text_combined: whatever happened dear subscribers recently came across example better used without following construction better stop american publication assumed use expressions completely disappeared written well spoken us english would surprised find disappeared spoken usage since obvious phonological reasons loss writing indicated use better alone quite standardised poses question wondering anyone suggestion standardised longer nt former bare infinitive stop become finite take 3ps inflection better stops assumed subjunctivelike quality associated expression better stop another adjective substituted better e g good stop good stop reanalysed implications susan dopke informs grammarians interpreted better contexts auxiliary case use subaux inversion make question better stop acceptable please send suggestions bothers debbie ziegeler