― 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
Your solution to names that end in a silent 's' is to add "es" for plural. So for you, the plural of François is Françoises. And the plural of Françoise is Françoises.
Christ. It's a thread entitled "grammar fiends". No need for gratuitous abuse.
― G. Samsa (G. Samsa), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:30 (seventeen years ago) link
no it isn't. my solution to "pertuis" is to add -es. it's a surname, where the pronunciation will not be obvious to many people. if you bother to read the thread, you'll see i've made this point at least twice. you might disagree. i appreciate that.
and, as i keep saying: it's a non-lexical item, therefore who's really to say how it should behave "gramatically"? not you, and not i. we've made our points - some more elegantly than others. as i've said so many times i'm bored shitless: the only people who really could give us a definitive answer are members of the pertuis family (and i bet there's division there too, heh).
No need for gratuitous abuse.
granted, that was a bit OTT and i apologise. but really, seriously: give it a fucking rest. eyeball kicks has made his decision, and it's based on his own intelligent reasoning. i disagree, but i respect his professional decision. for you to still be wittering on like a schoolboy some 18 hours after he said: "please, stop it now" is really, really fucking irritating.
and that's my final word on the matter.
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 11:10 (seventeen years ago) link
Grimly, FWIW, I would agree with you if it wasn't a silent s. But it is.
― Madchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 12:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 12:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― sede vacante (blueski), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:08 (seventeen years ago) link
xpost
― nu_onimo (nu_onimo), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link
GRIMLY VERSUS EVERYBODE:
― grimly fiendish (simon), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:15 (seventeen years ago) link
(in 1975, they were attacked in the grammar pogroms. Cries of "But we're a non-lexical item!" went unheeded)
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― stet (stet), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 15:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 23:08 (seventeen years ago) link
During my second month teaching English in China, I decided to show the students a picture of myself taken after my college graduation. I passed the photo around, expecting them to be interested in my mother and sister’s blonde hair, my cap and gown, and the American scenery in the background. Instead, they seemed to be much more captivated by the object that my family and I were standing in front of: my car. Soon, instead of learning words like graduation, tassel, and diploma, my students were saying Ford, driver’s license, and gas station. Although the class itself didn’t go as I had planned, I did learn something firsthand about the aspirations of China’s future.
I'm displaying the whole paragraph for context. Please feel free to evaluate, or reevaluate. And, thanks.
― Zachary Scott (Zachary S), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 04:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 04:11 (seventeen years ago) link
or
much more interested
― Madchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 11:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 11:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:47 (seventeen years ago) link
express [adj.]1 a : directly, firmly, and explicitly stated b : EXACT, PRECISE2 a : designed for or adapted to its purpose b : of a particular sort : SPECIFIC
― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:51 (seventeen years ago) link
Please note that I'm in the "another think coming" camp, and invented the word Pertuix, so am possibly not to be trusted.
(xpost, or perhaps I am!)
― ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Friday, 29 December 2006 15:51 (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