Posted on 01/12/2013 3:39:35 PM PST by re_nortex
I typically spend 94.37% of my computing time in the Solaris or Linux environments but today was one of those occasions when I ventured outside my comfort zone, launching into Windows 8 for a brief while. A series of updates were available and upon the recommended reboot, I was greeted with this message:
Windows Update: Do not turn off your computer.
Of course, the Unix platforms have never been noted for the precision of their error and informational messages (the notorious "not a typewriter" as a catchall for an invalid ioctl). Yet the syntax of the Microsoft message struck me as a bit odd, almost a bit like Pittsburghese. I would think a more apt phrasing would be Do not turn your computer off as a cautionary message while the updates were being applied.
“Because turn and off have to be together. Turn your computer off is incorrect. Turn off your computer is correct. Learn English.”
No, they don’t. Either is acceptable. English has hugely flexible word order, and turn off is not, as someone seemed to think, an infinitive. It is a phrasal verb that with a non-pronoun object can be split or not split. With a pronoun object, it must be split i.e. turn it off, not turn off it.
Also, if you are one of those grammar experts, it is most correct (at least in America) to place a reference within the comma or period (Jn. 3:16) or after it? I usually do the latter.
I do as.
No wait, I mean Do as I...no, no...
As I do.
That’s better!
Until Microsoft starts calling their glitches “undocumented features” I could care less about the grammar they use.
Enough already! :)
Can I still do it tho?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.