[en] Not found: an oppose position

[MikeUnwalla]

Not found:

Anticipate an oppose position.

Generally, write, "an opposite position". But, I am not sure about this. I found my examples on the web of 'oppose position', and in context, the term seems OK.

I am adding the issue so we don't lose anything. The example was in A_INFINITIVE as a 'todo'.

[Tex2002ans]

an "opposing position" is what I would say.

"an oppose"->"an opposing"

Anticipate an opposing position.

But I'll skim through some google searches and see what I can spot.

[Tex2002ans]

"oppose position/vote"

These all looked to be discussing a "support" or "oppose" (talking about bills/politics).

SBCTA took an oppose position on the two state bills. Biola University has taken an “oppose unless amended” position because the bill narrows our religious freedom to operate according to our 108-year mission and religious tenets. Take an Oppose position to SB 618 (Bradford).

Maybe /stance too?

ABAG Executive Board took an "oppose" stance on Proposition 6, a measure on November ballots across California that would repeal a state gas tax increase.

(In the voting context, it seems like "oppose" or "support" is often in quotes.)

Opposing might still be the best recommendation. (Except if "oppose" is in quotes?)

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Here's correct usages:

League Takes an Oppose Unless Amended Position on DOF Redevelopment Dissolution Budget Proposal Also, what may appear to be an oppose at first is actually a support or vice versa.

Unsure how to find many other good examples though, since "an" is a Stop Word (making it incredibly hard to search for. Bing is useless on this one!).

An "opposed engine" is a common type:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposed-piston_engine

so I'm not sure if this is a typo:

Study on optimizing method of scavenging system of an oppose-piston two-stroke diesel engine.

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Note: I also skimmed through Google Books, and it looks like almost every "an oppose" is an actual scanning/OCR error.

Mostly two-column material where the end of one column jumps to the 1st word in the next column.

Although I only clicked through about 40 books.

The handful of valid sentences I found also discussed "an oppose position". (In the voting sense.)

Google N-gram "an oppose" vs. "an opposing" vs. "an opposite" also shows "an oppose" is effectively 0.

[MikeUnwalla]

I think in cases where possibly an error exists, the best option is to say just that. It's a contextual/semantic thing, not grammar.

[Tex2002ans]

Then "an opposing" seems like it works in most of those sentences. :)

This one is correct though, and would be wrong with "opposing":

Also, what may appear to be an oppose at first is actually a support or vice versa.

[hftf]

I don't perceive an oppose to be an error: I construe "oppose" in an oppose position as an attributive noun that refers to (i.e. mentions) one of the two named positions (support, oppose/opposition) for a hypothetical proposal. I think the authors of most of these sentences did not intend to use an adjective (e.g. opposing, which has the connotation of being physically across or 180° diametric from), and would agree that there is no error. Perhaps my familiarity with consensuses and vote discussions on wikis, where the use of oppose as a noun seems to be common, has biased my interpretation. Some example usages from a quick Google:

• "in the oppose camp"
• "in the oppose column"
• "in the oppose section"
• "explain my oppose (vote)"
• "my oppose still stands"
• "my oppose has become stronger"
• "consider my oppose null"
• "two supports and one oppose"
• "and an “oppose” position"*

That said, it seems to be a low-frequency usage, and if one wanted to write these sentences in a very clear and unambiguous way, putting oppose in quotes may help: e.g. in the "oppose" camp. But that seems like a job for a most meticulous editor.

We should expect bare verbs like "support", "disagree", and now especially "remain" and "leave" in the context of Brexit ("the Remain campaign/vote/side/movement/option"), to have a similar distribution to sentences where the quotation/capitalization test can also apply: "the stow position" "the unlock code" "the get method" "the add/delete/save/continue/install/undo/eject button".

[Tex2002ans]

Hmmm, and what about the potential typo situation?

@MikeUnwalla's "opposite" suggestion is also growing on me...

I did a Regex search:

• \ban oppos

in a 1.6 million word journal, and got a few hits:

As a result, villagers will have to sell their surplus to Village B (which has an opposite harvest season to Village A) during the harvest season and buy Village B’s surplus during the planting season. Nor do they attempt to probe the more difficult issue of Kirzner’s rationale for drawing so heavily on the analytical techniques of an opposing school of thought. The “O” means an opposite directional move.

Imagine if those said "an oppose".

Or if we expand to "the oppos", then there are lot more hits.

(Out of 75, all were "opposite" + "opposing" + "opposition"... although that could just be a flaw in that journal. :P)