Newengland's comments
(member since Feb 01, 2008)
Newengland's comments from the Language & Grammar group.
(showing 1-20 of 4,578)
Millions Against Monsanto (Join!)
Sweetness goes a long way, especially in a mean world.
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Red Skelton
mule
eunuch
Yes, a lot of these rules are forbidden in schools, but we must remember that schools create and feed their own monsters (like the 5-paragraph essay) typically seen NOWHERE in the real world of writing. Bottom line: Real writers occasionally end a sentence with a preposition, more often start one with a conjunction, and even raise hell when they feel it's alright. Oh. And they use contractions a lot, too. And the pronoun "I," which schools say do not belong in a formal (oh, my!) essay. And write fragments. And use comma splices, they just do.
Alwrong.
That's exactly what I was speaking of. And you said it so well, too.
Bonjour, Paul -- ça va bien?
Oops. "Alright" is in my Webster's, too. Maybe I mean the usage books. Just out this year, Garner's Modern American Usage says:"Alright for all right has never been accepted as standard in American English. Gertrude Stein used the shorter form, but that is not much of a recommendation... This short version may be gaining a shadowy acceptance in British English (where appearances in print are more common than in American English)."
On his "Language Change Index," Garner gives alright a Stage 2 rating (though I think it should be a Stage 4 or at least a Stage 3). His ratings are as follows:
Stage 1: Rejected.
Stage 2: Widely shunned.
Stage 3: Widespread, but...
Stage 4: Ubiquitous, but...
Stage 5: Fully accepted.
It's always "a lot" (two words).Re: "a while" vs. "awhile" from Bryan Garner's Garner's Modern American Usage:
"As a noun, spell it as two words <he rested for a while> <it took quite a while to learn this>. As an adverb, spell it as one <he rested awhile>."
Comic, in my case.
Birnham Would If He Could
Yes, you can end a sentence in a preposition. There is no rule against it -- just a prejudice against it on the part of a certain grammar book writer once upon a time.And "all right" is still the way to go, try as "alright" might. I know, I know. It's a coming, but until it's in the dictionaries, I will remain...
Stubbornly yours,
NE
Mudluscious in the winter would be....?
You have to be careful with candles. Most of them burn bad juju into your air. I'm not clear on this, though. I only know that beeswax candles are safe -- and maybe the new soy jobbers. Nothing is as it seems. That's what I like about this ride.
Did I say that I caught five (count 'em -- FIVE) shooting stars back on Monday? Sunday was supposed to be the night to catch the Geminids, but it rained all night. Then, at 5 a.m. when I was out in the dark with the dog, lo! It came upon the (five hours after) midnight clear! Don't think I've ever seen five so close in succession as that morning. Ran out of wishes, even. And it was fairly warm (in the 40s) so I wasn't freezing my hey nonny nonnies off. I'd say that was a good day -- for a Monday.But now, it's Hump Day. Another dromedary entirely.
Rhythm and Blues
Julia Glass
Language & Grammar
