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Grammar Police Requested

Posted on 08/29/2007 5:50:29 PM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel

I was in a *boring* meeting, absentmindedly doodling on a scratch pad. I was pretty amazed after the meeting when I noticed that I doodled the following:


"I so enjoy discussions like these", she said wielding a bloody axe in her hand.

After the meeting, I glanced at my notes and have a serious question: is these appropriate in this context? I mean, should the correct grammar be: "I so enjoy discussions like this", she said wielding a bloody axe in her hand. I mean, isn't discussions a collective and therefore implies a singular?

Please set me straight. I am longing for instruction.


TOPICS: Education; Humor; Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: aadd; bang; grammarpolice; yes
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To: MrsEmmaPeel

Dunno, but you are in good company.

21 posted on 08/29/2007 6:05:07 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Brian J. Marotta, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub, (1948-2007) Rest In Peace, our FRiend)
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To: Tax-chick

Thank you, madam.

Regrettably, that is NOT Cornelius Fudge, but rather John Steed, the more dashing half of the Avengers.


22 posted on 08/29/2007 6:05:29 PM PDT by Old Sarge (This tagline in memory of FReeper 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub)
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To: irishtenor
Punctuation before quotations

Always?

23 posted on 08/29/2007 6:06:14 PM PDT by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
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To: processing please hold
It was the meeting. I was feeling that my IQ dropping by the minute, so I went into "standby" mode. Standby mode is to act like you're interested, scribble something every now and then on a pad of paper and pretend this was all an extremely intelligent use of your time.

I have to admit my scribblings surprised even me.

24 posted on 08/29/2007 6:07:29 PM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: irishtenor

I learned that, too, but I guess I’m getting flaky in my middle age. I almost colored my hair “Kamikaze Raspberry” on Monday night, when I was doing my daughters. (The daughter who’s learning to drive from Pope Pius XII ...)


25 posted on 08/29/2007 6:07:38 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Gravity! It's not just a good idea, it's the law!)
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To: processing please hold

There are a few exceptions, always are.
I almost flunked grammer in school, couldn’t diagram a sentence. I knew a good sentence when I saw one, but just couldn’t diagram it :>)


26 posted on 08/29/2007 6:08:32 PM PDT by irishtenor (There is no "I" in team, but there are two in IDIOT.)
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To: Old Sarge

Who’s the actor? It sure looks like Cornelius Fudge, and his earlier role, Siegfried Farnon.


27 posted on 08/29/2007 6:08:37 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Gravity! It's not just a good idea, it's the law!)
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To: Tax-chick

The Pope does lessons?


28 posted on 08/29/2007 6:09:09 PM PDT by irishtenor (There is no "I" in team, but there are two in IDIOT.)
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To: MrsEmmaPeel

I think it depends on whether you are currently hearing multiple discussions. If there is more than one discussion taking place during your meeting, then the current discussions to which you refer is what is implied. However if the current meeting only includes one discussion, then the implied object is singular.

My two cents.


29 posted on 08/29/2007 6:09:21 PM PDT by Equality 7-2521 ("Ron Paul, the only rational Republican" --BadEye)
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To: MrsEmmaPeel
I was just teasing you. :)

I have to admit my scribblings surprised even me.

It is interesting what ones subconscious can conjure up when the walls of our consciousnesses are let down.

30 posted on 08/29/2007 6:12:04 PM PDT by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
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To: irishtenor

Only at night. He’s not licensed to drive in North Carolina.


31 posted on 08/29/2007 6:12:32 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Gravity! It's not just a good idea, it's the law!)
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To: G8 Diplomat
Discussions like this seemed correct to me, too. The thing I absolutely don't understand, is why on earth did I doodle in bad grammar?
32 posted on 08/29/2007 6:12:37 PM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: MrsEmmaPeel

Word of caution to the grammar police: she has a bloody axe in her hand.


33 posted on 08/29/2007 6:12:45 PM PDT by Rocky (Air America: Robbing the poor, and still unable to stay in business)
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To: MrsEmmaPeel

I’m not as concerned with the grammar as I am with the meetings you’re going to and what you consider “boring.” Do you have your company picnics at Camp Crystal Lake?


34 posted on 08/29/2007 6:13:24 PM PDT by Paul Heinzman (Fishin' for a good time starts with throwin' in your line.)
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To: processing please hold

I simply don’t understand why I doodled in bad grammar.


35 posted on 08/29/2007 6:15:02 PM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: irishtenor
Thank you, that's what I thought.

I almost flunked grammer in school, couldn’t diagram a sentence.

Please, I beg you, never mention diagramming sentences to me again. My weak spot. I can do it, but only after nearly blowing my brain pan from the strain of it. lol

36 posted on 08/29/2007 6:15:28 PM PDT by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
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To: Tax-chick

That would be Patrick Macnee, who played opposite Bond girls Dianna Rigg and Honor Blackman, starred in “This Is Spinal Tap”, and a host of films.


37 posted on 08/29/2007 6:16:03 PM PDT by Old Sarge (This tagline in memory of FReeper 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub)
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To: Old Sarge

Not Fudge and Siegfried, then. Same nose, though.


38 posted on 08/29/2007 6:16:58 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Gravity! It's not just a good idea, it's the law!)
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To: MrsEmmaPeel

“I mean, isn’t discussions a collective and therefore implies a singular?”

According to The Elements of Grammar, by Margaret Shertzer, collective nouns as subjects “may be regarded as singular or plural: singular, if the word denotes a group acting as an individual; plural, if the word denotes the individuals that make up the group.”

I vote for these...


39 posted on 08/29/2007 6:17:59 PM PDT by gate2wire
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To: processing please hold

Another thing... the last time I had a grammer test was about 36 years ago.


40 posted on 08/29/2007 6:19:20 PM PDT by irishtenor (There is no "I" in team, but there are two in IDIOT.)
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