Is anyone else completely bound to prescriptive grammar?

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BlueMax
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29 Nov 2007, 1:28 pm

Macallan wrote:
Is it very difficult to keep a dictionary and thesaurus next to the pc and use it? For most people, apparently so :(


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No excuses! *slap*



2ukenkerl
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29 Nov 2007, 1:30 pm

innermusic wrote:
Niche?


OK, I'm shocked, IF you are american. I could have spelled it as nitsh, and had others fail. STILL, SKY could be spelled SKI or even SCHIY, SKI could be spelled SKEE or SCHEE. I could be spelled EYE, EY, EE, E, or who knows what. Garage could be spelled herahe or jeraj. After all, we have to take foreign spelling into account.



BlueMax
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29 Nov 2007, 1:33 pm

Makes me wonder how some kids ever managed to make it out of grade-school Language Arts, being completely unable to spell, or string together a simple sentence! (Let alone high school, where you should be doing some fairly advanced writing, appreciating Shakespeare and the like.) ;)



2ukenkerl
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29 Nov 2007, 1:40 pm

ChelseaOcean wrote:
And, since you asked for it by starting this thread, you're incorrect to say that not dangling prepositions is "certainly neither last nor least." In fact, as it was the final thing in your list, it is indeed last, but not least.


I'm almost embarrassed to say that I knew it was wrong, etc... but not what the writer meant. I guess I'm just TOO bored. :cry: At first blush they might APPEAR to be similar, but "last, but not least" has a distinct meaning it means that, although it is the last thing SAID, it should NOT be given the least WEIGHT(importance/significance). To say "neither last nor least" says it wasn't last (though it WAS), and it isn't least (The meaning of which is vague).



Last edited by 2ukenkerl on 29 Nov 2007, 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Macallan
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29 Nov 2007, 1:49 pm

BlueMax wrote:
Macallan wrote:
Is it very difficult to keep a dictionary and thesaurus next to the pc and use it? For most people, apparently so :(


Dictionary.COM

No excuses! *slap*


Ooh, you'd better not be slapping me, young man! My dictionary is very well-thumbed, thank you :P

Of course, if you're slapping grammatical numpties then please, do carry on :lol:



BlueMax
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29 Nov 2007, 2:00 pm

Macallan wrote:
BlueMax wrote:
Macallan wrote:
Is it very difficult to keep a dictionary and thesaurus next to the pc and use it? For most people, apparently so :(


Dictionary.COM

No excuses! *slap*


Ooh, you'd better not be slapping me, young man! My dictionary is very well-thumbed, thank you :P

Of course, if you're slapping grammatical numpties then please, do carry on :lol:


I'll break out the Salmon of Correction!

**wet slapping sound of a salmon across the face of the next person to write "alot"**



Macallan
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29 Nov 2007, 2:26 pm

BlueMax wrote:
Macallan wrote:
BlueMax wrote:
Macallan wrote:
Is it very difficult to keep a dictionary and thesaurus next to the pc and use it? For most people, apparently so :(


Dictionary.COM

No excuses! *slap*


Ooh, you'd better not be slapping me, young man! My dictionary is very well-thumbed, thank you :P

Of course, if you're slapping grammatical numpties then please, do carry on :lol:


I'll break out the Salmon of Correction!

**wet slapping sound of a salmon across the face of the next person to write "alot"**


Huzzah for the large and slimy Salmon of Correction!

*stands behind Blue Max wearing a supercilious smile*



MrMark
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29 Nov 2007, 2:45 pm

Macallan wrote:
the large and slimy Salmon of Correction!

That needs to be a button that appears in posts, like "Report to Moderator." :D


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Macallan
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29 Nov 2007, 2:53 pm

MrMark wrote:
Macallan wrote:
the large and slimy Salmon of Correction!

That needs to be a button that appears in posts, like "Report to Moderator." :D

Well, technically it's Blue Max's fish but I'm sure he'll let you wield it occasionally if you ask him nicely :D



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29 Nov 2007, 3:59 pm

dongiovanni wrote:
And certainly neither last nor least, do not dangle prepositions. It's just not right.

That's the one I'm guilty of. <-- Sorry, haha. I do have trouble with it, because I'm just too lazy to format my sentences any other way!

But usually I try to be as gramatically correct as possible. (I hope I'm allowed to start a sentence with "but.") Also, I'm glad you mentioned the confusion people seem to have over "less" v "fewer," because I am always correcting people on it!



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29 Nov 2007, 4:44 pm

dongiovanni wrote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some thing up with which I will not put. (Guess what the first one is.)


Perhaps I'm slow, but shouldn't the first post have used thing(s) plural? Is there sarcasm which I am not getting? A point I am not getting?


---
Throw the cow over the fence... some hay.
Throw your mother down the stairs... some clothespins.
Run your father over... to the drugstore.
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.



MrMark
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29 Nov 2007, 5:04 pm

Wolfgang wrote:
dongiovanni wrote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some thing up with which I will not put. (Guess what the first one is.)


Perhaps I'm slow, but shouldn't the first post have used thing(s) plural? Is there sarcasm which I am not getting? A point I am not getting?


---
Throw the cow over the fence... some hay.
Throw your mother down the stairs... some clothespins.
Run your father over... to the drugstore.
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.

No! You are quite right! There should have been some things up with which were not put!


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Macallan
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29 Nov 2007, 5:11 pm

MrMark wrote:
Wolfgang wrote:
dongiovanni wrote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some thing up with which I will not put. (Guess what the first one is.)


Perhaps I'm slow, but shouldn't the first post have used thing(s) plural? Is there sarcasm which I am not getting? A point I am not getting?


---
Throw the cow over the fence... some hay.
Throw your mother down the stairs... some clothespins.
Run your father over... to the drugstore.
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.

No! You are quite right! There should have been some things up with which were not put!

Perhaps I may be permitted to draw your attention to my earlier post which resolved the missing plural and also the clunky use of prepositions....

Macallan wrote:
Sorry, but I just have to do this......

Instead of
Quote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some thing up with which I will not put.


How about
Quote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some things I simply cannot tolerate.


Ahhh, that's better :)



DivaD
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29 Nov 2007, 6:42 pm

whom cares?



hartzofspace
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29 Nov 2007, 7:56 pm

I dislike when someone writes, No one as noone. Why not say nobody? :roll:


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dongiovanni
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29 Nov 2007, 8:06 pm

Macallan wrote:
Sorry, but I just have to do this......

Instead of
Quote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some thing up with which I will not put.


How about
Quote:
I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some things I simply cannot tolerate.


Ahhh, that's better :)


It's a Winston Churchill quote. "Ending a sentence in a preposition is something up with which I will not put." He was trying to demonstrate how syntactically awkward sentences become when prepositions are forced to precede their objects.


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I won't translate it because it doesn't mean anything.