[thcipriani]

> English has a contrast between kinds of clause in which one kind has the standard correspondence between grammatical subject and semantic roles (when a verb denotes an action, the subject standardly corresponds to the agent), and the other switches those roles around.

I've tried to read this sentence so many times. That parenthetical is a doozy.

[yongjik]

The sentence isn't that unnatural when you realize that it's full of standard linguistic terms, such as "clause", "subject", "semantic roles", "action", and "agent".

Pick a random sentence from discussion on tax laws or building an npm package, and they will sound just as ridiculous (or even pompous) to outsiders.

[arduanika]

In layman's terms, he's saying, "I am very smart and George Orwell is a blowhard." You can decide for yourself which author you'd rather read.

[helicalspiral]

the author is linguist using linguistic terms

[arduanika]

Yes, a linguist. All the more reason why he ought to know how to construct a sentence clearly.

[Asraelite]

That doesn't follow. Linguistics is not literature.

[Throaway1982]

should be phrased "when a verb denotes an action, the standard is for the subject to correspond to the agent"

[thcipriani]

I've also been pondering the two uses of the word "roles" in this sentence. This sentence is the world's best sentence.