GRAMMAR FIENDS

http://sparky.thehold.net/pix/061205pertuises.jpg

(note mädchen, in the yellow dress, looking disapproving)

"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.

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.

Hey, Steve, how would you rewrite this sentence: "I'm a fanny"?

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!

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."

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.

clarity, eh? how's this: "GIVE IT A REST, YOU TEDIOUS FUCKING PRICK."

Christ. It's a thread entitled "grammar fiends". No need for gratuitous abuse.

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, FWIW, I would agree with you if it wasn't a silent s. But it is.

xpost

GRIMLY VERSUS EVERYBODE:

http://sparky.thehold.net/pix/061205pertuises.jpg

(in 1975, they were attacked in the grammar pogroms. Cries of "But we're a non-lexical item!" went unheeded)

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.

or

much more interested

express [adj.]
1 a : directly, firmly, and explicitly stated b : EXACT, PRECISE
2 a : designed for or adapted to its purpose b : of a particular sort : SPECIFIC

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!)

(xpost, heh)