A Matter of Right and Right
Musings about contentious points of grammar17 total reviews
Comment from Mary Vigasin
As you know grammar is one of my weakness although I have tried to improve.
I tend to write the way I speak which does not improve my grammar.
Regards
Mary
reply by the author on 15-Jun-2021
As you know grammar is one of my weakness although I have tried to improve.
I tend to write the way I speak which does not improve my grammar.
Regards
Mary
Comment Written 14-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 15-Jun-2021
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You grammar is far better than most! I've had mistakes cited many times--I euphemisically call them typos!
Some writer once said he spent the entire morning removing a comma, and the entire afternoon putting it back!
This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
Comment from karenina
AND this is why I so love Emily Dickinson...
(What? What am I talking about?)
True enough she had only a handful of poems actually published during her lifetime...
One of the main reasons is she so eschewed grammar and it's contraints.
Oh, she's toss in a comma here, a period there...but MOSTLY she used lots of dashes and split her lines so unconventionally editor's hair would catch fire (The living breathing version of Evil Eddie!)
If not for her sister Lavinia, who gathered Emily's many poems (dashed, you will excuse the expression) off onto backs of envelopes and grocery lists...
Sweet Emily would not even be a footnote in poetry... Not before she was "Called Back" (her admirably short inscription on her gravestone)--and certainly not after...
As for me? Learning grammar gave me a nasty rash when I was a child. Those nuns used to rap me on the knuckles when I dangled my preposition of mishandled a semi-colon...
And diagramming sentences? I'd rather say six "Hail Mary's" and two "Our Father's!"
I am SO Impressed that you even know the rules... and more impressed that you have found clever ways to circumnavigate them...
As for me? I try. (yawn)---Mostly I guess. I put in a comma, wait five minutes, take it back out...
Every now and then I run my writing through "grammar check" in MSWORD... But then my compute overheats and the darn laptop slams down on my fingers (those NUNS I'm tellin' ya!)
Finally, in conclusion, and to end this...run on sentence thingy... (note the unmitigated irreverence with which I bandy about my "dot-dot-dots"---(yes I'm laughing)...
If I ever said something remotely correct as in "You are taller than SHE"--everyone I know would take "The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation" and beat me about the head and shoulders!
I do own it...it makes a wonderful door stop!
YOU crack me up...in the most scholarly of ways!
Here's a little something I can prove without a doubt I have no idea how to use correctly!
Semicolon
Apostrophe
Exclamation Mark
Bracket
Hyphen
Ellipsis
Tilde
(More where THAT came from!)
Sidenote...OH! dot-dot-dots...ellipsis!
Yay!
Karenina
reply by the author on 12-Jun-2021
AND this is why I so love Emily Dickinson...
(What? What am I talking about?)
True enough she had only a handful of poems actually published during her lifetime...
One of the main reasons is she so eschewed grammar and it's contraints.
Oh, she's toss in a comma here, a period there...but MOSTLY she used lots of dashes and split her lines so unconventionally editor's hair would catch fire (The living breathing version of Evil Eddie!)
If not for her sister Lavinia, who gathered Emily's many poems (dashed, you will excuse the expression) off onto backs of envelopes and grocery lists...
Sweet Emily would not even be a footnote in poetry... Not before she was "Called Back" (her admirably short inscription on her gravestone)--and certainly not after...
As for me? Learning grammar gave me a nasty rash when I was a child. Those nuns used to rap me on the knuckles when I dangled my preposition of mishandled a semi-colon...
And diagramming sentences? I'd rather say six "Hail Mary's" and two "Our Father's!"
I am SO Impressed that you even know the rules... and more impressed that you have found clever ways to circumnavigate them...
As for me? I try. (yawn)---Mostly I guess. I put in a comma, wait five minutes, take it back out...
Every now and then I run my writing through "grammar check" in MSWORD... But then my compute overheats and the darn laptop slams down on my fingers (those NUNS I'm tellin' ya!)
