Anyone else notice a trend? - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T12:47:17Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/537324:Topic:31634?feed=yes&xn_auth=noMy thought here is enough of…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-13:537324:Comment:358842007-05-13T14:13:25.209ZDave Whitehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DaveWhite
My thought here is enough of my students' writing needs to be a coherent thought before anything else. They have to learn how to get their meaning across first. And how to even come up with a meaning. They have to learn logical arguemnts and logical progression. Once they can do that, I think you can go back and get the sentences to sound right. Spelling and knowing what a past particple is isn't as important and having meaning to your sentences and writing. (At the same time, simple grammar is…
My thought here is enough of my students' writing needs to be a coherent thought before anything else. They have to learn how to get their meaning across first. And how to even come up with a meaning. They have to learn logical arguemnts and logical progression. Once they can do that, I think you can go back and get the sentences to sound right. Spelling and knowing what a past particple is isn't as important and having meaning to your sentences and writing. (At the same time, simple grammar is something they should have learned up until 8th grade. So this point should be moot.) Most of the grammar in their writing can be fixed by saying "Okay, now read this alound and see if it sounds right to you." They can then go back and fix it. But overall meaning is so much more important than correct technical grammar. I did ask one of my favorite…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-11:537324:Comment:345172007-05-11T03:02:16.827ZJoy Calderwoodhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Dragonlily
I did ask one of my favorite young authors about this, and he said he has heard it might have been wrongly attributed to Churchill. Sounds like we need to know the context "in which" it can be found.
I did ask one of my favorite young authors about this, and he said he has heard it might have been wrongly attributed to Churchill. Sounds like we need to know the context "in which" it can be found. "Nothing is unique," my first…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-10:537324:Comment:339142007-05-10T08:03:12.877ZJack Getzehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JGetze
"Nothing is unique," my first newspaper editor used to say. "Don't ever put that word in your copy again."
"Nothing is unique," my first newspaper editor used to say. "Don't ever put that word in your copy again." I thought I was done here unt…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-09:537324:Comment:335812007-05-09T19:21:17.345ZBill Mehlmanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Finagler
I thought I was done here until I just read, on another thread, "relatively unique." Ouch.
I thought I was done here until I just read, on another thread, "relatively unique." Ouch. My parents came up with "disi…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-08:537324:Comment:331382007-05-08T22:30:15.084ZChrista M. Millerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/christammiller
My parents came up with "disirregardless" in protest.
My parents came up with "disirregardless" in protest. A thing is not necessarily tr…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-07:537324:Comment:325552007-05-07T22:24:35.230ZDennis Leppanenhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/TheWarbler
<i>A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.</i> --Saint Augustine
<i>A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.</i> --Saint Augustine It's a bit unfair to blame th…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-07:537324:Comment:325152007-05-07T20:16:24.508ZIain Rowanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/irowan
It's a bit unfair to blame the 'singular their' on a modern reaction against sexist usage when previous offenders include Austen, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Swift and Dickens, amongst others, and it appears to have been in common usage in English since the fourteenth century.
It's a bit unfair to blame the 'singular their' on a modern reaction against sexist usage when previous offenders include Austen, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Swift and Dickens, amongst others, and it appears to have been in common usage in English since the fourteenth century. These, along with the misuse…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-07:537324:Comment:324122007-05-07T15:32:12.614ZMaxine Schmidthttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/MaxineS
These, along with the misuse of object pronouns and mispronunciation of "nuclear," are some of my pet peeves. I don't know if these errors are getting more common, or if I'm getting crabbier about them. But I agree that people should take more care with language, whether it's in the public eye or not. It's a matter of self-respect.
These, along with the misuse of object pronouns and mispronunciation of "nuclear," are some of my pet peeves. I don't know if these errors are getting more common, or if I'm getting crabbier about them. But I agree that people should take more care with language, whether it's in the public eye or not. It's a matter of self-respect. "My absolute bete noir, notwi…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-07:537324:Comment:324042007-05-07T15:09:46.929ZDon Andersonhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/r316jc
"My absolute bete noir, notwithstanding that I've thrown in the towel on this one, is 'their.' Without pondering the well-known, and well-justified, feminist arguments against 'he' and 'his' being universally accepted as meaning 'someone' and 'someone's' the reaction against sexist usage has given birth to 'everyone has their own [whatever]' which makes my teeth ache."<br />
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I'm with you on this one, Bill. How about "could of" instead of "could have" or, better yet, "could of went", instead of…
"My absolute bete noir, notwithstanding that I've thrown in the towel on this one, is 'their.' Without pondering the well-known, and well-justified, feminist arguments against 'he' and 'his' being universally accepted as meaning 'someone' and 'someone's' the reaction against sexist usage has given birth to 'everyone has their own [whatever]' which makes my teeth ache."<br />
<br />
I'm with you on this one, Bill. How about "could of" instead of "could have" or, better yet, "could of went", instead of "could have gone?" Or another of my favorites, "If I was you," rather than, "If I were you."<br />
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I'm not a writer, but as an attorney, my use of the written word is my stock-in-trade. I learned to diagram sentences in the third grade (1959), and I am appalled at the poor grammar of the latest generation, not to mention many of my peers. Judging by my two kids, one of whom graduated from college this weekend, and the other of whom will graduate in December, I fear the deterioration we're seeing is also an outgrowth of their disdain for pleasure reading. In my experience, those people who read more seem more attuned to grammar and punctuation, not to mention the artful use of the language. You've reminded me of a story…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-05-07:537324:Comment:323632007-05-07T13:04:43.803ZDavid Terrenoirehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Terrenoire
You've reminded me of a story my wife's family tells of one of their retainers (they never had money, but somehow they always had servants), an old black man named Bill.<br />
<br />
During Jim Crow, whites would keep blacks from voting by requiring a literacy test. Both races would be asked to read from a newspaper, only the black applicants' paper was in Chinese. According to the family story, Bill looked at the paper and the white poll worker asked if he knew what it said. Bill said he did.<br />
<br />
"And what…
You've reminded me of a story my wife's family tells of one of their retainers (they never had money, but somehow they always had servants), an old black man named Bill.<br />
<br />
During Jim Crow, whites would keep blacks from voting by requiring a literacy test. Both races would be asked to read from a newspaper, only the black applicants' paper was in Chinese. According to the family story, Bill looked at the paper and the white poll worker asked if he knew what it said. Bill said he did.<br />
<br />
"And what is that?"<br />
<br />
"It says that no colored man is going to vote in Newton County, that's what it says."