I came across this construction in Lionel Shriver’s ‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’. It made me do a double-take at the time, and I began to think it was just a slip of the pen.
I'm sorry I can't quote the text verbatim, because I no longer have the book, but the gist is as follows:
“Our neighbourhood had many faults, but one of them wasn’t nosiness.” (1)
My first reaction was: this is upside down. The writer clearly meant to say:
“Our neighbourhood had many faults, but nosiness wasn’t one of them.” (2)
Then I found it again in David Ebershoff’s ‘The 19th Wife’ (Again, I'm sorry I can't quote it exactly) and began to wonder if it is a common usage after all.
Is it a BE/AE thing?
I'm sorry I can't quote the text verbatim, because I no longer have the book, but the gist is as follows:
“Our neighbourhood had many faults, but one of them wasn’t nosiness.” (1)
My first reaction was: this is upside down. The writer clearly meant to say:
“Our neighbourhood had many faults, but nosiness wasn’t one of them.” (2)
Then I found it again in David Ebershoff’s ‘The 19th Wife’ (Again, I'm sorry I can't quote it exactly) and began to wonder if it is a common usage after all.
Is it a BE/AE thing?