Finally, in conclusion, and to end this...run on sentence thingy... (note the unmitigated irreverence with which I bandy about my "dot-dot-dots"---(yes I'm laughing)...
If I ever said something remotely correct as in "You are taller than SHE"--everyone I know would take "The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation" and beat me about the head and shoulders!
I do own it...it makes a wonderful door stop!
YOU crack me up...in the most scholarly of ways!
Here's a little something I can prove without a doubt I have no idea how to use correctly!
Semicolon
Apostrophe
Exclamation Mark
Bracket
Hyphen
Ellipsis
Tilde
(More where THAT came from!)
Sidenote...OH! dot-dot-dots...ellipsis!
Yay!
Karenina
Comment Written 11-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 12-Jun-2021
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POST THAT!
Some writer once said he spent the entire morning removing a comma, and the entire afternoon putting it back!
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Thanks for your witty response. This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
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You always make your point! It's a skill I admire---Karenina
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?I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.?
― Oscar Wilde
I think he was speaking for most of us!
Karenina
Comment from Judy Lawless
I'm usually a stickler about grammar too, having had it drilled into my head by my sixth grade teacher, but when you put all these rules together here, I can understand how many people might throw up their hands. lol
Love the story of the tourist though!
reply by the author on 12-Jun-2021
I'm usually a stickler about grammar too, having had it drilled into my head by my sixth grade teacher, but when you put all these rules together here, I can understand how many people might throw up their hands. lol
Love the story of the tourist though!
Comment Written 11-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 12-Jun-2021
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Some writer once said he spent the entire morning removing a comma, and the entire afternoon putting it back!
This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
Comment from P. Finn
I understand where you are coming from because although I am aware of most of the grammatically correct choices especially when writing, I choose to write the way I speak. My books are filled with 'incomplete sentences.' Such as: Oh, great. I remind critics that, spoken and written rules evolved. I love your title and the defense you provide for taking the liberty to enjoy language.
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reply by the author on 12-Jun-2021
I understand where you are coming from because although I am aware of most of the grammatically correct choices especially when writing, I choose to write the way I speak. My books are filled with 'incomplete sentences.' Such as: Oh, great. I remind critics that, spoken and written rules evolved. I love your title and the defense you provide for taking the liberty to enjoy language.
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 11-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 12-Jun-2021
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Some writer once said he spent the entire morning removing a comma, and the entire afternoon putting it back!
This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
I do just as you do--my characters sometimes make errors (or at least, I blame mistakes on them).
Comment from Wendy G
How hard for a non English speaker to master all this. Does any Fanstorian ever get everything perfectly right all the time? Love your concluding line! Reminds me of the expression "That is something up with which I cannot put".
As for using "they" to avoid "him/her", I do hate seeing plurals where the context is obviously singular. The French have made a rule to preserve their grammatical structures re gender. The plural "ils" although masculine is counted as "mixed" as well, therefore is not being sexist. Somehow a small minority seems to have taken over in a big way regarding these issues.
Anyway, clever article. Hope my grammar here is okay!!
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
How hard for a non English speaker to master all this. Does any Fanstorian ever get everything perfectly right all the time? Love your concluding line! Reminds me of the expression "That is something up with which I cannot put".
As for using "they" to avoid "him/her", I do hate seeing plurals where the context is obviously singular. The French have made a rule to preserve their grammatical structures re gender. The plural "ils" although masculine is counted as "mixed" as well, therefore is not being sexist. Somehow a small minority seems to have taken over in a big way regarding these issues.
Anyway, clever article. Hope my grammar here is okay!!
Comment Written 10-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
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Thanks for your thoughtful response. This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
Comment from Jannypan (Jan)
You did a good job, Liz, with your grammar lesson. I understand it stems from what you were taught in school. I wasn't taught about dashes. I like to use the ~ . I know about the object of the preposition, and always follow it. I've never heard of 'shim'. What a useless description in my opinion. I like s/he or her/him in informal writing.
