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FirmhandKY -> RE: Court Rules: Atheism is a Religion (10/17/2011 6:28:03 AM)
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SMM,
Yes, I can establish a trend from more than one data point.
I can also consider the possibility that "just because" numerous self-referential sources give the same data, this does not make it correct.
The English language, in particular is slippery, and the historical usage I leave open for some doubt, but in today's common usage (not that the word is used that commonly), a verb is "an action word" and a noun is "name word".
We commonly take verbs and use them as nouns. These are called gerunds. You can look up the meaning of such a word, and the dictionary will often say "verb", not noun.
The opposite appears to be called a denominative verb i.e. a noun used as a verb. In this case, transformed by the suffix "-ment".
The confusion is increased, I believe, by the fact that there is some confusion between the words "Establishment" (noun) and "establish" (verb). As I mentioned, I believe the word "an" before the word "establishment" in the clause is a matter of confusion because it is usually used in front of a noun, and consider that this may have been confusion on the part of the drafters, mixing the two thoughts of an "Establishment Religion" i.e. one approved by a government, and "the establishing of a religion".
I'm sure there is some legal Constitutional debate on that very issue, but I've not spent the time and effort to find it.
I willing to consider that I am incorrect, but simply declaring something doesn't make it so, especially in the English language. This works both ways, however, in regards to the claims that an "action word" is somehow a noun, "just because" the dictionary says it is so.
In English, usage trumps dictionaries and has since Samuel Johnson.
Firm
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