Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
while needlessly split hairs are de rigueur.
TN: Sangiovese at Mas (La Grillade) (March 28, 2012)
- Thread starter Jeff Grossman
- Start date
D. Zylberberg
David Zylberberg
Guh. I don't even want to contemplate what sort of grammar disasters sneaked their way into the pleading we filed today. I need wine, and fast.
Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis
Either is correct, at least in the US. In the UK, however, sneaked is much more commonly used. Some Brits would even say snuck is incorrect.
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
I do not believe that this dinner happened. I do not believe that anyone dined on a "Fowl Plate" at Mas {[]} after 2005.
Or something like that.
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
John Roberts
John Roberts
Thanks, Yixin. Great stuff.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Mr. Molettieri. This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago. You can see, as evidenced by the expression of his eyes and the slight curl of his lip, that he has just uttered the phrase "Hell yeah I released a 1988!"
LOL.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
It's healthy to take in a variety of views. This essay is an unpersuasive, peevish rant, though, imho. Strunk and White give decent thumbnail guidelines for the non-professional writer, emphasizing style, rather than grammar.
I think that's the most common 'defense' of Strunk & White (that Pullum conflates style and grammar), but wrong is wrong. The which/that prescription is perhaps the silliest one I encounter commonly; it makes no sense for anyone who is trans-Atlantic in their reading.
Strunk & White is, for me, the Cloudy Bay of style guides.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Pullum seems like a candidate for WD. He has neglected to notice that the book was not written for the likes of him.
Jay Miller
Jay Miller
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
It's fun to throw rocks at Strunk and White. But I'd espouse most of the advice this article rails against:
Active voice is almost always preferable to passive and while articles in The Chronicle can list exceptions endlessly, all you need to do is read a bunch of student papers to see why.
There is a difference between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. The 20th century regularization of the rule forces awareness of the difference and tends to create fewer ambiguous sentences. As a Victorianist, I cede to no one in my admiration for the period's prose. But going to Dickens, Pater, Carlyle, or indeed Wilde and Stoker for grammatical models is insanity.
And while split infinitives are always grammatical, there are also always more felicitous constructions.
There is no argument in that article that could not be used to espouse "grape varietals" or constructions such as "the amount of grains of sand on a beach." Depending on the "amount" of ignoramuses in the world, both atrocities may soon become correct usages.
Active voice is almost always preferable to passive and while articles in The Chronicle can list exceptions endlessly, all you need to do is read a bunch of student papers to see why.
There is a difference between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. The 20th century regularization of the rule forces awareness of the difference and tends to create fewer ambiguous sentences. As a Victorianist, I cede to no one in my admiration for the period's prose. But going to Dickens, Pater, Carlyle, or indeed Wilde and Stoker for grammatical models is insanity.
And while split infinitives are always grammatical, there are also always more felicitous constructions.
There is no argument in that article that could not be used to espouse "grape varietals" or constructions such as "the amount of grains of sand on a beach." Depending on the "amount" of ignoramuses in the world, both atrocities may soon become correct usages.
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
Your response proves that I needed every word I used. And maybe a few more.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Jay, what wine pairing do you recommend with Centenarian Grammarian FanFic?