Thanks for sharing.
Respectfully, Jan
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
You did a good job, Liz, with your grammar lesson. I understand it stems from what you were taught in school. I wasn't taught about dashes. I like to use the ~ . I know about the object of the preposition, and always follow it. I've never heard of 'shim'. What a useless description in my opinion. I like s/he or her/him in informal writing.
Thanks for sharing.
Respectfully, Jan
Comment Written 10-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
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Thanks for your thoughtful response. This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
Comment from Katherine M. (k-11)
So many of these rules we once knew,
yet we had forgotten more than a few.
Glad indeed to see them shown here,
it certainly served to make things clear.
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
So many of these rules we once knew,
yet we had forgotten more than a few.
Glad indeed to see them shown here,
it certainly served to make things clear.
Comment Written 10-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
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Thanks for your thoughtful response. This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
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Cute ditty!
Comment from robyn corum
Liz,
I must say, one never quite knows what you will share with us next. Which is kind of frightening and kind of exciting. *smile* As happens a lot of the time, so much of what you write reveals your insane IQ. Wow. Thanks!
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
Liz,
I must say, one never quite knows what you will share with us next. Which is kind of frightening and kind of exciting. *smile* As happens a lot of the time, so much of what you write reveals your insane IQ. Wow. Thanks!
Comment Written 10-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
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Thanks! This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
Comment from BethShelby
You are far more interested in perfect grammar than I am. I don't need to tell you that fact. I wish I'd paid more attention, because I always have errors in my writing, as you know. When you tell me I did something wrong I believer you. I'm like you about saying, this is she. It sound prissy. Also I don't see why I can end a sentence with a preposition. Barbara is insisting I leave most all :"thats" out of sentences. She also says I can't say "the next day I did something." I have to say "the following day." If people keep telling maybe some of it will rub off.
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
You are far more interested in perfect grammar than I am. I don't need to tell you that fact. I wish I'd paid more attention, because I always have errors in my writing, as you know. When you tell me I did something wrong I believer you. I'm like you about saying, this is she. It sound prissy. Also I don't see why I can end a sentence with a preposition. Barbara is insisting I leave most all :"thats" out of sentences. She also says I can't say "the next day I did something." I have to say "the following day." If people keep telling maybe some of it will rub off.
Comment Written 10-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
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Thanks for your thoughtful response. This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
Same to me with "that"--she cited one yesterday! (The rules on that confuse me.) As for the other--I just looked it up--she's right--I didn't know that one either--I use them interchangeably!
Comment from judiverse
Let's face it. We're fighting a losing battle if we try to defend the traditional rules of usage. I agree it sounds stilted and strange to say "It is she." Trying to be politically correct seems to promote awkward usage, too, as when Kamala Harris graced the Naval Academy graduates with her speech. I loved that quotation you cited with the grammar authority, William Safire. He probably enjoyed telling that story himself. judi
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
Let's face it. We're fighting a losing battle if we try to defend the traditional rules of usage. I agree it sounds stilted and strange to say "It is she." Trying to be politically correct seems to promote awkward usage, too, as when Kamala Harris graced the Naval Academy graduates with her speech. I loved that quotation you cited with the grammar authority, William Safire. He probably enjoyed telling that story himself. judi
Comment Written 10-Jun-2021
reply by the author on 11-Jun-2021
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Thanks for your thoughtful response. This piece was tweaked from my response to a review last year--I was tactfully--and slyly--trying to convey that the "errors" she'd cited (in a prior review) were equally valid.
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The Safire story was a joke.
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I hadn't heard the name William Safire for some time. I recall that he was a stickler on grammar. judi
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You're very welcome. It's hard to keep up with the changes in what's considered "correct" usage. judi
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He's written many books! One is titled: I STAND CORRECTED, in which he admits to mistakes!