's Mane Jellyfish

Lord have mercy

I never imagined they could be so big

@CowperKettle They're usually long than big

@CowperKettle CGI! CGI!

Colossal Gelatinous Ichthys.

@user178049 I thought you were a girl.

@userr2684291 Haha, I'm boy

I mean.. man

Is it possible that any text that is written by a non-native speaker is included in COCA or BNC?

@user178049 Alrighty, haha.

@Man_From_India You can always inspect each entry...

Suddenly I think "The table is heavy to lift" is OK ell.stackexchange.com/q/128063/35026

@userr2684291 nods I can. But in one entry the name of the author is like this "a muslim name News Correspondance".

@Man_From_India I think the answer is yes, but maybe they vet them somehow. However, by and large, it incontrovertibly isn't, and you don't have to worry about it. If you find one or two examples of something you want to confirm, you should probably discount it because what one or two people say isn't a rule, and it's better to look for other sources (or modify the pattern in some way).

@userr2684291 thanks

@Man_From_India Have StoneyB responded to your question?

not yet, but still I deleted the comment. it doesn't look good there.

@Man_From_India Haha, may I have the link?

I haven't read that post

@user178049 sure

you can also help me there.

@Man_From_India Thanks

What others say I understood. But the problem is Macmillian dictionary's definition.

I mean if I go by that dictionary definition I feel that that sentence #2 is correct, not wrong.

@Man_From_India A very good question!

It's surprising to see that #2 is marked as incorrect.

In a language where we can say things freely like my life is my work or my book is my life and so on.

@Man_From_India+1 from me! :)

Good evening!

I'm not competent to answer that question, though.

@DamkerngT. Good evening!

I suppose I could say things like My attitude is my purse too. (My thought after reading ell.stackexchange.com/questions/46418/…)

So I suppose that, it's either a) grammatical but too unusual, or b) grammatical but it doesn't mean what #1 means.

Considering that Colorless green ideas sleep furiously is grammatical, I'm pretty sure that Their insistence was that the meetings should be held at lunch time should also be considered grammatical.

@DamkerngT. it made me do some research on it. What I got from the answers is that the incorrectness is due to the word - insistence. So I checked few dictionaries. Macmillan Dictionary entry made me confused. It says insistence means firm statement. If that is the case, I don't think that sentence is wrong.

@Man_From_India If we have time, we may search for <Someone's> insistence is|was in corpora.

Then I went back to COCA for some clue, and found that most use is based on the meaning act of insisting.

And see if there's any result similar to #2.

nods

@DamkerngT. i checked already. And only one hit.

Hmm... Most? That means, not all. :)

Oh!

@DamkerngT. :-) actually I didn't check all :P

What if you tried the in the place of <someone's>?

I searched like this ". * [N*] insistence is|was "

And only one result

Hmm... does [N*] include their, his, her, etc.?

The authour name is like this "a muslim name News ..."

@DamkerngT. no only nouns. [P*] includes all types of pronouns.

Ah, I see!

So from the name I think it's not written by a native speaker. That's why I had asked earlier if COCA includes texts written by non-natives.

I haven't checked BNC, though. Or any other corpora.

And so I am looking for a better answer there.

You've already established that. One result means nothing, so I don't know why you're still talking about it. Even if it had been uttered by a native speaker of English, you could argue it's ungrammatical/unidiomatic.

> The insistence was that worship was to be in families, with the head of the family presiding, and not in any self-selected groups with self-appointed leaders.

I tried "the insistence was" and this is the 4th result on the first page, so maybe it's not that hard to find.

> As opposed to that, the insistence was that all 32 operating systems be looked at, and if MHB made a determination for the County, that one system needed to

This is the 6th result.

> ... those cheap imports, just as previously the insistence was that people should not be allowed to buy cheaper goods because of the effect on ...

The 11th result (on Forbes.com)

> In those talks, where the insistence was that Gordon step down, and there was the prospect of a Labour-Lib Dem coalition but without Gordon, ...

The 21th result (on Telegraph.co.uk)

See, I don't think #2 is really wrong.

Hmmm it makes thing complicated. (I shouldn't have included the full stop at my search string)

I tried it on Google, BTW.

@DamkerngT. same thing.

nods

Hmmm even in COCA, I find more hits after modifying my search string.

@DamkerngT. Pullum says that it's a lexical thing. The word - insistence - just can't occur like the way fear occurred in the sentence - his fear was that the tiger might attack us..

He added that insistence can occur in only two constructions at someone's insistence and insistence that spmething happens....

Also insistence on.

Which is the way I'd actually use it.

Yes, but what I wrote above your msg is based on what Pullum said.

@Man_From_India I know it's a lexical thing, but I don't think I fully understand the meaning of it then, and why it can't be used in the way it was used in the notorious #2 example.

@Man_From_India And if they said it can occur in only those two constructions, they're wrong.

Because it can occur in the structure I told you about as well, unless that one can also be reduced to one of the two constructions they mentioned, which I doubt. But I think that's irrelevant, so whatever.

@Frestrin Hi.

@userr2684291 Hi.

@Man_From_India Apparently, the real usage people use doesn't quite agree with their book.