― remy bean (bean), Saturday, 2 December 2006 21:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Saturday, 2 December 2006 22:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― remy bean (bean), Saturday, 2 December 2006 23:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Sunday, 3 December 2006 12:32 (seventeen years ago) link
i went to school with a girl whose surname was proudfoot. i can't remember whether it was her or someone else who insisted that the plural was proudfeet, but...whoever it was should have been right.
― lexpretend (lexpretend), Sunday, 3 December 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
How can I fix:
"My students seemed to be more impressed by my car, which my family and I were standing in front of in the photo."
The comma doesn't work there, I know, but then it doesn't work without it either. I could fix the whole thing by replacing "My car" with "the car", but then that wouldn't indicate that it was my own vehicle.
― Zachary Scott (Zachary S), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:07 (seventeen years ago) link
"My studnets seemed to be much more captivated by the object that my family and I were standing in front of: my car."
Sigh.
― Zachary Scott (Zachary S), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:11 (seventeen years ago) link
Although studnet should probably be a word meaning someone who always catches "hot studs".
― Zachary Scott (Zachary S), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link
?
why not?
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 01:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 4 December 2006 02:25 (seventeen years ago) link
This is for a letter of intention for grad school, by the way. I'm trying to connect a story about my student's interest in my car while I was teaching in China to a broader point about future geopolitical conflict between China and the US.
― Zachary Scott (Zachary S), Monday, 4 December 2006 02:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 4 December 2006 02:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 4 December 2006 11:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 4 December 2006 11:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 12:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 4 December 2006 12:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 4 December 2006 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― G. Samsa (G. Samsa), Monday, 4 December 2006 12:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― G. Samsa (G. Samsa), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Silent SIf a word ends in an unpronounced s, make it plural by ignoring it—don’t add an s, an apostrophe, or anything else.
― G. Samsa (G. Samsa), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 4 December 2006 13:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 4 December 2006 15:01 (seventeen years ago) link
xpost indeed
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 4 December 2006 15:24 (seventeen years ago) link
into Google, you'll come up with several hits confirming my position, and none confirming yours
OH NOES THE MIGHT OF THE INTERNET IS AGAINST ME. I MUST VOTE FOR DAVID CAMERON/SAY "SHOULD OF" INSTEAD OF "SHOULD HAVE"/SPEND ALL DAY LOOKING AT BRITNEY'S VAGINA.
we need a new version of godwin's law: "when someone says 'ah, but google says this', the entire internet should be deleted." or similar.
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 4 December 2006 16:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 4 December 2006 16:18 (seventeen years ago) link
hey! i've just remembered. i have mod powers in the sandbox. don't make me lock this thread, people. just don't.
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 4 December 2006 17:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 4 December 2006 17:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Monday, 4 December 2006 22:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 4 December 2006 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 00:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Louis Jagger (Scourage), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 00:23 (seventeen years ago) link
http://sparky.thehold.net/pix/061205pertuises.jpg
(note mädchen, in the yellow dress, looking disapproving)
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 00:28 (seventeen years ago) link
"My students seemed to be much more captivated by the object that my family and I were standing by: my car."
That sentence is awkward as hell and I'd never write it. There are many better ways to say that. "Nothing seemed to captivate my students as much as the car we were standing in front of" or "The car we were standing in front of was more captivating to my students" or the first version you posted, or probably best of all, an entirely different construction. But that one above, no way.
― steve schneeberg (steve go1dberg), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 00:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 00:52 (seventeen years ago) link
But come on, that sounds like choice D on some standardized test, the one that they throw in there just to give you something that's easy to eliminate and that you can't imagine anyone would ever really pick.
― steve schneeberg (steve go1dberg), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 01:07 (seventeen years ago) link
Hey, Steve, how would you rewrite this sentence: "I'm a fanny"?
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 01:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― steve schneeberg (steve go1dberg), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 01:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 09:20 (seventeen years ago) link
Now, according to Fiendish, this sentence could apply equally to three girls called Françoise, or three boys called François. But anyone looking at it would automatically assume the former, not the latter. To avoid confusion, if you mean boys called François the sentence would have to be: "There are three François in my class."
Hence Fiendish's solution fatally fails the comprehension test, and clarity is surely at the heart of all editing decisions. Which means that Fiendish is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
― G. Samsa (G. Samsa), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:15 (seventeen years ago) link
no it wouldn't. when did i say that? stop putting words in my mouth.
clarity, eh? how's this: "GIVE IT A REST, YOU TEDIOUS FUCKING PRICK."
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Not For Use as Infant Nog (A-Ron Hubbard), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 29 December 2006 16:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Friday, 29 December 2006 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link
(xpost, heh)
― grimly fiendish (simon), Friday, 29 December 2006 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― suzy artskooldisko (suzy artskooldisko), Friday, 29 December 2006 16:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Friday, 29 December 2006 17:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Friday, 29 December 2006 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (Scourage), Friday, 29 December 2006 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 29 December 2006 18:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (Scourage), Friday, 29 December 2006 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― ledge (ledge), Saturday, 30 December 2006 11:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― ledge (ledge), Saturday, 30 December 2006 11:58 (seventeen years ago) link