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Question!! |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
Is it: unconstructive behavior or nonconstructive behavior ??? |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
i would say "non" for two reasons - first, "un" sounds wrong. LOL second, because the word is suggesting that the behaviour is not being constructive (non) whereas "un"constructive would imply destructive (un-doing the constructiveness) behaviour. good question sharon!  |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
oh, and i would probably put a hyphen in non-constructive as well.  |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Nonconstructive, and not hyphenated. Websters, New World, 3rd Edition, page 922 |
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NapalmsConstantlyConfused
since 2001-05-15
Posts 529 |
exactly, and Christopher is right here - if it's "un" - the concept of negating pre-existing construction - that you're trying to convey, deconstructive or just plain destructive would be more accurate. (deconstructive implying a separation of something into the original components from which it was built, and destructive implying complete obliteration) -Dave |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
rrreow! i like the hyphen, so THERE! |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
er...meow? Actually, I like the hyphen because it looks better. Heh. BUT...most other 'non' words don't have hyphens, so why would you think that it should have one?  K |
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