Sunday, August 05, 2012

 

French Lesson

Letter from Stephen MacKenna to Stephen McKenna (October 29, 1927), in Journal and Letters of Stephen MacKenna, ed. E.R. Dodds (London: Constable & Co Ltd, 1936), pp. 247-249 (at 248):
Jamesy Stephens and W.B. Yeats once hired a Frenchman to teach them French together: he began with a quarter of an hour on the rules for the agreement of past participles: Jamesy at last broke in "Excuse me, M. Dupont, what is meant by the agreement of the past participle?", and W.B. said "I was just going to ask you, Monnshure, what is a past participle?"
Hat tip: Ian Jackson.



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