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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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To: paulycy
LOL


101 posted on 08/21/2010 6:19:14 AM PDT by Daffynition ("Life Imitates Bacon, but Bacon does not imitate Life. Bacon IS life." ~paulycy)
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To: 1951Boomer
Great story!


102 posted on 08/21/2010 6:20:40 AM PDT by Daffynition ("Life Imitates Bacon, but Bacon does not imitate Life. Bacon IS life." ~paulycy)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Did that one spring a leak?


103 posted on 08/21/2010 6:23:40 AM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (****************************Stop Continental Drift**)
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To: glorgau

Good one!

Learn to diagram sentences:

http://www.wisc-online.com/Objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=WCN8207


104 posted on 08/21/2010 6:24:04 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: SoothingDave
Ending a sentence with a preposition, often indicates poor sentence structure.

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

Does not need to be written:

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

A better structure would be:

We need not put up with some rules.

105 posted on 08/21/2010 6:49:08 AM PDT by CharacterCounts (November 4, 2008 - the day America drank the Kool-Aid)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Chop w/cleaver and serve w/soy sauce.


106 posted on 08/21/2010 7:04:36 AM PDT by Silentgypsy (Employing freedom of speech/expression in order to condemn freedom of speech/expression—go figure..)
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To: ApplegateRanch

years ago when I looked, someone had digitized old reel-to-reel they or someone else had recorded from broadcasts; I’d never thought to check YouTube for those. LJN had at least two books, I can’t recall the title, and don’t feel like walking the sixteen feet into the not-so-great library of not-Alexandria to find out. :’) They are both entertaining as you would imagine, and not least because of the description of some call-ins by one of their regular listeners who was a purported psychic — and blew the ridiculous and reprehensible James Randi (a frequent panelist on the show) right out of the water.


107 posted on 08/21/2010 7:31:19 AM PDT by SunkenCiv ("The bad jazz a cat blows wails long after he's cut out." -- Lord Buckley)
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To: raybbr
A customer's representative told me over the phone his business address was xxxx Mass Ave and I read that back to him for verification and spelling.

I could not find that street and consulted various map programs with no success.

I called him and asked for directions from point A to his location. Relating back to a map, his directions concluded to a point on Massachusetts Avenue.

I got after him for abbreviating the name of a street due to being lazy and thinking that for some reason the whole world would know what the slang 'mass' means.

108 posted on 08/22/2010 2:45:53 PM PDT by Deaf Smith
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To: zzeeman

Democratic is the correct term when it’s used as an adjective, so the examples you cite are actually correct. The term Democrat is correctly used as a noun to describe a member of the party.

Republicans have been using the term Democrat as an adjective to purposely get their goat for more than 50 years. Apparently Democrats don’t like it.


109 posted on 08/22/2010 2:59:54 PM PDT by mongrel
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To: mongrel
I can understand what you say about the use of an adjective. But I don't understand why the word has to be used in the form of an adjective when the same isn't done for "Republican."

It is always the "Republican platform" or "Republican Governor." I never hear anyway forcing an adjectival usage such as "Republicanic platform" or "Republicanic Governor." Is there some reasonable (i.e., non-political) reasoning behind this? Seems very confusing to me to force an adjectival form on one party's name and not the other, especially when coupled with the left's constant yammering about things being "democratic."

110 posted on 08/23/2010 9:52:46 AM PDT by zzeeman (Existence exists.)
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To: zzeeman

It actually is a grammatical thing having to do with the endings of the words Republican and Democrat. The best way to hear it is to substitute another word with a similar ending. Bureaucracy, bureaucrat, and bureaucratic can all be used in similar ways as democracy, democrat, and democratic. Aristocracy is another one. A bureaucrat is always a person, but bureaucratic reflects the idea of a bureaucracy.

The -an ending on Republican, like the word Puritan, has much more varied usage as both a noun and a verb. So Puritan refers both to a person and to an idea.

Bottom line, Democrats prefer people use Democratic when an adjective is needed, and Republicans like to use the word Democrat instead to mess with them a little.


111 posted on 08/24/2010 11:16:53 AM PDT by mongrel
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