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What I have so far | Bits & Pieces

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SueK was 100% correct and I was– well, I got drove in the correct spot on my first attempt before SueK corrected me. We’re diagramming this sentence: “While the present century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton’s academy for

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To the bottom of a most pressing matter

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Last evening I said, If you, like me, like poking around junk stores Covered Casseroles post I then posted the question, “Should that be ‘as I’?” Concluded it should, and awaited SueK’s response. SueK agreed, “as I” and offered a rephrasing. I feel as if (!) we should get to the bottom of this, and

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A surprise to no one

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This was fun. I took an online English Grammar Test yesterday. I couldn’t resist. I believe the site in its entirety is geared to learning other languages and testing various components such as vocabulary, spelling, and a lot more. I was please with my results. I owe it all to a crappy old little book.

It’s killing me, too.

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It is a debate that has torn the nation in two, ripped friends and family apart, and entrenched deep and uncrossable lines throughout the land. Should the Royal Mint have used an Oxford comma on its Brexit 50p piece? Three million coins bearing the slogan “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations” are due to

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“Strong language warning”

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via American Digest, Online Punctuation and Usage Guide: Strong Language Warning. He says, “I said…‘STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING,’” and he’s not kidding. Putting the Punctuation and Usage Guide below the fold on account of, U No, strong language warning.

Let’s set aside content for a moment

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and consider structure, shall we? We recognize you are attempting to… and therefore access cannot be granted… . Note the shift in voice. We recognize. Active. Therefore, access cannot be granted. Passive. Why not say, “and therefore, we cannot grant access?” Of course, there is the question of “we,” but we set aside content. Remember?

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A pleasant thought

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Punctuation is perhaps one-tenth rule and nine-tenths art. In that portion that is controlled by art, writers will differ, sometimes radically. The art of punctuation is the art of rhythm, for punctuation’s second function, after its first function of helping to establish clarity, is to set the rhythm of sentences. Rhythm in prose, it turns

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Re-write

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What does a photodynamic South-African sheep disease (Geeldikkop), navel-gazing hesychastic prayer (omphalopsychite), and Dionysian theatre altars of antique Greece (thymele) have in common?  National Review, May 31 I rarely look at NRO these days, but when I do, I expect better than this. What does a photodynamic South-African sheep disease (Geeldikkop) have in common with

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Flout | Flaunt

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Flout: verb (used with object) to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock: to flout the rules of propriety. Flaunt: verb (used with object) to parade or display ostentatiously: to flaunt one’s wealth.

Learn to freakin’ write, people.

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… to the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy during a campaign stop… No. It does not matter that I *know* what the author of that sentence *meant.* That someone can write that– let alone (presumably) re-read it– and not be aware that it is f*cked is almost beyond belief. But I live in

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12. Use definite, specific, concrete language.

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A period of unfavorable weather set in. He showed satisfaction as he took possession of his well-earned reward. It rained every day for a week. He grinned as he pocketed the coin. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., With Revisions, an Introduction, and New Chapter on Writing by E.B. White (1959)

“Sixty-three words that could change the world”

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Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects

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“But not Google.”

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That’s what I said. I said, “I’ll do Harbrace, Little-Brown, and Strunk & White, but not Google.” Some background is in order. Mr. Big Food and I had a terrible row this morning. We are in full agreement on noun-pronoun agreement (e.g., “Every child has their his or her favorite toy”; alt. “All children have

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