Comments on: Awareness of variation

By: Complex reversal: confuse « Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Complex reversal: confuse « Arnold Zwicky's Blog — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:23:25 +0000

[...] in various constructions: different from/to/than, at risk for/of (here), new lease of/on life (here), plus a great many Ps selected by Vs, for example in V to/toward(s), for cater, pander, and [...]

By: arnold zwicky

arnold zwicky — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:43:38 +0000

Yes, with literal lease, both on and of occur in the U.S. (and the U.K.). There are subtleties in the choice, most of which I don't understand; but it looks like when lease refers to a document, on is very strongly preferred, and there probably are other fine-grained generalizations about usage in this area.

By: The Ridger

The Ridger — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:21:29 +0000

Well, on the first page of an alleged half million Google hits is PLC – Residential long lease of a whole house (tenant insures and …
us.practicallaw.com/9-501-6765
For a lease of a house where the landlord insures and reinstates, see Standard document, Residential long lease of a whole house (landlord insures and …

By: Julian Lander

Julian Lander — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 11:27:19 +0000

My copy of the “New Fowler” edited by Burchfield has an entry for lease of/on life noting that the first is British and the second US usage. But does anyone know whether applies when speaking of leasing property? I think that I (a US speaker) would say that I had a lease on a house. Would a British speaker have a lease “of” a house? Or is life a special case?