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No, all we need is for patients to be issued a thesaurus upon admission. (For the slightly less informed: I am not advocating dinosaurs in hospitals).
Oh, I see the problem. The patients should be consuming the words, so they don't multiply and get out of hand!! And if you are threatened by a dinosaur, just diagram him as you would a sentence, and you'll see he's made up from numerous smaller words, all harmless.
My favourite reference works are themselves overflowing with words:
Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary, ?1968? edition (includes numerous synonymies)
Roget's Thesaurus in Dictionary Form, battered old purple-and-white paperback edition (differs slightly from other editions, so I've found)
Webster's Synonymy, which I liked so much that I special-ordered a copy.
I've collected boxfuls of such books, but these three stand out.
I see your grammatical debating style is the same as when it comes to politics; there are only two shades, black and white. Huck, there is a huge gap between illiteracy and grammatical perfection. You feel me?
yep mosty black and white, some grey, there are many that walk in a fog 24/7 very little black and white, not good --tendency is to stumble a bunch.
but as to spelling, its just not kat, its not a relative thing friend.
One need only read this forum to see how pervasive poor grammar and spelling are, let alone the inability to form and write a complete thought. It's appalling and very discouraging.
No kidding!
I like word puzzles as much as the next guy,
but at least give me a chance and lob in a comma once in awhile.
Spell/grammar check is not there to help the poster [imposter?]--it is there to help readers understand the communication. Well, at least it ought to be.
An interesting article about english grammar and those who go screaming into the night to protect it.
"To protests that the language police are only protecting the accuracy, precision and clarity of our tongue, Lynch lifts a skeptical eyebrow. Many of the most roundly deplored "debasements" of English are nevertheless perfectly comprehensible: I didn't confuse you by writing "Ain't it the truth?" in my opening paragraph, did I? The only truly unbreakable rules of grammar and usage are the ones that, when broken, result in a genuine failure to communicate. The rest is a form of covert class warfare, and today's usage reproofs constitute a status-protecting thump on the head delivered by the upper middle class to uppity members of the lower middle."
I've only read to the third page of this thread and I know it's an old one. I'm wondering though, why Lynch uses that sentence to prove his point. There's nothing wrong with it. Subject, verb, predicate, punctuation. The word "Ain't" is a colloquialism, is aptly used in place of "is not," and perfectly useable.
I think the fact that he didn't know his example "ain't" an example proves how ridiculous his claim is.
If you can't even identify the rule, how can you know that you're breaking it?
I've feel vindicated!
It's truly comforting to sit here and be warmed by the glow of like minded writers/thinkers. As a member of several automotive based forums, I have found it so much easier to simply cringe privately and suffer in silence, the lack of punctuation, poor spelling and sloppy grammar of my fellow enthusiasts. I was beginning to think that good writing simply didn't exist among "everyday people". Call me elitist, but I received my youthful education up to high school in British-type schools, where proper grammar, spellling and the like are (were?) a given. Moving to America and seeing such rampant poor usage, I pretty much took it for granted that this is the norm and no one really minded.
I'm not about to don the garb of the grammar police and go on a crusade. But every time I begin to despair, I'll simply refer to this thread. Thank you all (I read every page).
My absolute favorite post of this thread? #62, page 7 by Reziac. Touche my friend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reziac
...Consider how fictional characters speak: one is exacting and over-prissy; another is meticulously correct but not adverse to the occasional cuss word; a third is casual all around; a fourth is backwoodsy; a fifth is downright uneducated. This is conveyed to the reader not by describing how they speak, but rather by the reader "listening" to how they speak. And more than anything else, it builds the character in the reader's mind ....
I think the purpose of some rules and spellings is to seperate those educated in a certain manner from the undeducated and they ARE a tool of social recognition and seperation. Many rules have little to do with being understood and seem to exist just to provide a thing for some people to be better at; a kind of code to distinguish the in from the out.
