lest it disappears on <my> again

NewAmerica

NewAmerica

Banned
Mandarin
Should "lest it disappears on my again" be "lest it disappears on mine again"?

Is the former acceptable as an informal usage?

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For good measure, I also disabled the Google Stars bookmarking tool, but I don't think many other people were able to install it before it was pulled from the Chrome Web Store.

Also, seeing how disturbing it was to lose my bookmarks like this, I've backed up that bookmarks file lest it disappears on my again.

Source: IT World
 
    • PaulQ

    PaulQ

    Senior Member
    UK
    English - England
    On me is a prepositional modifier. It is the same "on me" as "My girlfriend cheated on me" and is close to "Don't try to put the blame on me!" It only indirectly refers to a place (the recipient of the action.)
     
    baldpate

    baldpate

    Senior Member
    London
    UK, English
    This way of using "on me" is common and quite idiomatic. It indicates that the action of the verb has a strong impact on the person (in this case "me") - often because it causes the person who suffers the action irritation, inconvenience etc.

    With this particular usage it is always possible to omit "on me"; however, doing so reduces the emotional content of the sentence without otherwise changing its meaning. Compare, for example:
    a) "I was on my way to the interview when the car broke down"
    b) "I was on my way to the interview when the car broke down on me"
    Both sentences describe the same event. But the first is a simple, objective statement of what happened. The second has rather more emotional colour (perhaps the 'interview' in question was for a job and the person lost the job in consequence).
     
    Cenzontle

    Cenzontle

    Senior Member
    English, U.S.
    The verb following "lest" should be in the subjunctive, meaning no final "-s": "lest it disappear".
     
    NewAmerica

    NewAmerica

    Banned
    Mandarin
    Thank you. :)

    baldpate said:
    This way of using "on me" is common and quite idiomatic. It indicates that the action of the verb has a strong impact on the person (in this case "me") - often because it causes the person who suffers the action irritation, inconvenience etc.

    With this particular usage it is always possible to omit "on me"; however, doing so reduces the emotional content of the sentence without otherwise changing its meaning. Compare, for example:
    a) "I was on my way to the interview when the car broke down"
    b) "I was on my way to the interview when the car broke down on me"
    Both sentences describe the same event. But the first is a simple, objective statement of what happened. The second has rather more emotional colour (perhaps the 'interview' in question was for a job and the person lost the job in consequence).
    Click to expand...

    Excellent.

    Cenzontle said:
    The verb following "lest" should be in the subjunctive, meaning no final "-s": "lest it disappear".
    Click to expand...

    Good catch.

    It appears that the author is not a native English speaker? Too many mistakes there.
     
    Cenzontle

    Cenzontle

    Senior Member
    English, U.S.
    The English subjunctive is in retreat: it seems to be used less and less as time goes by.
    The conjunction "lest" is similarly in the process of disappearing from the language.
    Use them together and sound slightly archaic,
    or instead say "I've backed up that file in case it disappears [or 'in case it should disappear'] again."
     
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