Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: BenLurkin

I hate to be the one to point this out, but when WORDS AND SENTENCES are your life’s work, some care should be taken.

To say “to NOT identify,” as written in the article is not right. That is splitting an infinitive. “ To identify,” is an infinitive, so properly it should read “NOT to identify.”

It happens very often, as we all can see the decline of supposed wordsmiths. For this to happen to those in other professions, it is understandable, but it is inexcusable for reporters.

I apologize for taking time for something trivial, but it is just an example that particularly annoys me.


11 posted on 05/05/2019 11:01:51 AM PDT by Maris Crane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: Maris Crane
Sometimes, it makes sense to artfully split infinitives. Sometimes, it's fun to blithely split infinitives.

English isn't Latin. Latin infinitives are one word — impossible to split. That observation, led some pointy-headed grammarians to erroneously deduce that English infinitives should not be split either. However, English is not Latin —it's not even a Romance language. It's possible to effortlessly split English infinitives, because they're composed of two words. Therefore, feel free to boldly split infinitives, where no man has done so before.

30 posted on 05/05/2019 2:41:10 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

To: Maris Crane

http://www.lerctr.org/~transit/healy/nerd.wav

8^)


34 posted on 05/05/2019 3:23:06 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

To: Maris Crane

Your comment is on point. It is not trivial. Proofreading and correct use of grammar are now lost arts, leaving significant amounts of evidence of Intellectual Laziness.


40 posted on 05/05/2019 6:04:55 PM PDT by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson