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Debunking Grammar Myths
MentalFloss.com ^ | August 20, 2010 | Patricia T. O'Conner

Posted on 08/20/2010 9:51:07 AM PDT by Daffynition

click here to read article


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Can you spot the split infinitive?


1 posted on 08/20/2010 9:51:08 AM PDT by Daffynition
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To: Daffynition
He remarked that in some languages two negatives make a positive, but in no language do two positives make a negative.

Yeah, Right < /s>

2 posted on 08/20/2010 9:53:48 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (a 16 year old Australian girl already did it. And she did it right. - WWJD)
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To: Daffynition

At last, a constructive outlet for my hostilities and frustrations: I can split infinitives! Thx for the idea.


3 posted on 08/20/2010 9:55:20 AM PDT by Silentgypsy (Employing freedom of speech/expression in order to condemn freedom of speech/expression—go figure..)
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To: Daffynition

As someone with a side business of editing/proofreading, I will say one thing in defense of these rules. Many of them many not be formally “wrong,” and English writers often use them, and have for quite a long time. Nevertheless, adhering to these rules will help keep you from sounding like an uneducated dunderhead.


4 posted on 08/20/2010 9:55:22 AM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (The success of Darwinism was accompanied by a decline in scientific integrity. - Dr. Wm R. Thompson)
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To: Daffynition

5 posted on 08/20/2010 9:55:43 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: Daffynition
How to use a semicolon
6 posted on 08/20/2010 9:56:04 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: Oztrich Boy

Rules I break because grammar is cheaper that speeding.


7 posted on 08/20/2010 9:57:36 AM PDT by ThomasThomas (Isn't enough always enough?)
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To: Daffynition

My Grammar was no myth, she was a mythuze.


8 posted on 08/20/2010 9:57:53 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

But there are some rules up with which we need not put.


9 posted on 08/20/2010 9:59:23 AM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: Daffynition

Like a violin, language in the hands of a master is both beautiful and enriching. Though he broke “the rules” from time to time, Winston Churchill is a joy to read.

Today’s TwitSpeak, by contrast, is like the scratching and scraping of a lazy and undisciplined violin student. It doesn’t matter if he IS trying to play a Bach sonata; I won’t waste my time trying to understand him.

YMMV


10 posted on 08/20/2010 10:02:48 AM PDT by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: Daffynition

As a proponent of standard English, I was concerned about the subject matter. Since one of the main authorities in support of the author’s positions is the great Fowler, I relaxed. Unfortunately, dear Mrs. Skubby from 3rd grade is certainly dead by now, so I can’t rebuke her for telling her class not to begin sentences with conjunctions.


11 posted on 08/20/2010 10:03:33 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: glorgau

I like that! I didn’t think you were supposed to use a comma before “and” at the end of lists though? For example, I thought it was milk, bread and cheese; not milk, bread, and cheese.

How’d you like me slipping in that semicolon? :)


12 posted on 08/20/2010 10:04:44 AM PDT by Roos_Girl (The world is full of educated derelicts. - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: glorgau
Isn't the semi-colon just half you don't use??
Personally I use my whole colon.
13 posted on 08/20/2010 10:05:38 AM PDT by Paul46360
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
Nevertheless, adhering to these rules will help keep you from sounding like an uneducated dunderhead.

And as Fowler noted, adhering to those rules to produce a clumsy and inexact sentence reveals you as an educated dunderhead.

14 posted on 08/20/2010 10:07:51 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (a 16 year old Australian girl already did it. And she did it right. - WWJD)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

Actually I think adhering to those rules will more often than not make you sound like an uneducated dunderhead. That’s part of the point of the article, in most of the sample sentences she give trying to follow the bad rules creates unnatural sounding sentences with little flow.


15 posted on 08/20/2010 10:08:28 AM PDT by discostu (Keyser Soze lives)
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To: LearsFool

And the use of the colon as a half-stop in a sentence is absolutely dramatic. And effective.

People really don’t have much tolerance for grammatical mistakes in print. Every now and again, OK. Were this not true, Microsoft wouldn’t have constructed the grammar/thesaurus/style check.

Besides, visual thesaurus is a fun site.


16 posted on 08/20/2010 10:08:54 AM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spirito Sancto.)
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To: Silentgypsy

17 posted on 08/20/2010 10:09:19 AM PDT by Daffynition ("Life Imitates Bacon, but Bacon does not imitate Life. Bacon IS life." ~paulycy)
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To: Daffynition

Nice parchment.


18 posted on 08/20/2010 10:10:42 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Daffynition
My thing is pronunciation.

Today, almost any word beginning with a vowel is morphing to ‘uh’ in common usage. This is very prevalent in all new-casts and other public sources.

immediately = uhmediately
emotional = uhmotional
et al...

Of course, the old standbys are
specifically = pacifically
experiment = exspearmint

I only point these cases out because they span dialect. It is not a southern vs. northern vs. California, thing. It is becoming an accepted part of the English language nationwide. You can even hear irregardless in some news-casts and it even passes most spell checkers. lol

19 posted on 08/20/2010 10:11:06 AM PDT by 240B (he is doing everything he said he wouldn't and not doing what he said he would)
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To: Paul46360

I am having trouble digesting that post; I’m sure it will all come out OK, though.


20 posted on 08/20/2010 10:12:40 AM PDT by GnuHere
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