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message 601:
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Ken, Moderator
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Feb 22, 2010 03:46PM
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So you will spend your rusting years in rustic places?
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Which is correct:"We talked about the programs that are giving us our chances at successful lives."
or
"We talked about the programs that are giving us our chance at a successful life."'
They both sound wrong to me.
Both sound correct to me. The first sentence you are talking about the group having successful lives for each person. The second sentence you are talking about the one chance for each person to have a successful life. But then I am not a language expert, so I may be wrong as well.
I think chance-singular is better, but I'd rework that sentence because it's clunky. What about, "We talked about the (or those) programs that give us a chance for a successful life."
Ah much better. Sounds more direct, rather than ambiguous.
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English Lesson.....On his 75th birthday, a man got a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate paid for a visit to a medicine man living on a nearby reservation who was rumored to have a wonderful cure for erectile dysfunction.
After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man and wondered what he was in for.
The old man slowly, methodically produced a potion, handed it to him, and with a grip on his shoulder, warned, "This is powerful medicine and it must be respected. You take only a teaspoonful and then say '1-2-3. When you do that, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life and you can perform as long as you want."
The man was encouraged. As he walks away, he turned and asked, "How do I stop the medicine from working?"
"Your partner must say 1-2-3-4," he responded. "But when she does, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon."
He was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, showered, shaved, took a spoonful of the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom.
When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, "1-2-3!" Immediately, he was the manliest of men.
His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes. And then she asked, "What was the 1-2-3 for?"
And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition, because we could end up with a dangling participle.
Hahahahaha Now that is some English lesson. Do they teach that in school. hahahahahaha gasp! cough! choke! snort snort! Good one Susanne
That's a great joke, Susanne, but I hope you all realise that there isn't any blanket rule prohibiting ending a sentence with a preposition. Sometimes it is awkward or confusing, but sometimes it is the best way to phrase things. It's a spurious rule invented in the 17th century by the playwright John Dryden (even though he didn’t always adhere to it) and propagated when the first English grammar books were written, based on Latin grammar. However, teachers often find it easier to teach rules than to teach discernment. See http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/langua... for starters.
A situation, said Churchill, "up with which I shall not put."
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Cecily wrote: " I hope you all realise that there isn't any blanket rule prohibiting ending a sentence with a preposition. Sometimes it is awkward or confusing"........Thank you Cecily! I have a natural inclination to do just so! :-)
I have many friends that try to tell me this is not proper, so it's good to see some factual input and platform for an argument.
I rather like my prepositions aft and asserting!
In left-handed languages, do the grammar police say, "Never start a sentence with a postposition"? Inquiring minds . . .
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He puts on the pants he wore yesterday,
before he knew. He goes into the kitchen
(the sunny yellow walls have faded,)
fills the kettle, sets it on the burner.
Should the comma be inside the parentheses? I think it should, but it just looks funny to me.
I have wonder that same thing myself. I do it outside and no one has yelled at me yet, but they probably will.
You mean I was finally doing something correct. Yeah for me. See what all these teachers here have done for me. Alas it has taken almost 50 years.
If you haven't yet made up your mind, I say outside.
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Don't think too much:Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men and, such as sleep o'nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much, such men are dangerous.
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Ruth, I agree about the comma going outside the parenthesis...but I just wanted to say, nice poem!
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Debbie, someday we will.
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Newengland wrote: "Fortunately, I've no one to meet here in Jolly Olde Newe England. I seldom show up for such dates."That reminds me of a date I once made, years ago, in Constantinople...
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"Byzantine"--something of a slander, although the imperial families did plot at times, usually ending with some heir blinded and in a monastery. Gibbon was a great writer, but his take on the Second Rome was mistaken.
hmmm I was going to try and read Decline of Roman Empire . Is there a book more accurate?
Probably on Byzantium. But Gibbon is a classic and quite good on the Western Empire. I encourage you to read it. Wonderful writing."Scribble, scribble, eh Mr. Gibbon?"
ok Thanks. I will probably buy it since I will probably need to take copious notes and will need to refer back to the book.
Newengland wrote: "Oh. Little Ms. No Show? Byzantine plots are hard to unravel anyway, if it makes you feel any better...."Well, NE, it was no one's fault in particular. I made the date in Constantinople. She was waiting in Istambul...
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Well, NE, it was no one's fault in particular. I made the date in Cons..."
And neither of you thought to go to Byzantium?
Ruth wrote: And neither of you thought to go to Byzantium?"Hah!
This is a recurring problem for me, Ruth. I was supposed to meet someone in Manhattan today, and here I am stuck in New Amsterdam...
And what rough beast,Its hour come round at last
Slouches toward Aelia Capitolina
To be born?
Incidentally, for my fellow pedants, "Istanbul" is not Turkish, but Turkicized Greek, from εις τιν πολι (eis tin poli), meaning, "to the City." Like San Francisco, Constantinople was "The City" in her day.
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Alas. As of last night my computer has lost its voice. None of the usual fixes seems to work.
Has it did this before Ruth,, or is this something new?
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(There's a Helen Keller joke there somewhere.)
Call "make it work" or "the geek squad".
Or just shout loud enough for us to hear. It's all over but the shoutin'!
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What did it in was Youtube--Will the Circle be Unbroken, with Johnny Cash.
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