rambling (examples)
Explanation:
In support of CRAndersen's suggestion, here are a few genuine examples of "rambling ...". Andersen and I are both native speakers of English.
I also think "rookery" might be an apt and amusing option (depending on the context).
On the bluff above us was Government House, a rambling architectural
hodgepodge, which was the official residence of the colonial governor from 1851
until Chris Patten, the last of the line, moved out. (Atlantic Monthly)
His house, a rambling late-nineteenth-century farmhouse .... (Metropolis)
His headquarters is in a ramblig old house that does not look as though it was
built to withstand the impact of a thousand army boots, (New Internationalist)
An old rambling house in down-town Albuquerque is the best place Alicia has
ever lived. (New Renaissance)
The couple then set off for his country house, Cahergillagh Court, a large
rambling building, where they are welcomed by an old housekeeper who is used as
the storyteller's confidante. (Cambridge History of English Literature, vol.
13)
Accordingly after tea Mrs. Rachel set out; she had not far to go; the big,
rambling, orchard-embowered house where the Cuthberts lived was a scant quarter
of a mile up the road from Lynde's Hollow. (Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables)
My case was practically complete, and there was only one small incident needed
to round it off. When, after considerable drive, we arrived at the strange old
rambling house which my client had described, it was Ralph, the elderly butler,
who opened the door. (Arthur Conan Doyle, Blanched Soldier)
Additions have been made to the original edifice from time to time, and great
alterations have taken place; towers and battlements have been erected during
wars and tumults: wings built in time of peace; and out-houses, lodges,
and offices, run up according to the whim or convenience of
different generations, until it has become one of that most spacious,
rambling tenements imaginable. (Washington Irving, John Bull)
when they reached the disorderly order of the long white rambling housebehind
Saharunpore, the lama took his own measures. (Kipling, Kim)
I have to keep up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a
rambling old place and takes a good deal of looking after. (Arthur Conan Doyle,
Musgrave Ritual)
My earliest recollections of a school-life, are connected with a large,
rambling, Elizabethan house, in a misty-looking village of England, where were
a vast number of gigantic and gnarled trees, and where all the houses were
excessively ancient. (Edgar Allan Poe, William Wilson)
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Note added at 2003-07-05 10:53:51 (GMT)
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Native Competence
I would be wary of regarding native competence as an objective criterion, particularly as regards lexis. The majority of native speakers of English have a limited vocabulary and a poor command of the \"educated\" written language.
Native speakers may have a better feeling for the use of prepositions, word order, the distinction between \"some\" and \"any\", etc. without really knowing why. They may also generally be expected to have a broader knowledge of colloquial idiom and contemporary slang. However, a non-native speaker may well have a much better objective knowledge of the language and a vocabulary derived from wide reading in many fields. There are certainly examples of non-native speakers of English who are highly regarded for their contribution to English literature (e.g. Conrad), and some of the greatest English grammarians have been foreigners (e.g. Jespersen, Svartvik).
This being said, non-native speakers, however competent, rarely achieve a level of competence that enables them to completely avoid \"deviant\" usage, and professional translaters with foreign language background are well advised to have their work proofread by a native speaker.
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