That most people have to be schooled to understand these subtleties would seem to reinforce my notion.
Don't be terrified. Just do your best. It's nice to know that you've enjoyed the responses because it did get a tad heated. I care about the English language and I appreciate anyone else who does as well.
And, someone stop me - I can't help myself...... aaaaiiiiiieeee!!!...........you spelled "comma" wrong.
Thanks for the thread OVCATTO. It's been interesting and informative.
"Coma" made me laugh until I cried! Sometimes the simplest mistake is the funniest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sayulita
Arts, music, painting etc. have never had written standards that serve as guidelines. There is no set of rules that apply to these creative endeavors. And there shouldn't be. These are universal expressions of creativity, whereas language is not. The English language is our common currency and as such, requires preservation with standards and rules. Once understood, these rules can be bent, even broken. But the baseline must be preserved if the language is to survive.
[/quote]
Quote:
Originally Posted by ovcatto
Oh, that is so untrue! There have most definitely been rules of composition, rules regarding the use of certain harmonic structures. What do you think arts and music schools have been teaching for all these years? Have you never heard of the Rule of Thirds.
I couldn't disagree more. Lyrics, poetry/rap, are just two creative expressions of language, they do not adhere to any grammatical rules with any great regularity yet are some of the most power expressions of/in any language.
Ah, the strict constructionist vs the living language argument. If we accept that Shakespeare was the greatest writer of the English language, then by that standard we should all be speaking and writing in Elizabethan English.
On this point, whether it is art (and I consider writing an art) or anything else for that matter, I couldn't agree more.
I was thinking the same thing as I read through this thread. Every form of art has its own set of rules. Once an artist KNOWS the rules it is fair game to then 'break them'.
As a poet I have often broken rules. (I do get called on it!)
With special permission, my college English 101 final exam was a poem instead of an essay. The teacher asked if he could keep a copy and use it in his course studies. I was thrilled that he thought so highly of it that he would want to use it to show future students that his final exam did not have to be an essay at all.
I can write essays as easily as poems; however, I enjoy the simplicity of poetry as well as the joy I get in breaking rules.
Quote:
Originally Posted by <NE_weary>
I've feel vindicated!
It's truly comforting to sit here and be warmed by the glow of like minded writers/thinkers. As a member of several automotive based forums, I have found it so much easier to simply cringe privately and suffer in silence, the lack of punctuation, poor spelling and sloppy grammar of my fellow enthusiasts. I was beginning to think that good writing simply didn't exist among "everyday people". Call me elitist, but I received my youthful education up to high school in British-type schools, where proper grammar, spellling and the like are (were?) a given. Moving to America and seeing such rampant poor usage, I pretty much took it for granted that this is the norm and no one really minded.
I'm not about to don the garb of the grammar police and go on a crusade. But every time I begin to despair, I'll simply refer to this thread. Thank you all (I read every page).
My absolute favorite post of this thread? #62, page 7 by Reziac. Touche my friend.
I just found this thread myself. I've read similar. I also feel better after reading each post. I am not alone!
I learned proper writing skills in jr high school. In Massachusetts. That was many moons ago. I retained most of what I learned.
I agree with you on that post by Reziac. As a reader I do learn who the character is by the way that they speak. That is the power of the written word. Words convey feelings, emotions and intelligence.
I hate to act like the grammar police, also. However, I did so once in private and almost got reported for it. I did notice that the poster changed her writing style after I DMed her.
This may be an old thread, but having the proper writing skills is never outdated.
I had not intended to post in this thread again, but I stumbled across a terrifying example of the "I know what I mean, so who cares how I write it" syndrome. This is it, completely unedited on my part:
hey joe
i stop when x amount of pressure.one suck case is all i need. mosts lubes work ,cheap also its all in getting the right amount where on what kind of case,sounds like no lubing inside with lube brush helps when sicking on way out if die
To anyone who doesn't know ahead of time what he's writing about, this is utter gibberish. Even then, it isn't far off ...
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